Claimed, gathered and sent

Click here to view an annotation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer | International Dietrich Bonhoeffer Society Let us pray: Make us like you, please make us like you. By your grace may we interact with our friends, co-workers and family in a way that ministers your healing love. Amen.

This thought could make a real difference in how we treat all we come in contact with at work, school, wherever. BONHOEFFER for MONDAY March 19, 2007 Love versus Hate How then does love conquer? By asking not how the enemy treats love but only how Jesus treated it. The love for our enemies takes us along the way of the cross and into the community with the crucified. The more we are driven along this road, the more certain is the victory of love over the enemy's hatred. For then it is not the disciple's own love, but the love of Jesus Christ alone, who for the sake of his enemies went to the cross and prayed for them as he hung there. In the face of the cross the disciples realized that they too were his enemies and that he had overcome them by his love. It is this that opens the disciples' eyes and enables them to see their enemy as a brother or sister. They know that they owe their very life to One who, though he was their enemy, accepted them, who made them his neighb

Revelation 3:1-6 If the Christian life is all about God’s grace and our inability to please God on our own, what is all this talk of works in Revelation? Obedience and repentance??? The good news is God know us intimately, better than we know ourselves. We can’t fool him. The church of Sardis had a “name of being alive” (v. 1), but instead they were dead. The outside looked good, but what was on the inside? Remember Jesus telling the Pharisees “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27 NIV). What preventative measure is there for this problem? We must carefully tend the garden of our inner life. Those in Sardis and the Pharisees had it reversed. The outside looked great and the inside was full of death and decay. The inner garden is a delicate place, and if not properly maintained it will be quickly overrun by intrusive undergrowth. God does not often walk in disordered g

As always, God is faithful. I still have my job. My husband, Ray, wisely suggested I act as though I never heard the rumor about my termination. It was extremely difficult to do so on Tues., but then as the week progressed, I had peace. The realization slowly dawned upon me that no one, including my boss, could do anything to me, firing included, unless God allowed it. And if he allowed it, it must be for a good reason. Take a look at this post from Scot McKnight at JesusCreed. After my experience of last week, it resonates with me. Against the Wall: Rescue Filed under: Psalm 119 — Scot McKnight @ 2:10 am Have you ever had your back to the wall? Ever wonder if you were going to make it? Ever wonder if the enemy would do you in? Ever wonder if you would live another day? The psalmist knows the experience, and the Resh section (119:153-160) reveals how the psalmist faced the future when his back was to the wall. (read more…) The theme of the Resh section is

Psalm 27 is a powerful testimony to the faithfulness and protection of God. Today I was meditating on verse 5, "For in the day of trouble God will give me shelter, hide me in the hidden places of the sanctuary, and raise me high upon a rock." That's good news. Now comes the hard part. Last Friday a co-worker was let go. I was told tonight by her that the boss said I was next on the list. Why, I don't know and it really bothered me because of my work ethic. But God says, that in the day of trouble he will give me shelter, hide me, raise me up. Even though I fully intend to give my resignation in the near future to go to school full time, the duplicity bothered me nonetheless. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Now to go to work in the coming weeks and love with the love of Christ in spite of lies. I have never been fired before and I have worked since was 14 years old. I guess it's a pride thing that needs working out. Lent is a

Today's readings are powerful and interesting. Psalm 27 portrays the God of light, salvation, a stronghold who delivers us from trouble. The gospel shows Jesus' missional orientation. He will not depart from his calling in spite of the threats of Herod. So far, so good. Jesus as a mother hen? We don't consider hens that strong or powerful, certainly unlike the imagery of Psalm 27. As a hen gathers her young chicks to protect them from danger, she leaves herself most vulnerable, exposing her breast. She gives her own life for the chicks. Even so, Jesus, arms open wide in love upon the cross gave himself for us. The Jerusalem chicks were rebellious, refused to be gathered. What about us? We are offered protection and shelter, salvation. Willful rebellion brings on a desolate house, void of God's presence. Rather, let us be gathered together and declare, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."

Good Work In this process work does not cease to be work; but the severity and rigor of labor is sought all the more by those who know what good it does them. The continuing conflict with the It remains. But at the same time the breakthrough has been made. The unity of prayer and work, the unity of the day, is found because finding the You of God behind the It of the day's work is what Paul means by his admonition to "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). The prayer of the Christian reaches, therefore, beyond the time allocated to it and extends into the midst of the work. It surrounds the whole day, and in so doing it does not hinder work; it promotes work, affirms work, gives work great significance and joyfulness. Thus every word, every deed, every piece of work of the Christian becomes a prayer.... - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - from Life Together 75-76 from A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer Carla Barnhill, Ed., HarperSan Francisco, 2005