Life together under the Word will remain sound and
healthy only where it does not form itself into a movement, an order, a
society, a collegium pietatis, but
rather where it understands itself as being a part of the one, holy, catholic,
Christian Church, where it shares actively and passively in the sufferings and
struggles and promise of the whole Church.
Every principle of selection and every separation
connected with it that is not necessitated quite objectively by common work,
local conditions, or family connections is of the greatest danger to a
Christian community. When the way of intellectual or spiritual selection is
taken the human element always insinuates itself and robs the fellowship of its
spiritual power and effectiveness for the Church, drives it into sectarianism.
The exclusion of the weak and insignificant, the
seemingly useless people, from a Christian community may actually mean the
exclusion of Christ; in the poor brother Christ is knocking at the door. We
must, therefore, be very careful at this point.
An extract from ‘Life Together’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(1906 – 1945)
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