Peace to my Logos Forums Community of Brothers and Sisters in the Lord...
and to all those at Logos who work so hard for our benefit....
And! Great Joy in the Lord! *smile*
Many have suggested some or even all the works of Bonhoeffer. I most certainly concur and ask Logos to please do what they can to make this available to us in a Logos Format.
Just became excited again after reading from my personal archives a post that I saved addressed to busy church workers....
It goes:
Encouragement for Busy Church Leaders
The Necessity of the Word of God and Prayer inPublic Ministry and Personal Life
The Word of God and prayer that are foundational for the Public Ministry to which we are called need also to be the lifeblood of our personal spiritual life. While few would argue about the first half of the above statement, I wonder how many would affirm the second half. Even when we focus on Paul's encouragement to the Colossians, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly," we most often use it on the side of Public Ministry, but seldom consider it as applying to personal spiritual growth. When was the last conversation you had with another professional Church Worker that was focused more on the Word of God impacting you (or them) personally in your journey of life and ministry?As the N azis more and more took over control of everything including the Seminaries, (Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his colleagues) began a Seminary of their own. Bonhoeffer's book Meditating on the Word was written to Seminary students to give them practical encouragement to "let the Word of Christ dwell in (them) richly." Since I discovered and read this book in September 1988, I've been sharing it every opportunity I get.Consider this paragraph from the Introduction by the translator: "The heart of God opens itself to us in God's Word", Bonhoeffer wrote to a friend, and it is in our human hearts that he believed it should find its home. He lived in such intimate relationship with Scriptures, reading and "praying it" daily, that he could hear it as a "burning word" spoken to him personally by Jesus; he could read it as a "love letter from God." (p.9)Bonhoeffer discovered in teaching and mentoring Seminarians, that they continued asking two questions: "How can I learn to pray? How can I learn to read the Bible?" His instruction was clear, specific and practical and personal: "we begin our meditations with the prayer for the Holy Spirit, asking for proper concentration. Then we turn to the text. What text, and how long should it be? It has proven helpful to meditate on a text of approximately 10 to 15 verses for a period of a week. It is not good to meditate on a different text each day, since we are not always equally as receptive, and the texts for the most part are too long for that. The time of meditation is in the morning before the beginning of our work. A half hour is the minimum amount of time which a proper mediation requires. It is, of course, necessary that there be complete quiet, and that we intend to allow nothing to divert us, no matter how important it may seem." (p.33-34)There you have it -- clear, specific, practical, and personal. I have never heard or seen any encouragement like it. It has shaped my own personal pattern of meditation on the Word for the last twenty years. For Bonhoeffer, it was not about words, it was about a living relationship with Christ. "We want in any case to rise up from our meditation in a different state from when we sat down. We want to meet Christ in his Word. We turn to the text in our desire to hear what it is that he wants to give us and teaches today through his Word." (p.32)In a future CMGS "e-newsletter" I will share more from Bonhoeffer, but now, back to the Word. For the next two weeks, explore Bonhoeffer's pattern of meditation. Begin with prayer, then in week one, spend 15-30 minutes meditating on Psalm 42; in week two, meditate on Psalm 46. See "what he wants to give you and teach you through his word." Pray this John Baillie prayer:"May Jesus Christ be today the companion of my thoughts, that his Spirit may more and more take root in my soul." (p. 133)
Next, we will consider what it might mean for us to take seriously to "read, mark, learn and inwardly digest" the Word.
Pastor Walt WaiserPeace Lutheran, Hurst, Texas
"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly..." Colossians 3:16 (ESV)
Philippians 4: 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand..........
Thanks for sharing this.
Orthodox Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."
I just wanted to make sure you'd seen that there's a book about Bonhoeffer on sale at the new Vyrso site. Not quite the same as books by him, of course, but maybe better than nothing?
"The Christian way of life isn't so much an assignment to be performed, as a gift to be received." Wilfrid Stinissen
Mac Pro OS 10.9.
Thanks, fgh! *smile*
Didn't see it....
Now on my wish list! Might even be my gift to myself on Father's Day in June in Canada!
Then, for some of his own works, most of which I've already read in dead tree land .....
Blessings and Peace!
Milford Charles Murray: Thanks, fgh! *smile* Didn't see it.... Now on my wish list! Might even be my gift to myself on Father's Day in June in Canada! Then, for some of his own works, most of which I've already read in dead tree land ..... Blessings and Peace!
Might want to snap it up quickly. It's currently on sale for 50% off to celebrate the launch of Vyrso. No guarantee it will stay at that price for very long.
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Thanks, Rosie!
......... will do so immediately! *smile*
Peace and every blessing.... and a "gift" to you for your good testimony in another post ...a little quote *smile*
Phil 3.20 citizenship!
And here -- an anoymous quote about that: "
In Philipians 3:20 Paul wrote to people at the Roman military colony of Philippi. Though they were far from home, they were citizens of Rome, and they got their status, security, and confidence from tha tfact as they lived as Romans in the world. Paul told them that their real home (poli/teuma) was heaven, and they could draw their strength from this reality while they held their heads high as God=s people in the world.So it is with us; our identity as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation is a gift from God which moves us to tell the Good News."
fgh and Rosie!
Thanks again ... I now have my Bonhoeffer biograpy, have perused it, and ........ now ....
I'm ............. 'as happy as a pig in mud' !!! *smile*