Claimed, gathered and sent

Please take a minute to read this perceptive piece by Bonhoeffer. Note the circumstances of his life. BONHOEFFER for WEDNESDAY February 7, 2007 Finding Ourselves in Christ It is not that God's help and presence must still be proved in our life; rather God's presence and help have been demonstrated for us in the life of Jesus Christ. It is in fact more important for us to know what God did to Israel, in God's son Jesus Christ, than to discover what God intends for us today. The fact that Jesus Christ died is more important than the fact that I will die. And the fact the Jesus Christ was raised from the dead is the sole ground of my hope that I, too, will be raised on the day of judgment. Our salvation is "from outside ourselves." I find salvation not in my life story, but only in the story of Jesus Christ. Only those who allow themselves to be found in Jesus Christ - in the incarnation, cross, and resurrection - are with God and God with them. - Dietrich Bonhoeffe...

Evil in Disguise The great masquerade of evil has played havoc with all our ethical concepts. For evil to appear disguised as light, charity, historical necessity, or social justice is quite bewildering to anyone brought up on our traditional ethical concepts, while for Christians who base their lives on the Bible it merely confirms the fundamental wickedness of evil....Who stands fast? Only those whose final standards are not their reason, their principle, their conscience, their freedom, or their virtue, but who are ready to sacrifice all this when they are called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God - the responsible ones, who try to make their whole life an answer to the question and call to God. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - from Letters and Papers from Prison 2,4 from A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer Carla Barnhill, Ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2005 On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler is made chancellor of Germany

The following article is located at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/40686 Home > 2007 > February (Web-only) Christianity Today, February (Web-only), 2007 Fatah Police Seize Gaza Baptist Church As cease-fire agreements between Fatah and Hamas come and go, a church is literally caught in the middle. Deann Alford | posted 2/07/2007 08:20AM F ive Fatah police officers remain stationed on Gaza Baptist Church's sixth floor as a tense truce has brought at least momentary peace to the tiny strip of coast teetering on the brink of civil war. Related articles and links Tuesday afternoon, fights between the secular Fatah party and its rival, the militant Islamic party Hamas, flared on Gaza's side of the Egyptian border as Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh passed through Rafah Crossing en route to reconciliation talks. The 10-minute gun battle not only threatened to shatter the latest cease-fire but also trapped Hani Fazah, a Christian Gazan doctor and f...