The River Church Community

July 22, 2008


Dear River friends,

I thank God for the way in which He is forming us as a community of significance and depth.  From a leadership perspective, we are doing all we can to respond to the Spirit . . . teaching on the church in Ephesians, confessing leadership sins and failures, and teaching on and engaging in spiritual warfare (our next series).  In addition to those things, we are reading and discussing Life Together as a leadership body in an effort to nurture deep, culture-shaping convictions about what it means for us to lead well together.  I also anticipate that we will dwell on it’s concepts in our Fall Leadership Retreat in September. 

I believe we will all benefit most if we take time to process our learnings and questions together.  So, I would love it if you could join our discussion at the ministry center this Sunday morning at 9:30 (RSVP to Dave . . . ).  We will focus our discussion on chapter one.  Attached to this email, you’ll find a brief summary to help you understand the context for Bonhoeffer’s writing as well as some reflection questions to guide your thinking.

Peace,

Brad

Context for understanding Life Together
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (BONHOEFFER) wrote Life Together (LT) when his own "confessing church" was suffering significant tensions.  In 1933 the German national
church had made its fateful peace with the Nazi regime, the suppression of the Old Testament (even Jesus' Jewishness) and Hitler's judgment that no Jewish convert could be a member of any congregation, thus making the church a partner in the persecution of the Jews that would eventually lead to the Holocaust.  The "confessing church" formed in 1933 as a result of the National Church's pact with the new Caesar.  Despite its agreement that the Gospel could not make peace with Hitler's agenda, the confessing church was
itself torn by tensions over the types of resistance and the degree of involvement to take in standing with the persecuted Jewish community.  It was in this context  of deep tension within his church that BONHOEFFER penetrated to the heart of what our Christian fellowship is founded upon and what the satanic schemes are, deeply embedded in our own hearts, to seduce, undermine, co-opt, and divide the church.

The Church in America does not face the same types of pressure as the German churches of the 1930's.  They faced the seduction and violent pressure of nationalism, racialism, etc.  We face the inner pressures of individualism, spiritual consumerism, etc.  But, their issues writ large and BONHOEFFER's clarion call to Biblical community can help us identify the areas for growth in our friendships, family, and community life, both at the small group level and in the River as a whole. 

Reflection Questions

Chapter 1 - Community
1.  BONHOEFFER calls us to a life of radical gratitude for any fellowship we
share with other believers.  Why is this hard for us?  How can we appreciate
what Christian fellowship truly is?  How can you foster this godly gratitude
in your family? Your small group?

2.   BONHOEFFER emphasizes that our fellowship with one another is "under the Word"
and "in Jesus Christ" (21).  Is this how you understand your fellowship with
other believers?  What do you make of his claim that we have not "direct"
relationship with another believer, that Jesus Christ always stands between
you and another believer? (32, 35)  Is his exposure of psychic vs. spiritual
community good news to you? Why is it hard for us to see our own "human
loves" in the Light of Christ for what they are, especially contrasted to
the gift of spiritual love? (34f)

3.  He contrasts our "wish dreams" for community and emotional highs with
actual community, which is a gift from God we can only receive and live in
day by day. (26f)  How does the healthy disillusionment he describes on p.
27 connect the dots in your own spiritual journey?  How about in the River's
history and your River experience?  How can we move through disillusionment
without falling into cynicism?

4.  He strongly cautions against small group communities, which, having
experienced a spiritual high, distance themselves from the larger Body of
Christ. (37)  Why do you think this is so dangerous?  How can we balance
strong small group life with strong Body life? 


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?