Eyes wide open

The only book I've read by Dietrich Bonhoeffer is Life Together , which comprises his reflections on how Christians do community together, or to take a cringey contemporary Christian phrase: how Christians do life together  (cringes to the point of physical crumpling).   He provides several insights from his experience & theology which really put a finger on many (potential or actual) problems hiding within our pursuits in "Christian community" today. I identify with many of them: both as defects in the way I approach community and also as defects in Christian communities I've tried to be a part of which really just turned me away. Thank you to my wonderful boyfriend Yi Khen for knowing just what to get me for Christmas <3 One of the most helpful distinctions that Bonhoeffer draws in his book is that between spiritual community  and emotional community . This is how he first explains it: "Because Christian community is founded solely on Jesus Christ, it is...

I've not known nearly as much pain as many others have, though there are griefs that still weigh heavily on the chest on long quiet nights. What I write today is not meant to heal anyone's pain completely, or even substantially. The process of bearing is hard enough, let alone the process of healing. But I write this to reflect on the meaning of pain, first to help myself make sense of it, and second, hopefully, to offer you some comfort as I do—especially at a time when I know many are aching from the weight of a pandemic that has not lifted for a year, and injustices that have not lifted for ages. C.S. Lewis has written quite a lot on pain. Of his books, I've most recently finished  The Pilgrim's Regress , which is an allegorical novel recounting Lewis's own journey in figuring out the meaning of life and joy and pain, and everything.  At one point, the main character John (representing Lewis) is walking with a Guide. We're not told much about who the Guide is...