Who Stands Firm?

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Grace to all!

At Christmas, 1942, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a piece entitled "After Ten Years". He wrote:

Who stands firm? Only the one for whom the final standard
is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom,
his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all these, when in faith
and sole allegiance to God he is called to obedient and responsible
action, the responsible person, whose life will be nothing but an
answer to God's question and call. Where are these responsible
persons?

What does it take to do this? I think it depends upon where we start. As Christians, we start with yielding to God's grace. Unless we yield, we become megaphones for ourselves. As a great book by Phillip Watson says: "Let God be God". Impossible! That is why we yield, "not as we ought, but as we are able". We bring to the table a realization the humble truth that God is in charge.

Our next starting point is the Word, the Holy Bible. We try to not cherry pick texts to justify our positions. We try to remember that there are 66 books that need to be honored. We try to give credence to God's justice, God's concern for the poor, God's peace, God's love for all, God's sense of fairness, God's call to accountability, God's sensitivity to "the least of these". God's call to sacrifice.

Prayer is a starting point. Prayer is intentional conversation with Jesus. Prayer is listening and speaking to God. Prayer nurtures our relationship with God. We can have a relationship with each other primarily through conversation. So it is with God. I recall the various daily prayer times at Taize' in France. I recall Advent "Holden Evening Prayer" and Lenten Taize' Prayer. I recall the music, the Word, the silence. Let's talk. Let's listen. God is speaking. Obedience is more than being another talking head (or blogger!).

Worship is a starting point. The focus is the cross. The center is Christ. We confess. We receive forgiveness. We praise the One God of all. We sing. we pray. We receive the Lord's Supper. We listen. We gather with others, coming out of our separate living places to be the Family of God, the Communion of Saints; acknowledging that God created us for each other, that each is created in the Image of God, that no one has a leg up on the other. We are humbled in our commonness.

Now we can act! The responsible life puts first things first. Standing firm in Christ and Church are the starting points. It is these "arcane disciplines" as Bonhoeffer calls them, that free us to act. We step out, engage the world, ask the questions, define principles, listen to our conscience, only after yielding to the disciplines of the arcane. We must first be informed by God through the loving crucible of the Word, prayer, worship, and each other.

Now we gather the facts. Now we engage each other in honest debate. Now we yield not to ideology, but to what is good, right, and just, for the common good, for all, because we realize that we are our brothers and sisters keepers, that the earth is fragile and needs our care, that we are created first and last to love in the nonviolent Spirit of Jesus.

Who stands firm in this?

Peace!
Ron