Paul writes – I’ve been reflecting on a couple of quotes recently. The first is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (one of his ‘prison letters’), and the second is from Nicholas Lash. Both were situated in a larger reflection on The Church: Community of Suffering and Hope:
“…Later I discovered and I am still discovering up to this very moment that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to believe. One must abandon every attempt to make something of oneself…This is what I mean by worldliness [i.e. living completely in this world] – taking life in one’s stride, with all its duty and problems, its successes and failures, its experiences and helplessness. It is in such a life that we throw ourselves utterly into the arms of God and participate in his sufferings in the world and watch with Christ in Gethsemane…”
“…I see no rational grounds for optimism concerning the future of mankind. But there does exist, with whatever fragility and ambivalence, a form of hope, focused in the death of one man interpreted as resurrection, for which the struggle for humanity is deemed to be worthwhile because not just one man’s death but the entire wilderness of the world’s Gethsemane is trusted to be the expression of that mystery whose truth with be all [people’s] freedom…”
I continue to reflect more and more not about a rational defence of gospel; a rational, propositional defence of faith (it seems to me to be becoming increasingly meaningless in our contemporary post-Christendom context), but instead, to reflect on the importance of a quietly distinctive, humble and alternative embodied expression of “good news”. This is what gospel looks like, feels like, tastes like, sounds like – “taste and see,” “watch and listen,” “see how they love one another…” etc.
This was a great service to post this! Thanks. I really appreciated the background and links to more info. regarding this survey of our inner life. I enjoy reading your blog, day by day.
Posted by: Doug Jones | Friday, 23 March 2007 at 06:15 AM