Dietrich Bonhoeffer | Life and Faith

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I am a person who likes to know how much things cost.

I look for the sign at the gas station because I want to know how much gasoline is going to cost me and if I can get it cheaper somewhere else. I sometimes order from the right side of the menu in a restaurant because the cost of a meal can determine what I’m going to eat. I seek an estimate before I hire someone to do a job and I want to know how much a hotel is going to charge me to stay overnight before I book a room.

I am a person who likes to know how much things cost.

But how much things are going to cost isn’t always easy to figure-out. How can you figure-out how much it’s going to cost to be a parent? How can you begin to estimate the cost of being a son or daughter when you become responsible for a parent’s care? I have to admit that I had no idea of what it would cost both me and my family when I invited a Bishop to place his hands upon my head and ordain me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the famous pastor who was martyred by the Nazis during World War II, once wrote: “When Christ calls a person to come and follow Him, Jesus calls that person to come and die.” Jesus once said that people who want to be His disciples must learn to deny themselves and to take-up the Cross and follow Him. (Luke 14:27)

Jesus continues to call us to set aside some time to pray each day and to read our Bible in a world where some Christians believe it’s alright to say things like: “I hear what you are saying, but I’m just not that type of Christian.” Jesus continues to call us to come together in worship in a country (the United States) where only about 15% of the people who say that they’re following Jesus set aside time to worship and pray each week. Jesus calls us to join hands with those who are feeding the homeless, to stand beside women and men who are survivors of abuse and sexual assault, and to provide safe places where people who are fighting their addiction to drugs or alcohol can find people to support them. And Jesus still calls His disciples to stand in solidarity with those who are very easily pushed-aside by those in positions of power and by those who are not afraid to use their power to benefit themselves, their friends, and their heirs.

But, as we pay the cost of discipleship, Jesus also blesses us.

How can you ever describe the feeling of warmth that fills your heart when a young man who lives almost 1,000 miles away asks you to help him put into words what he believes about God as he prepares for his Confirmation? How can I ever begin to describe what it feels like to watch a young man that I visited in jail (as a teenager) pull life back together and grow into a wonderful husband and father? I often look back and am truly honored by the fact that my father trusted me during a time in his life when his friends were gone and when he had even lost the ability to fully care for himself.

Yes, the cost of discipleship is going to challenge you to set some things aside in order to do other things that aren’t always going to be easy to do. But, the only other alternative is to simply soak in the luke-warm waters of life and never allow God to challenge you.

May God bless you as you continue to walk your journey of faith and as you figure-out what Christ’s call to discipleship means to you. Discipleship calls us to do thing that we never imagined we’d ever do. It challenges us to reach beyond the places in life where we feel “safe” and to engage with people that we’re tempted to just ignore. We’re going to laugh, we’re going to cry, we will see life from the top of the mountain, and we will most certainly have times when we’re weary to the bone.

And that’s what happens when we find ourselves following Jesus and living-into God’s plan for our lives. So, don’t keep calm! Go change the world!

Click Here for This Week’s Message

Click here to learn more about Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s – “The Cost of Discipleship”

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We begin our journey through Lent this week.

Some of us have decided to “give up” something for the next few weeks, and some of us have entered Lent with the desire to try something new. Lent is, traditionally, a time in the year when we’re called to be more reflective and to carefully examine our priorities. And, as we travel through these next few weeks, we’ll be drawn to the base of the Cross, and we’ll be challenged to think about what the death and resurrection of Christ means to us today.

We begin Lent with a time of confession. Have any of us loved God with our whole heart and forgiven every single person who’s hurt us? Have any of us never experienced pride, or envy, or apathy? Have any of us never been negligent in prayer? Have we never closed our eyes to injustice, or allowed our deep-seated prejudices to affect the way we think about other people?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once penned a well-known book entitled: “Life Together.” And one of the central themes of that book is “alien righteousness” – a theme that clearly reminds us that, as we share our lives with other people, we can never forget that we are people who aren’t perfect and that we don’t have the right to demand perfection from others. This is an important truth for us to grasp as we live with each other in a fallen world.

Bonhoeffer writes:

“It is the grace of the Gospel which is so hard for the pious to understand. The Gospel confronts us with the truth and says: ‘You are a sinner; a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to the God who loves you – knowing that God wants you as you are; and He does not wants anything from you (some sort of sacrifice or good work). God wants you alone!'”

That’s where we begin our journey through Lent. And in the message, “God Wants You Alone”, we’re invited to enter the Season of Lent with that in mind. Perhaps, instead of moving through the Season of Lent with our list of things we’re willing to “give up” as a sign of self-denial, we can use this special time in the year to focus upon the love and grace and embrace of the Living God – hearing once again: “God Wants You Alone.”

Blessings!