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Life Together: Chapter 1- Community

Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer 
Chapter 1: Community 
Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity

It will be the most beautiful day when we are all together in eternity for about a million reasons and one being that all the brothers and sisters will finally be together in perfect unity. It is in and through Jesus Christ that today the church has any hope of existing as a community connected through brotherly love. 

As we wait in anticipation we live out Christian fellowship as the church though unfortunately it is scattered about at the present moment. Though our fellowship is not perfect Jesus instituted the church for a purpose. Part of that is that it is a source of incomparable joy and strength for believers.God has gifted us with a means of coming together to support one another. Bonhoeffer points out that too often we forget that our community created through Christ is something not everyone has. Some people don't have that community because they are outside of Christianity. Others do not because they are part of the body of Christ but, God has called them to places where they are without Christian community. Those are people who crave the community some of us take for granted. 

This is a lesson that us Christians need to take from Bonhoeffer on community; that it is a blessing and gift that we cannot forget we have especially in the American church. In the United States we might be quick to forget that not everyone is welcome to publicly gather with their brothers and sisters in Christ. What a joy it should be and what a source of strength we have access to if we realize what we have in the resource of the church.

So why do we have this community? It is because Jesus left behind his people to live with one another as "bringers of the message of salvation" (23). No other community standard can measure up. Only through Jesus can unity be found, though we admit not perfectly at this time. And again I will say not perfectly. Though we are saved by grace we still fight the battle of sin. That means that in every area of Christian community we are still going to struggle but it is one worth the struggle.

It is our common faith that holds us together and it is a gracious gift of God that we experience community within the body of Christ. Then within this community we have an obligation to take care of one another and live in peace with one another. When our Christian community is healthy our relationships with God and with one another will improve also. And we know God has called us to love Him and love others. Let us remember the gift we have that we might protect and preserve it.   


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