I saw these lines from a Christmas sermon of Dietrich Bonhoeffer on the Jesus Creed blog a couple of months ago. I trust you don’t mind my sharing this on Christmas Eve.
Bonhoeffer covers a lot of ground in these few sentences. As you read his words consider how he confirms your celebration of Advent and Christmas and how his words challenge you.
D. Bonhoeffer, Christmas Night sermon, 25 December 1940 (DBW 16.616).
It is no longer a worldly throne and kingdom as it once was but a spiritual throne and kingdom.
Where are Jesus’ throne and kingdom?
They are where he himself is present, reigns, and governs with his word and sacrament, in the church, in the congregation….
We are called into this kingdom. We can find it, within the church, in the community of the faithful, when we receive the word and sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ and submit to his authority, when we recognize the child in the manger as our Savior and Redeemer and let him bestow on us a new life grounded in love.
From: Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Works, v 16, p 616, “Christmas Night Sermon, 25 December 1940”.
Charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}