From the phraseological to the real

Every Tuesday morning at 6:30am our young adult ministry hosts a group called Theological Life. We discuss theological ideas and think through how they inform our lives. We have just started our fall session and are embarking on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. This is from the introduction:
(Bonhoeffer's writings were characterized by) "an insistent realism, a 'turning away from the phraseological to the real,' for him Christianity could never be merely intellectual theory, doctrine divorced from life, or mystical emotion, but always must be responsible, obedient action, the discipleship of Christ in every situation of concrete everyday life, personal and public."

This truth was big in the life and ministry of Bonhoeffer and it should be for us as well. It is far too easy to get the intellectual depth of understanding or the emotional surge of church environments but not allow it to drive the real, the everyday life.

I talk about the gospel a lot. I attempt to unpack it in different ways so those around me won't think I am just on a phraselogical kick. I just don't see anything else we are called to proclaim. But should I let the proclamation neglect the life I am in danger. Grace is a gift to be experienced and acted upon in every nook and cranny of your life. Christian, turn away for the worry of using the right words or only checking an intellectual box; let the truth of Christ define and drive every situation of everyday life.

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