Spiritual Challenges Bonhoeffer Style

Mornings With Bonhoeffer

100 Reflections on the Christian Life

Author: Donald K. McKim

Publisher: Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN, 2018

Spiritual Challenges Bonhoeffer Style

I agreed to review this book because I am a fan of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his writing. But it turned out to be much more for me.  Although I read it in just a few sittings, I realized what a wonderful morning devotional it makes – good for 100 days. I also couldn’t believe how much Bonhoeffer had packed in the one or two simple statements he used as the basis for each day’s reading. Not only did each statement or quote have a truth in it, but each came with two challenges: First, an intellectual challenge that required one to stop reading and then to reflect, to think, about what was being said about God, about being a Christian, about living in community, and so much more.  Second, each quote presents its reader with a challenge of obedience as to how then we should think, feel, and most importantly, act based on that truth.

Donald K. McKim, who spent time as executive editor for Westminister John Knox Press, as academic dean and professor of theology at Memphis Theological Seminary, and as professor at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary, brings all the threads together as he unpacks Bonhoeffer’s quote and its practical implications. McKim’s experience as an author or editor of over thirty books serves him excellently in his task.

The book is divided into two major sections.  The first is titled Believing as a Christian. It covers some of Bonhoeffer’s thoughts on our key beliefs, Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Christian Life.

The second part is titled Living as a Christian.  It covers areas like Following Jesus, Living Before God, Our Lives with Others, Love, and Living in the Word.

Each page is filled with ideas you’ll want to underline and memorize. Let me just give you a few to whet your appetite:

·     “The meaning of the Eastermessage is that God is the death of death.” (Do you see what I mean about the challenge that each quote presents?)

·     “The Lord of the ages is God. The turning point of the ages is Christ. The true spirit of the age is the Holy Spirit.”

·     “No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle of Bethlehem. And yet all Christian theology finds its origin in the miracle of miracles, that God became human.”

·     “Not the path to God, but rather God’s path to human beings, that is the sum total of Christianity.”

·     “The church of successis truly far from being the church of faith.”

·     “God loves our enemies – this is what the cross tells us.”

And many, many more.  The book is an excellent source of discussion for life groups or other Bible studies.  I use it for quick devotionals when called upon to give them at meetings and other occasions. 

Each quotation comes with a citation which provides the specific volume of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Worksby Fortress Press from which it came and the page number in that volume for additional research.

McKim gives us some great suggestions as to how to use the book and its contents for maximum benefit. He also adds a “Timeline of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life”.

I highly recommend it for anyone who wants an introduction to this great man of God. But it’s also for those who want to grow much deeper in their spiritual life.

Bonhoeffer was born in 1906 and after spending considerable time in prison and concentration camps, he was executed in 1945 at 39 years of age because he was accused of participating in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

Bonhoeffer, writing from personal experience, can help each one of us cope with what may well lie ahead for the church of Jesus Christ.   

·     Ken B. Godevenos, President, Accord Resolutions Services Inc., Toronto, Ontario, January 12, 2019, www.accordconsulting.com

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Quick Question: When it Comes to Adversity, Are you a Carrot, an Egg, or Coffee Beans?

A story that needs to be savored when you're alone and reflecting on your general outlook to life and the challenges that it brings you:   (Sorry but at this point the original author is unknown.)

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. 
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying 
a word. 

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. 

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see." 

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. 

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma the daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. 
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. 
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? 

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? 

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?





[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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Challenging the Psychics Big-Time.

I do not believe in psychics at all. So, to them I must be a skeptic. Fine. But if they're genuine, they should prove me wrong especially when someone is offering them $1M to do so.

Yet, one such psychic is not taking the 'bait' and another wants to know all the rules of the test, and then see is she is "available".

I don't know about you, but if I could prove salvation through Jesus Christ to a skeptic (which I cannot -- it's not something one accepts by proof, but rather by faith), and they were willing to offer me, or my cause, $1M to boot, I would sure make myself available.

By the way, they're complaining the person offering the challenge is a skeptic and one of them doesn't like working with skeptics. No kidding. Here's the story. I share it only to hopefully convince some of you how phony this whole thing is. Maybe next I'll tackle "professional wrestling". I still have visions of my long-deceased aunt really getting into this sport (from her living room) and heaven help you if you tried to tell her the guys were professional actors!

'Top' psychics offered $1M to prove powers - Canada - CBC News

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Joseph’s Trap Is Set -- Genesis 44:1-3

Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.  And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.”  And he did as Joseph had told him.  As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys.

From the end of the previous chapter, we know that by the time the meal Joseph had hosted for his visitors in his house was over, he knew the men much better.  He had likely determined that they indeed had changed their ways from the days that they had sold him to a band of traveling merchants to be a slave in Egypt.  But Joseph had one more final test for his brothers, a test that was calculated to give a clear picture of their inner hearts.

It is most likely that the instructions to the house steward as recorded here were given in private while the guests ate or soon thereafter.  We also noted that they were to get “as much as they could carry” versus perhaps what would be the standard amount for what their money would have purchased.

But the significant difference from the normal transactions is that Joseph wanted his servant to put his very own silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin’s sack.  Getting their money back was one thing, but getting the ruler’s drinking cup was another.  Assuming of course that they were given these.  What if it was believed they stole them?

If we read the last sentence of Chapter 43 “So they feasted and drank freely with him” followed immediately by the last sentence of Chapter 44, verse 3, “As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys,” it is possible to believe that the feast with Joseph went on all night, with very little sleep having taken place.  But as soon as the morning came, they were indeed ushered on their way, along with their animals packed with their sacks and what Joseph had his servants include.  Joseph was anxious to implement the rest of his plan for his brothers and his father – perhaps a plan that God had put in his heart for their own good and as part of the fulfillment of His own “divine plan”.

Is there a message here for us?  Yes.  As we live our lives each day, we should be aware that God is ultimately in control.  Men today may certainly be planning just “one more test for us”, but as God’s children, we can be comforted by the fact that He allows that test and it just may well be part of His divine plan.  In addition, we are privileged to have a small part in that very plan of God’s.  Whatever challenge or trial you are going through today, know that God is there also and if He’s not behind it, He certainly has allowed it and He is able to use it for His glory.

Thanks for dropping by.  Sign up to receive free updates.  We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources.  Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar.  And please share this blog with your friends.   Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.