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Session 5 of
Life Togrther

Life Together

Conversations about Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book by that name

Session 4

Important things to remember:

• Ministry is not about a role or status within the community. It is something that is the responsibility of each member of the community. Ministry is a radical, other worldly relationship that each nurtures every other in the community
  
  
• The thought (the reasoning) "who is greatest" is the most dangerous enemy of the community. That thought (that reasoning) tries to get a person to establish his/her place in the community and to put everyone else in their place. It is an exercise in self-justification. It annuls Jesus' act of grace for every one on the cross. It is every member's responsibility to "face it and eradicate it." Ministry is about how to do exactly that … eradicate that thought, that reasoning.
  
  
• The ministry of holding one's tongue. This is about combating that thought/reasoning by refusing to express it in words. It's about not yielding to the temptation to use words to "put people in their place" or to justify oneself. One who controls their tongue controls both mind and body. "Each individual is prohibited from saying much that occurs to him/her." Especially, this means it is prohibited to talk about someone, particularly when that person is not present. The goal is to cease constantly scrutinizing other people and putting them in their place by what is said. It's letting the other person be free to be who s/he is in Christ. It is letting the other person be "employed" by Christ without interference.
  
  
• The ministry of meekness. This is about not thinking of oneself more highly than s/he ought. It is about having a true assessment of oneself, doing what one is able, and not comparing to others (as to being better than). The key to meekness is the profound realization that one is forgiven. That means that we know we have sinned, that makes us human like everyone else, and it makes us no better than anyone else. Meekness understands that our greatest wisdom is not at all wise. It realizes that only God is wise. It puts others and their needs and plans before our own. It suffers injustice and wrong, but does so without becoming complicit with them … it does not enable them by pretending they are right. It sees our best as the least we can do.
  
  
• The ministry of listening. The first service that one owes the others in community is to listen to them. To love is to listen (Tillich). It is about listening wholly. It is about listening as an exercise in healing others. It isn't about ourselves and waiting for a chance to say what we want to say. It's about hearing the others confession of where s/he is..
  
  
• The ministry of helpfulness. The second service that one owes others in community is active helpfulness. Nobody is too good for the meanest service. We need to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God in the form of a person. It is about allowing God to ultimately arrange our schedule. "Only where hands are not too good for deeds of love and mercy in every day helpfulness can the mouth joyfully and convincingly proclaim the message of God's love and mercy."
  
  
• The ministry of bearing. The third service is bearing one another's burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. "It is only when s/he is a burden that a person is really a brother/sister and not merely an object to be manipulated. It is the fellowship of the cross to experience the burden of another. If one does not experience it, the fellowship/community to which s/he belongs is not Christian. We are to bear the freedom of another. That means their strengths, weaknesses, and oddities. It means to be involved in the created reality of the other … to accept it, affirm it, and ultimately take joy in it. We are to bear each other's sin … it means to not give him/her up as totally lost … it means to restore the sinner with meekness … it means to forgive
  
  
• The ministry of proclaiming. This is about free communication of "The Word" between people. It's not about preaching or being preachy. It's about speaking the Word of Truth with humility to correct or admonish. It's about taking on the dreadful responsibility to decide that one is not simply talking to add empty talk, one is not talking to put another in his/her place, but one is being led by the Spirit to speak words of redemption. At such times we are to speak nothing but "God's Word."
  
  
• The ministry of authority. The ministry of genuine spiritual authority is to be found only where the ministry of hearing, helping, bearing, and proclaiming is carried out. It is not a cult of personality, virtues or talents. It is about service to Christ and to Christ's children.