Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose feast day we observed at Annual Chapter this year, was a Lutheran priest in Germany. He was imprisoned at the Tegel military prison and the Buchenwald concentration camp, before being executed at the Flossenbürg concentration camp.

Subtitled A Discussion of Christian Fellowship, Life Together discusses life as an intentional community of Christians, giving practical recommendations for living out our Christian calling as individuals and corporately. This is a slim volume, and though the content is not light fare it is a quick read. My copy was published in 1954, and it was a pleasure to detect that old-book smell each time I turned a yellow-edged page. Comprising an Introduction and five chapters, Life Together advises us on what a Christian Community is, how to spend The Day With Others, how to use The Day Alone, how to exercise our Ministry, and how to celebrate Confession and Communion.

As I read, I was amazed at the practicality of Bonhoeffer's direction, being reminded strongly of the practicality of the Rule of St. Benedict. Though someone steeped in the monastic tradition may not need direction in how to establish a discipline of daily prayer, not every Christian has this background and learning. Bonhoeffer is direct and specific in what should be included in daily prayer: a section of the Psalter, a reading from Scripture, a hymn or song, prayers together for the community and for each person's concerns, and the fellowship of the table. I say table with a small-t because while Jesus did institute the Lord's Supper, which we celebrate at God's Table each week in the Eucharist, Bonhoeffer points out that Jesus was also intentional and deliberate about breaking bread and sharing in the fellowship of the table with his disciples, with his friends, with so-called undesirables, and even with legalistic hypocrites. Bonhoeffer tells us that our prayer as a community is not complete until we have shared the fellowship of the table, honoring our community, remembering the Last Supper, and keeping in mind the eternal Feast in heaven.

In addition to practical advice on personal devotion, the shared work of the community, and our work away from the community as individuals, Bonhoeffer describes seven ministries that are crucial for living in community:

• The Ministry of Holding One's Tongue
• The Ministry of Meekness (rather like the extended chapter on Humility in St. Benedict's Rule)
• The Ministry of Listening
• The Ministry of Helpfulness
• The Ministry of Bearing
• The Ministry of Proclaiming
• The Ministry of Authority

Of course, in any community -- Christian or not -- the gifts for these ministries will not be equally shared, and yet each is important for each member of the community. The ordering of these ministries is intentional. It is difficult to exercise meekness or humility if one has not learned when to be silent. It is hard to really listen if one hasn't truly learned yet that one is not really the center of the universe, that others have needs and are important. And we can't help others if we haven't listened to them; when we do this, we're really just trying to make ourselves feel good.

When I finished reading this book and set it down, I was incredibly inspired and amazed at this. I had expected it to be a fairly basic and boring read -- blah blah, pray daily, yadda yadda, eat meals together, blah blah, love one another. Yes, this does make up much of the book. On the other hand, Bonhoeffer's guidance in Life Together has applicability far beyond a monastery or other group of Christians living in intentional community.

In my current parish -- and in every other parish I've been to more than once or twice -- I've noticed members who struggle with how to integrate their faith and spirituality into their home lives. We all hunger to express our faith in everything we do, but we don't know how to do this. Parents especially want to help form their children in the Christian faith, to establish strong and meaningful traditions, to guide them in how to behave and how to live in relationship. While Bonhoeffer is not intending this book as a guide for families -- who are, after all, not living together so much intentionally as completely by accident! -- but for those who make the decision and commitment to live together as Christians. But his advice is widely applicable to any home. A full chapter from the bible can be too much for a four-year-old, but a well-loved bible story is just right. While a family might not come together for dinner together every night, having breakfast at the table together each morning might work. Bonhoeffer expresses one way of living in community, but these ideas and recommendations can be adapted to any home.

I am lit on fire with the idea of writing a series of pieces on living together as a Christian family, using the advice Bonhoeffer gives in this little book. I'd like to help parents and families find these practical ways to live together as a Christian community, here in 21st century America. There are so many wonderful gems in these 150 pages.