Rev Chris Roth

As I was writing my sermon this week, I was thinking about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together . I started writing and I got a little bit carried away so I ended up writing a bit more about Bonhoeffer than I did about the Gospel; but I thought maybe I would share what I was ruminating on anyway.  One of the most powerful little books about Christian community was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It's called "Life Together." I was reminded of his words when I was thinking about the Gospel passage today, which has to do with conflict in the church . In Life Together he says: “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” “God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious.” We have to be careful with how we use these words because, of course, we have a vision for the church. We have an idea about...

  Matthew 18: 15-20 One of the most powerful books about Christian community was written by the Theologian and Pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is called Life Together. I was reminded of his words as I was thinking about our Gospel passage today, which has to do with dealing with conflict in the church. Bonhoeffer warns that we can begin to love our idea of the church more than the actual people that God has put in front of us. Bonhoeffer says, “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” That warning has to do with the way we treat the real community in front of us. … I once met someone with a PhD in theology who no longer attended church because he couldn’t find one that was “doing it right.” His ideal church had become more important than any actual church. It had turned him into a judge of churches, a kind of connoisseur of ...