A reflection amidst isolation…
“Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer penned those words on the eve of World War II. As he considered the inordinate needs of the church during that dark time, his thoughts came to the verse, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell in unity” (Psa 133:1). When he began to write his reflection on the quintessence of Christian community, he could not fathom what would transpire in the church and in his homeland of Germany in the years to come. Conspiring to assassinate Hitler, Bonhoeffer would be imprisoned and executed one month before the bells tolled on VE-Day, but his words and wisdom reverberate to generations who continue to struggle with what it means to do “life together”.
This question takes on particular poignancy today as Gov. Cuomo put into effect PAUSE, marking the stark reality of where we are as a nation and world. The comparison to war feels a bit more apt when such unprecedented action disrupts near sacrosanct routines. We no longer enjoy the mundane liberties we took for granted even a week ago and now live in the strangely disorienting culture of “social distancing”.
Yet, perhaps in this isolation we can experience the needed “Day Alone” that Bonhoeffer so richly describes in Life Together. Perhaps we are not as isolated and powerless in our apartments as we might believe. Perhaps the greatest fellowship and action that we as the church can participate in is to take hold of the very things that Bonhoeffer stressed—silence, meditation, prayer, and intercession.
We have a God who invites us to hear the loving tone of His voice, yet daily we ignore His call. He longs to commune with us, employing our imagination to sense the depths of his presence and love. It is this kind of encounter with Christ that moves us from merely knowing about Jesus to being radically transformed in our inner being towards true peace and healing that makes us more human—receiving and extending the love of God to others in meaningful ways. This is the opportunity we have in front of us today.
And when this period of isolation is over, who knows what world will emerge at the end of these strange days? My opinion is that whenever this pandemic subsides, the world will quickly rebound to the one we once knew, but for the church, there is a critical question we must ask: “Who will we become?” What will our collective witness be in a post-COVID-19 world? The answer to this question begins with each of us asking ourselves, “Who will I become?” when life returns to the previous status quo.
There is now a definitive opportunity for the church to become what it so desperately needs to be for our world. Bonhoeffer wrote, “Has [the day alone] transported him for a moment into a spiritual ecstasy that vanishes when everyday life returns, or has it lodged the Word of God so securely and deeply in his heart that it holds and fortifies him, impelling him to active love, to obedience, to good works?”
This is my prayer, that in the midst of loneliness and anxiety we would seek the Lord and deepen in our prayer and communion with him. And we hope that Goldenwood’s programs and offerings might guide you towards the very disciplines that emboldened Bonhoeffer to serve those around him with such distinctive love.