Okay, I admit, that’s a cheesy title, especially given the depth of Bonhoeffer’s words about Christ in community, but I’m a little — shall-we- say — challenged at the moment. I promise to get back to the third piece of service, but today we need this word:
“Christ is depicted as the embodiment both of God and Christians, who are moved to do what, without Christ, they would be unable to accomplish: to live together, sharing faith, hope, and self-giving love in a prayerful, compassionate, caring community. Christ is present in the community as representative of God’s graced outreach to God’s children and the incarnate embodiment of all those who crave in their faith for community with God. The Christ of Life Together is the binding force of that community in its “togetherness,” gracing Christians to go beyond the superficial, often self-centered, relationships of their everyday associations toward a more intimate sense of what it means to be Christ to others, to love others as Christ has loved them.”
Think about it. How does being in Christ and Christ being in you make a difference in the way you relate to community?
