Life Together - Week #3

The last half of chapter two of Life Together talks of fellowshipping over meals together and working and praying together throughout the day. Bonhoeffer is speaking in the context of a community of believers that lives together in one location, but I believe the principles can apply to the family of God that lives scattered but in fellowship together.

There were a couple of things that struck me in this portion. One is when the author talks of the “three kinds of table fellowship that Jesus keeps with His own: daily fellowship at table, the table fellowship of the Lord’s Supper, and the final table fellowship in the Kingdom of God.” He then makes a powerful statement about these times of fellowship that, again, sets Christian community apart from human community: “…in all three the one thing that counts is that ‘their eyes were opened, and they knew him.’”

To know Jesus in the midst of our fellowshipping over a meal is so sweet! Each time we break bread together, it can be a time of our eyes being open to see more of the Man Jesus if we do it by faith. I personally believe that God really enjoys being with His people as they eat together!

Another part of the end of this chapter that I’ll comment on is where Bonhoeffer speaks of the sanctifying power of daily work: “…in work the Christian learns to allow himself to be limited by the task…The passions of the flesh die in the world of things. But this can only happen where the Christian breaks through the ‘it’ to the ‘Thou,’ which is God, who bids him work and makes that work a means of liberation from himself…Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer…”

The discipline of prayer at the beginning of the day and then pausing periodically throughout the day to breathe a simple prayer of love and thanks to God is such a heart-awaking discipline. In time this practice begins to lift us out of our tiny, self-focused world to another plane in God in which we become increasingly aware of Him and of His love for others around us. This practice bit by bit helps us break through the “it” of the task to the “Thou,” allowing us to see what’s going on around us in a whole different light. God is with us right now and right here! What a difference that awareness makes to the daily work!

I’ll end with two more short quotes from this portion:
“The prayer of the morning will determine the day."
"The organization and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer.”
When Allen Hood was here last year at our college, he challenged the young missionary trainees by saying that how you start and end your day will determine how you walk through the day.

Lord, we are Yours, and You are with us right now! Thank You for grace to pray and live and work together IN YOU…Holy Spirit, help us to increasingly practice Your presence until we break through the “it” of the task to You, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.


Chapter three has some wonderful things in it about solitude and silence and community…note the warning Bonhoeffer gives related to solitude and to community. Have a blessed week! (Take note further down of the reading schedule for our next book and the title of the book after that...)