disillusionment

Just as surely as god desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves.


…

Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ? Will no his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my boether becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that on Word and Deed which really binds us together—the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. When the morning mist of dreams vanish, then dawns the bright day of Christian fellowship.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in “Life Together” HarperSanFrancisco, 1954 p 27, 28-29