Fellowship is a Gift


In his 1939 book Life Together, German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote:

It is easily forgotten that the fellowship of the Christian brethren is a gift of grace, a gift of the kingdom of God that any day may be taken from us, that the time that still separates us from utter loneliness may be brief indeed.

When I first read the passage some thirty years ago, I felt it profound and certainly applicable to Bonhoeffer’s time as he established an underground seminary within an oppressive state.  I did not see it very relevant to me, other than providing a perspective to rise above the more trivial disagreements within a church community (like choosing the color of a carpet). 

What a difference COVID-19 has made and its resulting isolation.  While Shari and technology keep me from “utter loneliness,” life is more detached.  We miss the physical presence of family and friends, especially of our parents, children, and our new grandchild.  On-line church is good, but it’s just not the same.  We are reminded each week of the gift we have had in collocated corporate worship, and we look forward to that gift returning at some point in the future. 

This Holy Week let me remember others that do not have same level of connectedness that I still enjoy.  It has been too easy to take community for granted.  Let me do as Bonhoeffer suggests and remember, “It is grace, nothing but grace, that we are allowed to live in community.”  Amen.

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