From Idealism to Faith-Filled Realism: Quotations from Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Eugene Peterson

This past Sunday, my message on the life of David (“Cracks in the Legacy“) explored the need to shed unhelpful idealization of others or the church for a more grounded approach I described as faith-filled realism. There is no portion of Scripture that tends to undo David’s legacy as “a man after God’s own heart” than the David-Bathsheba-Uriah-Nathan story in 2 Samuel 11-12 and the succeeding accounts of David’s family troubles, his sons’ repetition of David’s sins, and the series of rebellions in 2 Samuel 13-20.

These are not light chapters to read, but they are necessary. They are necessary because the deliver us from an over-idealized picture of David into the realism of faith where the good, the bad, and the ugly of others’ faith-life and our own faith-life is led into the light of God’s transforming presence.

The real-life story of faith is messy and imperfect. It is a story that reveals our brokenness. And anytime we create an unrealistic idealism, whether for individuals or a church community, we are setting ourselves up for two hard outcomes. First, we may experience deep disappointment and disillusionment when our idealized image fails. And second, we may unwittingly judge people as “less than” on their faith journey because they are not quite as good as our “ideal.” The ironic truth is that the real person or the real church from whom we have fashioned our ideal probably does not live up to our idealized image either! It is good to have examples, but it is not helpful to live with unrealistic idealism.

Along the way in this message, I shared two quotations, which a few people have asked me about. They are words from two of my pastoral heroes of the faith who were very much flawed people of faith.

The first is from Eugene Peterson, whose only full-length Bible commentary is on 1 and 2 Samuel. Peterson writes:

“Telling a story theologically (as this story is told) does not mean dressing it up in Sunday best. It is absolutely essential that we acquire a sense of our common God-created, Jesus-saved, and Spirit-blessed selves that is unedited, unabridged, and unblinking. These final episodes in the David story make sure that we get the whole story, not just the so-called ‘inspiring’ parts.”^[1]

The second quotation I shared later in the message is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose brief book Life Together, is one of the most influential books in my own spiritual journey.

“A great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves, is bound to overwhelm us as surely as God desires to lead us to an understanding of genuine Christian community. By sheer grace God will not permit us to live in a dream world even for a few weeks…Will not the very moment of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome for me because it so thoroughly teaches me that both of us can never live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and deed that really binds us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ?” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer^[2]

Now, those two quotations offer a lot to chew on. What stands out to you from these words?

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^[1] Eugene H. Peterson, First and Second Samuel, WBC (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1999), 190.

^[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible, ed. by Geffrey B. Kelly, trans. Daniel W. Bloesch and James H. Burtness (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1954), 35-37.