Bonhoeffer Chapter 2

"The Day with Others," Machen's second chapter of his book Life Together, explores the liturgy of what worship ought to look like among Christians, this is not limited to Sunday morning worship but includes other gatherings including Christian families' daily practices. He addresses points of reading the Psalms together, reading other Scriptures, singing, common prayer, sharing at "the table," and finally, proceeding to the rest of the day: working.
       The Morning - this is what Bonhoeffer revolves his discourse around. This is how Christians ought to start their mornings, he says.
      I must admit, this was an interesting chapter for me to consider. I have never considered myself as a morning person, but have never deeply considered it a theological issue! Now, as an upfront clarification: I don't think whether you have a hard time waking up early or not is a sin.
    However, there is something to Bonhoeffer's position that Scripture presents the morning as a special time of day. There are lots of verses that can back this up, but I think we can even see this from experience. The morning is quiet, amidst the storm of colors that arise. The birds sing. The sky awakes and stretches. Darkness is broken. There is so much imagery in the creativity of God that is the morning.
       Thus, it is not a surprise that Christians coming together in the morning to worship God has a special significance. Does it mean it is sin if they do not? I don't think so. However, these little details of Scripture should also not be ignored, or we ourselves could miss out on something.

      One of Bonhoeffer's most moving paragraphs for myself in this chapter is on page 43:

For Christians, the beginning of the day should not be burdened and oppressed with besetting concerns for the day's work. At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it.  At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness and distraction of the dreams of night retreat before the clear light of Jesus Christ and his wakening Word. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him whom our whole life belongs. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians 5:14).

       

      My days are long, my semester is brutal, my heart is heavy. Mornings are not a time that bring me joy, but exhaustion. What if my days could start like this? What would change if my first thought was the joy of Christ? If every day was committed into his hand? Would my heart sing? My lips smile? My hands do good? 

"Behold, the morning sun

Begins his glorious way;
His beams through all the nations run,
And life and light convey.

But where the gospel comes
It spreads diviner light;
It calls dead sinners from their tombs,
And gives the blind their sight."

Isaac Watts