My main criticism of the chapter was that it portrayed quite a dry structure to devotional life with other people on a daily basis. There was to be a Psalm, a reading from Scripture, a hymn and a prayer - and the prayer was to be led by the same person each day. There seemed very little scope for variety and the moving of the Spirit. However, there were some interesting points.
Firstly, he writes of having a daily pattern of devotions at the start of each day as a way of focussing on God throughout the whole day. This includes sharing meals together through the day as well. Although it may not always be possible to share devotions each morning with the same group of people it did make me realise how I often neglect my morning devotions, or see them as using up valuable time if I am busy, rather than seeing them as imperative for seeing me through the day. Bonhoeffer also writes of these devotions being done as a family. How many families spend time each day in prayer and worship?
Secondly he talks about the importance of reading larger passages of scripture each day rather than just short verses or passages. The point that interested me was that we needed to read the whole of Scripture through in order - reading from the Old and New Testaments simultaneously. While I don't necessarily think we always have to read it through in order, I have come to appreciate that so often we neglect large chunks of the Bible - especially when our Lectionary only covers certain parts of the Bible.
Finally, Bonhoeffer speaks of every meal shared between Christians as being a time of recognising Christ's presence. He mentions the unique place of the Lord's Supper, but emphasises the daily meal as a time of being aware that Jesus is present. And with this in mind, I'm off to share my meal with my family - hopefully more aware of an extra presence!
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