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.
The church must share in the secular problems of ordinary human life, not dominating, but helping and serving.
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
In practice
Example use cases
During a sermon, a pastor might use this quote to encourage congregants to engage with local community issues.
More from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
All quotes →In normal life we hardly realize how much more we receive than we give, and life cannot be rich without such gratitude. It is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others.
Sometimes we just need a firm kick in the pants. An unsmiling expectation that if we mean all these wonderful things we talk about and sing about, then let’s see something to prove it.
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
...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.
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.
Similar quotes
Existence permeates sexuality and vice versa, so that it is impossible to determine, in a given decision or action, the proportion of sexual to other motivations, impossible to label a decision or act ‘sexual’ or ‘non-sexual’ . There is no outstripping of sexuality any more than there is sexuality enclosed within itself. No one is saved and no one is totally lost.
Human security recognizes the importance of individuals and that the key to ensuring growth in developing countries is to foster individual talent and abilities, build self-reliance, and put people in a position to make a broader contribution to society. Growth must be inclusive, and no one must be left behind.
As a cultural product of both 'East' and 'West', I do not believe there is a fundamental basis for a clash of civilisations, or that the West is the cause of all problems.
Dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.
For the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world.
Me this uncharted freedom tires; I feel the weight of chance desires, My hopes no more must change their name, I long for a repose that ever is the same.