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Dietrich Bonhoeffer On The Ministry Of The Lord’s Supper

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Jon Walker in his book, In Visible Fellowship: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s Classic Work:  Life Together writes in chapter 36, the final chapter, about the “Ministry of Communion”. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote…

It is the command of Jesus that none should come to the altar with a heart that is unreconciled to his brother. If this command of Jesus applies to every service of worship, indeed, to every prayer we utter, then it most certainly applies to reception of the Lord’s Supper. 

Walker writes that The Big Idea of the chapter is…

Communion is about the sharing of life. It is about knowing others and being known by others, about caring and being cared for on a deep and personal level. And, when we take Communion (The Lord’s Supper) together, we should reflect the life we share with one another because the Life of Christ is active in our hearts.

Walker added:

We cannot love like Jesus loves us unless we enter each other’s lives in an intimate and personal way.

…And so Jesus expects us to come up-close to each others.

…During the Last Supper, Jesus emphasizes the reality of our oneness with him, with the Father, and with each other; yet, we’ve lost that emphasis in the way we shares the Lord’s Supper (Communion) today. We’ve reduced it to a superficial ritual, where we focus entirely on the sacrifice of Jesus, but the exclusion of the oneness we are called to with each other. .

Don’t misunderstand, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the unimpeachable core of our relationship with God and each other. It is the very thing, the only thing, that brings us into communion with the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

…And so our communion with Christ should compel us into communion with each other.

…Jesus spent most of the Last Supper speaking about his love for us, and our oneness with him and the Father.

…Yet, somehow we’ve truncated the message into a memorial service for Jesus. We say, “Let’s remember what he did for us,” but then we stop before we get to the part where we’re supposed to remember what we should do for each other because we are in union with Christ… 

…To be like Jesus is…When we are united in Christ, we “can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God…” (Romans 15:6 NLT).

(Jon WalkerIn Visible Fellowship: A Contemporary View of Bonhoeffer’s Classic Work: Life Together, Chapter 36).



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