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Good morning! May you notice the small joys all around you today. #MorningMug #Discipline2025

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Here’s the second of the theses that Bonhoeffer penned to challenge the Aryan Paragraph in 1933. Again, it reads as very timely for our moment in history.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

A quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The German Christians say:&10;We don't want to take away from Jewish Christians the right to be Christians, but they should organize their own churches. 6 It is only a matter of the outward form of the church.” M A quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “We answer: (1) The issue of belonging to the Christian community is never an outward, organizational matter, but is of the very substance of the church.&10;Church is the congregation that is called together by the Word.&10;Membership in a congregation is a question not of organization but of the essence of the church.”A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “(2) To make such a basic distinction between Christianity and the church, or between Christ and the church, is wrong. There is no such thing as the idea of the church, on one hand, and its outward appearance, on the other, but rather the empirically experienced church is the church of Christ itself. Thus to exclude people forcibly from the church-community at the empirical level means excluding them from Christ's church itself. That part of the church that excludes another is, of course, the one that is truly shut out-that is the particular danger of the German Christians' undertaking.”A quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “(3) When the church's organizers exclude anyone, they are interfering with the authority of the sacraments. Here in our church, Jewish Christians have been accepted, by the will of God, through the sacrament of baptism. Through baptism they are joined together with our church, and our church with them, by indissoluble ties. If the church that has baptized Jewish Christians now throws them out, it makes baptism into a ceremony, which implies no obligation on its part.”

Good morning! May you notice the mercy that is new every morning. #Discipline2025 #MorningMug

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer composed a number of talking points to refute what was known as the “Aryan Paragraph” in September of 1933. The paragraph excluded non-Aryans from civil service which was beginning to be adopted by German churches.

Currently reading: The Bonhoeffer Reader by Michael P. DeJonge 📚

The German Christians say: The church is not allowed to undo or to disregard God’s orders, and race is one of them, so the church must be racially constituted. We answer: The given order of race is misjudged just as little as that of gender, status in society, etc. . . . In the church, a Jew is still a Jew, a Gentile a Gentile, a man a man, a capitalist a capitalist, etc., etc. But God calls and gathers them all together into one people, the people of God, the church, and they all belong to it in the same way, one with another. The church is not a community of people who are all the same but precisely one of people foreign to one another who are called by God’s Word. The people of God is an order over and above all other orders. “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers? . . . whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” [Matt. 12:48, 50]. Race and blood are one order among those who enter into the church, but it must never become a criterion for belonging to the church; the only criterion is the Word of God and faith. &10; &10;DeJonge, Michael P.; Green, Clifford J.. The Bonhoeffer Reader (Function). Kindle Edition.

Good morning! May you love well today. #Discipline2025 #MorningMug

Good morning! May you embrace whatever twist comes at you today. #Discipline2025 #MorningMug

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Good morning! May you find gratitude in the midst of community today. #Discipline2025

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Good morning. Remember, it’s ok to be quiet. #Discipline2025

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Good morning! May you remember that you get to choose your hard today. #Discipline2025

A mug labeled "AROHA" is held up in front of a window, overlooking a suburban backyard with a sunrise.

Good morning! May you not despise the day of small things. #Discipline2025

A barbell with attached weights rests on a speckled gym floor, viewed from above with a person's feet in athletic shoes visible at the bottom.

I love this little coffee shop in Flushing, MI. It’s called The Station. It is in a renovated service station. The coffee is good, the people are fantastic, and the playlist is always on point.

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Jesus in Conversation: A Preface

a coffee mug that says, conversations on a table. The image is captioned with Conversations with Jesus

For a while I have been wrestling with what to write about. I have been wondering if I should just focus on keeping up with the brief daily devotionals or perhaps offering commentary on the news of the day from a pastor’s perspective. As I wandered around the internet, there’s a lot of that going on already. Sure, my “unique” voice would be different, but in so many ways, it feels like I would just be adding to the noise.

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Good morning! May you find joy in the small things today. #Discipline2025

A plate with a partially eaten omelette topped with spinach and hot sauce is next to a black tumbler on a dark wooden table.

Not much better than a game at Crisler Arena with good friends!

A large indoor arena is filled with spectators watching a basketball game.A basketball game is taking place in an arena with players in action and spectators watching.