Quotes by Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh (1831–1910) — Theologe, Diakonie-Gründer · Lutherisch · Deutschland

Friedrich von Bodelschwingh (1831–1910) war ein deutscher lutherischer Theologe und einer der prägenden Pioniere der Diakonie, der ab 1872 die Hilfseinrichtungen in Bethel bei Bielefeld aufbaute. Er widmete sich der Fürsorge für Menschen mit Behinderungen und Wohnungslose, stand dabei jedoch auch für ein stark patriarchalisches Leitungsverständnis und eine konservative Ablehnung politischer Reformen. Für Bibelleser veranschaulicht sein Wirken eine radikal praktische Nächstenliebe im Dienst an Ausgegrenzten, die zugleich eng an die kirchlich-gesellschaftlichen Strukturen ihrer Epoche gebunden blieb.

Era: The 20th Century

Recurring topics: Hope & Confidence, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, Service & Love of Neighbour, Joy & Gratitude, Faith & Trust, Prayer & Silence, Suffering & the Question of God, Eternity & Hope Beyond Death

Quotes by Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

To pray means: to set out from the anguish of the world and go to the Father.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Christ does not stand behind us as our past, but before us as our hope.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

It is impossible for a person to look into the sun without their face becoming bright.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Coming home — that is what the child of Bethlehem wants to give to all who weep, watch, and wander on this earth.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Where suffering and love meet under the open heaven, there is diakonia.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

The very darkest ways of God, which we understand least here, will one day shine in eternity in the brightest light of his eternal love.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

I confess I sometimes feel a bit anxious when I think of the last journey, but my Savior is at the helm.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

I consider myself a joyful handyman of God and I take hold wherever God lays a need before my feet.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Jesus Christ has comfort for all your weariness and light for your darkest hours.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

No one walks across this earth whom God does not love.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

One beggar tells another where there is bread. That's how it is when Christians speak of their faith.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

When something dark seems to be coming again, I wait, look back on all of God's help, and know for certain: rescue will come again.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Advent and Christmas is like a keyhole through which a beam of light from home falls upon our dark earthly path.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Our faith is healthy when we have learned to give thanks.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Where heaven above us is opened, there foreign land becomes home.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

All the lights we kindle testify to the light that has appeared in the darkness.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Holy Scripture is always - wherever and whenever you open it - a well of fresh water of unfathomable depth.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

To pray means: to walk right through the cold and darkness and go to the Father.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

We can help create places from which the bright glow of hope falls into the darkness of the earth.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

We wait, but our waiting is hoping.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Where God gains room, murmuring turns to stillness, stillness to thanksgiving, thanksgiving to a joyful hope of eternal life.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

The eternally faithful God keeps daily what he promises.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

It is a wonder that our misery and our tears do not keep us from praising and giving thanks from the depths of our hearts, because the cause of our joy is so much mightier than the suffering that stems from this poor earth.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

It is good and brings stillness when one gives oneself entirely into His hand.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

God's creative mercy can awaken life where everything seems dead to us.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Every year one lament less and one song of praise more!
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

No one receives a blessing only for themselves.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

To forgive means to walk with your brother into the light of God, and then to let yourself be given courage to confess your own wrong as well.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

What good is it to point poor people to their heavenly home while their hearts are so embittered and their earthly home feels like hell to them.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Whoever is not a child of grace can bear neither praise nor slight.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Because we may hope for the great eternity, we stand all the more firmly with both feet in the reality of our life.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Whoever has experienced redeeming love can practice saving love. And whoever lives by mercy can show mercy.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

We all live in the kingdom of God by taking and giving. Our taking is called praying, and our giving is called loving. But both are only truly possible for the one who believes, who lives solely by God's grace.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

All theology is a falling silent before God.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

To be with Christ means to be at home.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

This is the wonder of holy Christmas, that a helpless child becomes the helper of us all.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

Humility does not mean bowing before people, but giving glory to God alone.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

You step into a creation-hour of God when you let your guilt be forgiven you. And in this creation-hour the new is born.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

A church that only wants to continue on its previous paths and work with its previous methods is not a church, but a fossilization.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

In the deepest depths of our need, God stands and waits for us.
Friedrich von Bodelschwingh

177 quotes in total — browse the collection.

Sources: wikipedia.org, heimatverein-borkum.de, deutschlandfunk.de, lwl.org

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