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We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Only he who believes is obedient, and only he who is obedient believes.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Believe Character Himself
In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Deal Gratitude Greatness Hard Life Ordinary Receive Rich
The fact that we do not speak it but sing it only expresses the fact that our spoken words are inadequate to express what we want to say, that the burden of our song goes far beyond all human words.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Beyond Expression Human Ourselves Sing Talk
The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise godfearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Beginning End Happiness Life Ourselves Religious Unity
God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Human Ideal Love Pain Reality World
The task of pastoral ministry, above all else, is to arrange contingencies for an encounter with the divine.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Divine Job
But the Christian also knows that he not only cannot and dare not be anxious, but that there is no need for him to be so. Neither anxiety now work can secure his daily bread, for bread is the gift of the Father.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Dare Father Gift Himself Need Secure
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Gift Grace Man
Our eyes are at fault, that is all. God is in the manger, wealth in poverty, light in darkness, succor in abandonment.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Darkness Eyes God Leaving Light Ourselves
Not everyone can wait: neither the sated nor the satisfied nor those without respect can wait. The only ones who can wait are people who carry restlessness around with them.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Carry People Respect Satisfaction Wait
[Christ] is the Mediator, not only between God and man, but between man and man, between man and reality.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

God Man Philosophy Reality Religious
Fruit is always the miraculous, the created; it is never the result of willing, but always a growth. The fruit of the Spirit is a gift of God, and only He can produce it. They who bear it know as little about it as the tree knows of its fruit. They know only the power of Him on whom their life depends.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Creation Gift God Growth Himself Miracle Power Result Tree Willing
Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things, as is Christ himself.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence Himself Justice Myself Peace Worth
By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Grace Judgement Ourselves
A false faith is capable of terrible and monstrous things.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Deep Faith Religion
We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet really not small) gifts.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Forget Gift Ordinary Prayer Thankful
Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Action Responsibility
In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Dare Man Mental Myself Presence Sick Sin
There can be no real attachment to the given creation, no genuine responsibility in the world, unless we recognize the breach which already separates us from it.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Attachment Creation Reality Responsibility World
No sacrifice which a lover would make for his beloved is too great for us to make for our enemy.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Enemy Greatness Love Ourselves Sacrifice
The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Creation Destroy Dream Love Person
Jesus himself did not try to convert the two thieves on the cross; he waited until one of them turned to him.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Himself Oneself Patience Religious Wait
The early morning belongs to the Church of the risen Christ. At the break of light it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate in defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Break Death Defeat Human Life Light Morning Remember Rise Sin
It is worse for a liar to tell the truth than for a lover of truth to lie.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Lie Love Truth Worst
The Church is the Church only when it exists for others, not dominating, but helping and serving. It must tell men of every calling what it means to live for Christ, to exist for others.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Existence Help Live Man
We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Learning Light People Suffering
Neighbourliness is not a quality in other people, it is simply their claim on ourselves.
DIETRICH BONHOEFFER

Ourselves People Quality Simplicity

We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.

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We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God.

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