The Bible doesn’t exactly say how long our parents dwelled together in the garden before the fall, but my feeling is something along the lines of five minutes. A break in fellowship with God quickly became a break in fellowship with each other as minimization, denial, and blame befell the day. I don’t think the behavior of humankind has changed that much in the subsequent years.
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer imparts much spiritual wisdom about how we relate to God, each other, and ourselves. It is an uncomfortable book to read because the theologian so precisely calls out our sins. But it ultimately serves a redemptive purpose for the brave souls who are willing to submit to the examination. A reader will no longer be satisfied with a pale imitation of community life.
Bonhoeffer early on defines the objective of Christian community, which is to “…meet one another as bringers of the message of salvation” (23). The final chapter, Confession and Communion, appropriately concludes with a vivid description of that purpose actualized: “As the members of the congregation are united in body and blood at the table of the Lord so will they be together in eternity” (122).
There are no shortcuts to realizing that unity. We must look at the Christian community as “not an ideal but a divine reality” (26). Our lives must be bathed in scripture, prayer, and ministry to each other. After all, if those conditions are not met, a safe environment for confession and communion will never exist.
Work Cited
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich and John W. Doberstein (trans). Life Together. SanFrancisco CA: HarperSanFrancisco, 1954.
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