“The existence of any
Christian communal life essentially depends on whether or not it succeeds at
the right time in promoting the ability to distinguish between a human ideal
and God’s reality, between spiritual and emotional community. The life and death
of a Christian community is decided by its ability to reach sober clarity on
these points as soon as possible. In other words, a life together under the
Word will stay healthy only when it does not form itself into a movement, an
order, a society, a collegium pietas,
but instead understands itself as being part of the one, holy, universal,
Christian church, sharing through its deeds and suffering in the hardships
and struggles and promise of the whole church.” [Underline mine]. Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, Life Together, Fortress
Press, 2015 (Reader’s Edition), page 19.
Continuing reflecting on this
quote from the previous post…
What are the dangers of “a
movement, an order, a society, a collegium
pietas [holy school]”? Just as individuals struggle against
self-centeredness, so do local congregations, as well as congregations linked
together as parts of a movement, an order, a denomination. Any
self-centeredness moves us away from the centeredness of Christ and the Cross
and in so doing also moves us away from the rest of the body of Christ. If love
for one another and unity in the Trinity are key elements in our witness to the
world (John 13:34 – 35; 17:20-23), then movements and orders and societies and
denominations by their nature militate against a united and loving witness
because they engender self-focus, self-reference, and self-interest, and self-preservation.
We manage to ignore Paul’s concern about “movements” within the Corinthian
church, often working to strengthen walls of distinction rather than seeking to
attain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Often our identity rests in
“doctrinal distinctives” rather than in Christ.
Those who seek to justify the
preservation of a movement would do well to work exceptionally hard to preserve
the unity “of the one, holy, universal, Christian church” and to inculcate in
the “movement” or “tradition” an intentional awareness and engagement with the
universal Christian church. Is this attainable? Can it be practiced? The
instinct for self-preservation is so strong within us, especially when we have
built an organization and bureaucracy that must feed itself, that I don’t know
the answer to those questions. At the very least it requires a strong hand on
the tiller for the current of fallen humanity drives us away, again and again,
from unity in Christ.
One of many dangers of
movements, traditions, denominations, societies, and holy schools is that they
become their own frameworks of reference, and those within those environments
who seek engagement and fellowship with the universal church must work against
our natural propensity for self-reference – they must teach themselves and
their fellow travelers within their movement to fear self-reference, to fear
using their “doctrinal distinctives” or their particular practices as lenses
through which to view and accept other Christians – for then we become the “emotional
church” that Bonhoeffer’s warns us against, then we superimpose our ideals and
desires on others and depart from God’s reality.
Is Bonhoeffer’s vision
attainable? The only reason we can answer “yes” is the promise of the Bible,
for in the Bible we see us all coming into the unity of the faith, into the
knowledge of the Son of God (Ephesians Chapter 4). Can we believe that the
Father will answer the prayer of Jesus in John 17? Do we believe? Let us hope
that we can believe that the Father will answer the prayer of the Son. And so
Bonhoeffer’s vision of life together
is not just Bonhoeffer’s vision, but it is the vision of the unseen that is
unveiled in the Scriptures. The New Jerusalem is working itself out in and
through the body of Christ, no matter how fractured we may appear, no matter
how much we may engage in self-destruction.
But not all who return from
Babylon rebuild the temple, and I think this is a tragedy. As with the released
captives in Haggai – our propensity is to build our own houses and to allow the
house of God to lie in ruins. We must fight against our instinct to build our
own houses, our own movements, our own reference points, and build the house of
God with all of our brothers and sisters who comprise the universal church. We
must build even for those who do not care to participate with us, who insist on
building their own houses, for (God willing) a time will come when they will
run to God’s house, God’s temple, seeking the unity of the body of Christ, the
life of the body of Christ, the love of the body of Christ…and then we want to
have a home prepared for them just as our Lord Jesus has prepared a home for
us.
There are many currents within
Christendom opposed to the unity of the church, from ego to economic, the
perpetuation of old movements and the birth of new movements imprison and
distract from Christ, from one another, and from credible witness. This is why
it isn’t unusual to see more dynamic and credible witness and unity when
Christians work outside the bounds of societies and movements and traditions than when Christians limit their activities and thinking to within
movements and societies.
When we consider that
Bonhoeffer wrote within the context of Nazi Germany, with all of the horror associated
with that time, perhaps we can appreciate why he wrote what he wrote. Movements
within the church within Germany were often more concerned with their own
self-preservation than they were with credible witness, obedience to Christ,
and the welfare of other Christians. The church outside Germany was also often
more concerned with its own interests than with the plight of its brothers and
sisters in the darkness of Germany. The church was shackled by its human
ideals, by its emotional community (which perpetuated fragmentation) and
therefore could not see or live in God’s reality – Bonhoeffer was desperate to
communicate God’s reality to God’s people, but for the most part God’s people
were not interested in being God’s people, they would rather be the people
of a movement, a society, a holy school, or a denomination.
In the dark times in which we
live, are we any different?
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