A reader challenged me to spend more time contemplating the fundamentals of the Christian faith. I froze up at first, not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't have the words.
I was mulling over it while I was doing housework this morning. I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to pull out Detrich Bonhoeffer's Discipleship.
I froze again. That book was not on my beautifully crafted reading list. (I often freeze up when God tweaks my plans. You'd think I'd be used to it after almost 8 years, but nope.)
I opened Discipleship and found the words I'd been looking for. Sometimes the words we need are not our own. In this instance, I needed the words of this Nazi-resisting, pacifist German pastor.
I've italicized the words that describe the basic elements of the Christian faith:
"Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without repentance; it is baptism without community; it is the Lord's Supper without confession of sin; it is absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace is without discipleship; grace without the cross, grace without the living, incarnate Christ.
I am not discounting the importance of forgiveness, baptism, communion, or absolution. But those are not the elements of Christianity, contrary to popular belief. Those are the results of being rooted in the elements.
I plan on digging deeper into these Christian elements as God directs, and I'll share my findings here :)
