The Facade of Visionary Dreaming
I recently been considering the task of present day religious leadership and much of the vocabulary specifically adjectives by which they represent themselves. Visionary leadership or the lead visioneer are one type of characteristic comes to mind. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about that nonsene...
"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.
"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but a thankful recipients. We thank God for what He has done for us. We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily. And is now what has been given us enough: brothers [and sisters], who will go on living with us through sin and need under the blessing of His grace? Is the divine gift of Christian fellowship anything less than this, any day, even the most difficult and distressing day?..."
I guess this type of reasoning or thought that Bonhoeffer presents is the kind of faith that scares the hell out of leaders who want servants and slaves. I hope at least one person can be set free from this quote from a better man than I.
Hugs and kisses,
DSW
"God hates visionary dreaming; it makes the dreamer proud and pretentious. The man who fashions a visionary ideal of community demands that it be realized by God, by others, and by himself. He enters the community of Christians with his demands, sets up his own law, and judges the brethren and God Himself accordingly. He stands adamant, a living reproach to all others in the circle of brethren. He acts as if he is the creator of the Christian community, as if his dream binds men together. When things do not go his way, he calls the effort a failure. When his ideal picture is destroyed, he sees the community going to smash. So he becomes, first an accuser of his brethren, then an accuser of God, and finally the despairing accuser of himself.
"Because God has already laid the only foundation of our fellowship, because God has bound us together in one body with other Christians in Jesus Christ, long before we entered into common life with them, we enter into that common life not as demanders but a thankful recipients. We thank God for what He has done for us. We thank God for giving us brethren who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily. And is now what has been given us enough: brothers [and sisters], who will go on living with us through sin and need under the blessing of His grace? Is the divine gift of Christian fellowship anything less than this, any day, even the most difficult and distressing day?..."
I guess this type of reasoning or thought that Bonhoeffer presents is the kind of faith that scares the hell out of leaders who want servants and slaves. I hope at least one person can be set free from this quote from a better man than I.
Hugs and kisses,
DSW
posted by DSW at
12:38 AM
4 Comments:
I cant believe that this blog is alive again.... its been a long time!!! Good stuff, keep it coming.
By
Anonymous, at 12:16 PM
Hey Dave. Hows it going? Hows marriage?
You need to make more time to write.
-cole
By
Anonymous, at 3:55 PM
ok ok, but what's your vision here?
i know a pastor who says that his vision is to be visionless. why is it that certain denominations seem to be so enthralled with this sort of thing? blast.
By
jonathanturtle, at 10:38 AM
response from:
"i know a pastor who says that his vision is to be visionless. why is it that certain denominations seem to be so enthralled with this sort of thing? blast."
Well we know we need vision because Scripture lets us know without we "cast of restraint" or "perish"...
only an idiot would say his life is to be visionless.
however imposing one's vision on other people is something very different and this is where the denominational aspect comes in. denominations want to have a vision that people buy into because then they give money, labor, etc. to that vision. Jesus seemed to help create vision in others instead of demanding that they follow his... otherwise we'd all be getting up on a wooden cross literally, not the metaphorical way the Bible tells us to do everyday.
By
DSW, at 11:14 PM
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