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The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The church should engage with everyday societal issues by offering support rather than exerting control.

This quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer emphasizes the role of the church in addressing secular societal problems. He advocates for a Church that actively participates in the struggles and challenges faced by individuals in their daily lives, aiming to assist and uplift rather than to impose authority or dictate beliefs. This perspective highlights the importance of compassion and service in religious practice, fostering a harmonious relationship between faith and the realities of human existence.

Themes

ChurchServiceSocietySupportHumility

In practice

Example use cases

During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to encourage congregants to engage with local community issues.

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A home is a kingdom of it's own in the midst of the world, a stronghold amid life's storms and stresses, a refuge, even a sanctuary.
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It is God's earth out of which man is taken. From it he has his body. His body belongs to his essential being. Man's body is not his prison, his shell his exterior, but man himself. Man does not "have" a body; he does not "have" a soul; rather he "is" body and soul. Man in the beginning is really his body. He is one. He is his body, as Christ is completely his body, as the Church is the body of Christ
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...And then, just when everything is bearing down on us to such an extent that we can scarcely withstand it, the Christmas message comes to tell us that all our ideas are wrong, and that what we take to be evil and dark is really good and light because it comes from God. Our eyes are at fault, that is all.
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Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.
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