This message is so crucial for ALL of us. Reading Henri Nouwen gave me a livable spiritual life on this earth. So, may I share a glimpse of him with you. 🙂
Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen, (Nijkerk, January 24, 1932 – Hilversum, September 21, 1996) was a Dutch Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books on the spiritual life. His books are widely-read today by both Protestants and Catholics alike. The Wounded Healer, In the Name of Jesus, Clowning in Rome, The Life of the Beloved and The Way of the Heart are just a few of the more widely recognized titles. After nearly two decades of teaching at the Menninger Foundation Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, and at the University of Notre Dame, Yale University and Harvard University, he left to share his life with mentally handicapped people at the L’Arche community of Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. He died in September of 1996 from a sudden heart attack. His spirituality was influenced by many, notably by his friendship with Jean Vanier. At the invitation of Vanier he visited L’Arche in France, the first of over 130 communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live and share life together with those who care for them. In 1986 Nouwen accepted the position of pastor for a L’Arche community called "Daybreak" in Canada, near Toronto. Nouwen wrote about his relationship with Adam, a core member at L’Arche Daybreak with profound developmental disabilities, in a book entitled Adam: God’s Beloved. Father Nouwen was a good friend of the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin
thank you for sharing. the difference between nouwen and some charasmatic preachers is that the charasmatic preachers will declare that god has given us the victory over sin, sorrow, illness, etc. so all we have to do is claim it, while nouwen reminds us that the victory of faith that we *are* god’s beloved means that we will be able to live well in the midst of sin, sorrow, illness, etc.
Thanks bro. I have always loved Nouwen and it is great to hear and see him speak in this video. This video has “messed” up my Father’s Day sermon! (in NZ, it is this Sunday) But messed up in a good way as have decided to rework it (yet again!!! *sigh*) to incorporate some of the things he said in this video. It will make my sermon “tighter” as what he says fits in so well with some of the things I want to try to bring home …
I just hope my congregation doesn’t get “weary” of me referring so much to Nouwen 🙂
z – you are absolutely right. My vote is for Nouwen ..that’s the kind of “Christian Victorious” living I can live with. NO to Triumphalism … YES to Strength in Weakness!
Paul – happy to be a resource for your “beautiful mess” 🙂