The River Church Community

Dear River Leaders and fellow Bonhoeffer readers,

Our meeting this Sunday, 8/24 at 9:30am will include a discussion of chapter 2 "The Day Together" and chapter 3 "The Day Alone".  Here are some questions to ponder as you read chapter 2 and 3.

Chapter 2 -The Day with Others

1. Bonhoeffer claims "Morning does not belong to the individual, it belongs to the church . . . " (41)  and that each AM is a remembrance of Christ's resurrection.  How can this be applied in our contexts? (mothers, commuters, house-mates, etc.)  How can our AM routines be redemptive vs. anxious and consumed with work? (43)
2. He lays a high priority on praying the Psalms, and particularly, understanding our prayer of the Psalms as being united with Jesus' prayer of the Psalms. (44f)  Does this have merit in terms of our prayer life as individuals, small groups, and the River as a whole?  What would beginning to pray the Psalms look like?
3. What do you make of his argument for Christians to read whole chapters of the Scriptures together, to master the Scriptures? How about his conclusion, "But one who will not learn to handle the Bible for himself is not an evangelical Christian"? (55)  What would need to change in our lives and small groups for the story of redemptive history to become our narrative, for us to see ourselves in all the ups and downs of the Jewish people and the early churches? (53)
4. Why does he include singing after personal prayer and the reading of the Word? (58)  What blocks our hearts from singing freely?  What would it take for us to sing in our small group or our family in the simple "unison" a capella singing he recommends?  What blocks us?
5. Bonhoeffer encourages festive communal meals vs. eating alone, hurried, distracted.  (68) How can this become more of a reality for your family/household/small group?  Regarding work, have you ever broken through the "it" of your work to the "Thou" behind it?  How does work ground us in reality?
6. He writes, "It is perilous for the Christian to lie down to sleep with an unreconciled heart" (74) How can you practice forgiveness at the end of each day with those closest to you?

Chapter 3 “The Day Alone”

1. “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.” (77, 78) What is your gut response to Bonhoffer’s famous quote?  What would it look like for you and your small group/ministry team to be a community that benefits from the practice of solitude
2. Are there “lone ranger” Christians in your life who need to be challenged with the words, “If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you.”? (77) How might you approach them in truthing love?
3. How can we as a church balance our casual, seeker friendly freedom with Bonhoffer’s sober calling to be silent before the Word and in response to the Word? (79)
4. How can you cultivate silence in your life and in your sphere of influence in the face of constant noise and the culture of constant music/talk/texting/news?  E.g. Providing some silence each day for moms or silence each night in a household of singles? Do you believe that a discipline of silence before the Word will lead to “right hearing” and “right speaking” as Bonhoffer does? Would you be willing to experiment with this hypothesis? (80)
5. Meditation/Personal prayer/Intercession: What would it take for us to strengthen one another and have the spiritual discipline of daily quiet in the Word? Do you find his description of a “quiet time” attractive or repulsive? What is your response to his emphasis on deep meditation on the promises of the Word? (82-83)
6. How does this claim inform our need for help in our solitude and times away from fellow believers, “The individual must realize that his hours of aloneness react upon the community. In his solitude he can sunder and besmirch the community, or he can strengthen and hallow it.” (88-89) If the stakes are this high, how might you and those close to you guard and protect and inspire one another to “strengthen and hallow” the fellowship in our times of solitude and our hours of work and play apart from the fellowship?