I was challenged by the content of this book, but I was most challenged by the decision that Nouwen made to leave Harvard to be a priest to the mentally handicapped. In many ways, Nouwen embodies the very principles that he commends to the reader. His example inspired me to serve, and gave me a glimpse of how beautiful it is to live a life of service as opposed to one of “upward mobility.” He repeatedly uses the phrase “downward mobility throughout the book, and his own pilgrimage to L’Arche is a tremendous example of such a mentality. I was reminded of Schaeffer’s principle that there are no little people and no little places, only consecrated and unconsecrated people. May God grant me the grace to escape the upward mobility mentality, and serve him where he wants me as a humble and consecrated person.
I was convicted as I read this book that so far much of my ministry has been done as a lone ranger. Nouwen relates how his including Bill in his ministry turned out to be a great blessing, and in the end allowed him to be a much greater blessing to the people he was speaking to. Bill’s contribution made an even more lasting impression than Nouwen’s well thought out words. A couple of times in the book he makes reference to Jesus’ curious action of sending the disciples out by two (Lk. 10), and he sees this as paradigmatic for our own ministries. I pray that God would grant me partners in ministry with whom I will be able to minister. It will certainly be more difficult to coordinate my ministry with other brothers and sisters, but I think it will be well worth it. Nouwen alludes to just a couple of the advantages of this type of ministry. First of all, there is greater accountability and encouragement. Many of the wiles of the devil are much more easily handled when there is someone else present. Nouwen comments, “It is precisely the men and women who are dedicated to spiritual leadership who are easily subject to very raw carnality...They separate themselves from their own concrete community, try to deal with their needs by ignoring them or satisfying them in distant or anonymous places, and then experience an increasing split between their own most private inner world and the good news they pronounce (48).” This is the danger if I do not minister in and with a real community.
Last of all, I was encouraged by Nouwen to become a man of prayer. When I look back on my Christian life sometimes it seems it has all been a process of learning to pray more. With every year of Seminary I have been more impressed that the real work of my life will be to pray. Nouwen suggests that the Christian leaders’ “leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source of their words, advice and guidance.” Nouwen draws attention to the fact that prayer is one of the primary ways that we come to truly know Christ. I usually think of prayer as a time when I come to God to lay all my burdens on him and ask for his help in various situations, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with this. However, Nouwen helped expand my view of prayer as it relates to ministry. Prayer is also a means of knowing God. Out of this knowledge we are equipped for the task of serving the Church. May God grant me a life devoted to prayer, and may the result will be that, “every word spoken, every advice given, and every strategy developed can come from a heart that knows God intimately (30).”
No comments:
Post a Comment