I have made no secret of the fact that I consider Dietrich Bonhoeffer to be my greatest spiritual mentor (aside from Christ). Bonhoeffer was a German, theologian, pastor, prophet (my opinion) and ultimately a martyr…executed by the Nazi’s a few days before his prison was liberated by the Americans. Bonhoeffer died when he was 39 years old…I sometimes find it hard to believe that I am older than he was when he died. I believe his contributions to the faith will have profound impact in years to come.
I am currently re-reading his excellent little book, Life Together, which he wrote at the ridiculously young age of 29 and not 10 pages into it I have to blog a few great quotes I am culling from the text:
"It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the priviledge of living amongst other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not to the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work.""Christianity means communitythrough Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. No Christian community is more or less than this. Whether it be a brief, single encounter or the daily fellowship of years, Christian community is only this."
Harnessing Chaos 