Browsing Tag

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Advent

Christmas is four weeks from today, so it is safe to say we are in the season of Advent.

My faith tradition did not place a big emphasis on the Christian calendar, with the exception of Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and of course Christmas Day. But there is great depth, even warmth, when we allow the seasons to enter our daily thinking.

This year I am going to read daily from the book God is in the Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It is a collection of his letters from prison and a few of his sermons. If you are unfamiliar …

Random Thoughts,

Advent Reflection by Bonhoeffer

“Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent. One waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other – things that are really of no consequence – the door is shut and can only be opened from the outside.”
An Advent Reflection from Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

With this insight from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written as he sat in a Nazi jail, we begin Advent.

Waiting. Hoping. Doing inconsequential things. All in anticipation of the door being opened.

What Bonhoeffer experienced as he waited in a prison cell can be compared to those who wait in poverty. They wait. Patiently. …

Uncategorized,

God is in the Manger

It’s a little late for you to start the Dietrich Bonhoeffer inspired book God Is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas this year, but I highly recommend it for next year. We all know how the Christmas season flies by and we are hyper busy getting everything done, and we all know we shouldn’t let that happen. But it still does, year after year, and we find it hard to focus on Christ in the manger.

Leave it to the collected writings of a brilliant martyr to bring us back to the real reason for the season. The …

Book Reviews,

Reading List Part II

Earlier this month I wrote about the books I’d read during my sabbatical. I thought I’d post another update before leaving for Italy.

Before my break, my friend Nick suggested I read The Voice of Jesus by Gordon T. Smith. I really enjoyed this book. Smith takes the spiritual traditions of three different Christian leaders — a Jesuit (Ignatius), a Methodist (Wesley), and a Puritan (Edwards) — and pulls out their commonality. This is molded into a model for understanding God’s intentions … or as the book title makes clear, a method for hearing the voice of Jesus. I especially …