Profession and Confession

The Bonhoeffer references are very powerful and convicting. Interesting that a man who was executed after suffering in prison would have such insightful, piercing words to describe our hearts, Christ's heart, and community.

One of the quotes of Bonhoeffer that Foster uses is as follows: "Anybody who lives beneath the cross and who has discerned in the Cross of Jesus the utter wickedness of all men AND of his OWN HEART will find that there is NO SIN that can ever be ALIEN to HIM. Anybody who has once been horrified by the dreadfulness of his own sin that nailed Jesus to the Cross will no longer be horrified by even the rankest sins of a brother."

Bonhoeffer in so many ways lived and died literally in the midst of hell, chaos, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. In the midst of gas chambers, disease, demonic cruelty, torture emerged a heart and mind that spoke with incredible clarity and spiritual authority about Christ and ministry.

I copied this quote from Wikipedia -- The camp doctor who witnessed the execution (of Bonhoeffer) wrote: “I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer ... kneeling on the floor praying fervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.”

I'm convinced that God works in all circumstance but as I'm confronted this morning with the life and writings of Bonhoeffer I'm left wondering,

"God, can I genuinely be made in the image of your son without a cross? Without a prison? Without a sharp, metal wire tearing my throat as I'm strangled in the gallows?"

"God, how can I pray, in Jesus' name without a cross strapped to my back?"

I hear God say, "with man this is impossible but with God all things are possible."

I need that assurance God.

Thank you; however, I am challenged by your reminder through confession, through Foster, and through Bonhoeffer that you Jesus, the Word, becomes flesh in me and that Word in me has a natural impulse to flesh out FAITH, to experience FAITH, by going outside the camp, to the outer darkness, to shine YOUR LIGHT, and DIE for your ENEMIES by FAITH in LOVE.

Perhaps killing me is an enemy's purist confession.
Perhaps dying in love is your Kingdom's purist profession.

Whether or not killing and dying in love is pure confession or pure profession, I can at least acknowledge that the two of them together (killing and dying) are an interesting dance of love that consumes body broken and blood shed in mercy. Hmmm. body broken and blood shed sounds a lot like the communion table. It also sounds like the marriage supper of the lamb which is the ultimate CELEBRATION of the ultimate DISCPLINE/DISCIPLING such that it fills an entire new creation with PRAISE, GLORY, and HONOR at your REVELATION.