Blessing the World - Bonhoeffer

The world lives by the blessing of God

and of the righteous and thus has a future.

Blessing means laying one's hand on something and

     saying: Despite everything, you belong to God.

This is what we do with the world

that inflicts such suffering on us.

We do not abandon it;

we do not repudiate, desire, or condemn it;

instead we call it back to God,

we give it hope,

we lay our hand on it and say:

may God's blessing come upon you,

may God renew you;

be blessed, world created by God,

you belong to your Creator and Redeemer.

- Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Meditation and Prayer, ed. by Peter Frick

Never give up on that which the Lord has redeemed. Instead, do everything you can to remind him/her/it of this glorious redemption.

Psalm 27:1

"The LORD is my light and my salvation;
     whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
     of whom shall I be afraid?"
Psalm 27:1

This verse has been my anthem the past week or so. It began when a brother told me that during a time of prayer over me, this was the psalm that came to his mind for me. I've been meditating and praying on it since then, and the impact of what it means still hasn't fully been revealed to me yet, I don't think. But I pray you are  blessed by this meditation, as I have been.

The LORD is my light.
What is light? It is a wave and a particle (somehow), and it is a force, not opposite of darkness, but one that chases away all darkness. Because darkness is not a separate force opposite of light, but rather it is the absence of light. Where a light shines, no darkness can remain within the reach of that light (see John 1:5). For the LORD to be our light, it means that He is the one who illumines our lives and chases away the darkness. There can be no darkness where the light of the LORD is shining. There can be no falsehood where Truth is king. There can be no depression where Joy is master. There can be no hate where Love reigns.
      LORD, be my light. Be the One that illumines my path and my life. Be the light that chases away the darkness in me. Let Your light shine through me, to bring the light of Your truth to a dark world. 


The LORD is my salvation.
How easy it is for us to say this and take it for granted, or to not even grasp the fullness of what it means. The LORD is salvation to the lost, wholeness to the broken, healing for the sick, joy for the downtrodden. The LORD has paid the debt owed on us, brought us out of our exile into His freedom, cleansed us from all our sins and brought us into the glory of His Kingdom. Nothing can compare to the greatness of the salvation that we have through Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! What a Savior! My words cannot even begin to do it justice. All the books in the world could not hold enough praise, and the extent of our language is frustratingly limited to express the greatness of our salvation.
LORD, be my salvation, now and forever. Daily your mercy restores me to Your will and keeps me dwelling in Your presence. You are my rescue, my salvation, the hope of my glory. Use me to bring the news of your great Salvation to the world. 


The LORD is the stronghold of my life.
A stronghold is a place you can go to be safe. The alternate word used in the Scripture is "refuge." A haven. A sanctuary. A place of rest and security. A place like home. A place that is a solid rock upon which to stand amidst a sea of chaos. A fortress of peace in the midst of a war surrounding you. When all around is bearing down on you with demands, persecutions, criticisms, stress, conflict, hatred--the LORD is a refuge. He is a stronghold whose walls of protection nothing can penetrate. Run to Him and let Him receive you in love. The stronghold of the LORD is a place where you know you can trust Him to protect. It is a place where you know you are safe. It is a place where you know you are loved.
LORD, be the stronghold of my life, the refuge of protection that I run to when I am troubled. In the good time and bad, You are constant, and You never change as a source of love and goodness and protection from all evil. Let the peace of Your refuge be shown in my life, that others may know the power of Your love. 


With the LORD, there is no fear. His perfect love casts out all fear. With the knowledge of His great salvation, living in His all-pervading Light, secure in the comfort of His refuge, there is nothing that can come against us. If our God is for us, who can be against us? Know the goodness of the LORD, His goodness that is for you. Meditate on His light, His salvation, and His stronghold and what these can really mean for you in your day to day life. And be blessed by the Lord of all the universe, Who loves you more than you can imagine, and desires to be known and loved by you.

Amen, and glory be to our God forever and ever!

You are God's Child

You,
human being,
no matter who you are,

you are God's child,

you are included in God's love,
out of the pure, incomprehensible grace of God;
accept this word, believe in it,
trust in his rule
rather than in yourself or in your own party,
rather than in your own work or your own religion.
God does as he wills.

Turn your misery into God's blessed presence,
and from within your guilt and distress
hear the voice
of the eternal, living God.

--Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Meditation and Prayer, ed. by Peter Frick


This is why I am a pacifist. I know this wasn't Bonhoeffer's point in this meditation, but these are the thoughts that have led me to my commitment. How can I cause harm to something/someone God loves so much? How can I support the killing of a human being, made in the image of God? There is so much hope for each person in the love of God through Jesus Christ. How can I take that away?

I feel that this principle is slowly and surely changing me. Changing how I view the world, how I view people. May God's "blessed presence" be with me as I live it out.

Truth and Love

Insight, knowledge, truth
without love is nothing--
it is not even truth,
for truth is God, and God is truth.

So truth without love is a lie; it is nothing.
Truth just for oneself
truth spoken in enmity and hate
is not truth but a lie,
for truth brings us into God's presence,
and God is love.

Truth
is either the clarity of love,
or it is nothing.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Meditation and Prayer, ed. Peter Frick

Silence

We are silent
early in the morning
because God should have the first word,
and we are silent before going to bed
because the last word also belongs to God.

In the end,
silence means nothing other than waiting
for God's Word
and coming from God's Word
with a blessing.

Real silence,
real stillness,
really holding one's tongue,
comes only as the sober consequence of
spiritual silence.

There is a wonderful
power in being silent
--the power of clarification, purification,
and the focus on what is essential.

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from Meditation and Prayer, ed. Peter Frick

Meditations

A bathroom devotional I wrote for my floor--my last one as a CMC in Wright Hall and as a college student. With all the craziness going on in life, it was a reminder I needed as well.

I want to take this time to remind you to make sure you take time to simply slow down. Take some time for yourself, take time to just breathe, take time to sit and do nothing for a while. Take some time to meditate on the Lord and what he has done for you.

Take comfort in His goodness.

Find peace in His protection.

Find strength in His joy.

God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you.

He has promised this.

You have been given victory over sin in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Victory – know the power of it!

You have been given new life in the Holy Spirit—

Once dead, now alive!

You have been called by the King of kings to share in His eternal Kingdom—

A royal inheritance.

You have been adopted as a son by your Heavenly Father—

A family to which you are welcomed with open arms.

Our God has done so much for us, and has promised so much more. Claim these promises for yourselves. Claim the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Trust in God’s goodness. Rest in His unfailing love. You who have fallen away from Him, He is calling you back. Come. Come to love and trust and serve Him once again. As when the prodigal son returned to his Father, our Father is waiting with open arms to receive you again, and overflows with joy when you return.

May these meditations refresh you and allow God to speak to you. May His strength carry you throughout the end of the year and into the summer, whatever you are doing. May His love never cease to amaze you and renew you. Amen.