Loving - and hating

The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man. He who says he loves God and hates his brother is a liar.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Cost of Discipleship

Discipline

“The word discipleship and the word discipline are the same word-that has always fascinated me. Once you have made the choice to say, “Yes, I want to follow Jesus,” the question is, “What disciplines will help me remain faithful to that choice?” If we want to be disciples of Jesus, we have to live a disciplined life.

“By discipline, I do not mean control. If I know the discipline of psychology or of economics, I have a certain control over a body of knowledge. If I discipline my children, I want to have a little control over them.

“But in the spiritual life, the word discipline means “the effort to create some space in which God can act.” Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life; discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on…”

Henri Nouwen, From Solitude to Community to Ministry

Discipleship

Jesus tells us that if our discipleship doesn’t get us into trouble, we’re going to have some serious explaining to do.

from a sermon by Kim Fabricius, at least part of which is online in a post on Richard Hall's Connexions blog.