Breakfast with...

If you could sit down and share breakfast with anybody in the universe, past or present, who would it be?

Wonderful fellowship is often had sitting around a breakfast, lunch or supper table.  I know...to some of you reading it would be a dinner table, but I'm a good ole' country girl and it is still supper to me!  It doesn't even have to be a full meal to render such sweet fellowship. 

If you could sit down with anyone and share a cup of coffee, who would it be?  What kinds of questions would you want to ask this person?

I'm presently reading through a book as part of my quiet times each morning.  The book is Breakfast with Bonhoeffer:  How I Learned To Stop Being Religious So I Could Follow Jesus by Jon Walker.  I have previously read and reviewed Jon's book Costly Grace:  AContemporary View of Bonhoeffers's The Cost of Discipleship.  You can take a peak of that HERE. 

While poring over the classic writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and writing Costly Grace, Jon was not just doing research for a book.  He found himself challenged and changed by Bonhoeffer's writing.  Here is an excerpt from my reading this morning and the reason for this post:

"'Genuine love is always self-forgetful' says Bonhoeffer.  It's unfortunate, Bonhoeffer says, that many followers of Jesus get stuck right at this point - at the threshold of the Kingdom but unwilling to die to self.  The truth is, the image of the good man or woman easily becomes a form of idolatry because we place that image and our own abilities to be nice above our intimacy with Jesus.  We auto-respond from the image instead of talking to our Lord about what we should do or how we should handle a situation...This hypocrisy and idolatry leaves us in a state of denial -  perhaps the great condition of the modern church - where we act as if we're living the abundant life while secretly we are living in quiet desperation.  The truth is, Bonhoeffer says, we'd rather have a saint in our small group than a sinner because we don't want to deal with the mess.  But the problem is, this creates an unsafe environment to bring our problems and our pain, so we all try acting like saints because we're afraid people will see the mess in our own lives."

Great condition of the modern church...

Quiet desperation...

Deal with the mess...

I wonder what you think about what is contained in that quote?  Do you agree with what you read there?  Have you experienced this in your own life?  In your church?  In your small group?

My husband and I often have the discussion about how we are tired of playing games in the ministry.  The world is dark and many people are fighting battles in their families and in their own personal lives for purity and holiness.  The time has come to get serious about the battle we are in and as much as we'd like to sugar-coat it...WE ARE IN A BATTLE!  It's hard...it's messy...and sometimes it is down right bloody.  The enemy of our souls is out to steal, kill and destroy.

And all the while many of us who claim to "know the Lord" are living in this quiet desperation of which Bonhhoeffer speaks.  I wonder why?

So...I'd love to hear your thoughts about this!  Genuine love isn't afraid of the mess.

Blessings,
Jennifer