Claiming who we are

By claiming whet we already are, we best prepare ourselves for what shall be.  (Henri Nouwen)

Who are we?  John in 1 John 3:1 says, "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."

We are children of God, blessed and beloved. What does that mean in our lives?  It means we are forgiven.  No matter what.  It means we have been given grace, and that grace (the love of God) transforms us.  It means that we have been given spiritual gifts to discover and utilize.

Claiming all of that prepares us for what God wants us to do, where God wants us to go, and how God is calling us to serve.

Today, how can you claim who you already are?

Book Review: Here and Now

Information about the book
Here and Now: Living in the Spirit by Henri J.M. Nouwen, published by The Crossroads Publishing Company, 1994.  Amazon link to the book.

Summary
In his Preface to this book, Nouwen says that "One day I simply sat down behind my desk and began to write down thoughts and feelings that emerged from my mind and heart.  Except for the Bible, I had no other books to quote from....  It became a long examination of conscience, an extended personal statement of faith, and a series of glimpses into the Kingdom of God."

What resulted is a book of eleven chapters, each with a theme such as "The Spiritual Life," "Prayer," "Conversion" (to list three of them).  Each themed chapter has between six and ten short meditations, suitable to be read during a devotional time or to use to lead a small group discussion.  At the end of the book is a Guide for Reflection.

Impressions
I used this book as a daily devotional guide, and it was an excellent resource.  I love to read what Nouwen writes; in his books I always find a multitude of "ah-ha" moments - moments when I am brought closer to God or to an understanding of God's nature. The passages are short, but long enough to matter.

Recommendation
My "normal" source for devotional time is the Upper Room's Disciplines, which I recommend to you. However, for a time, I have not found them to inspire me, and I was searching for something else.  This is one of the books that has filled that temporary void.  I highly recommend it as a devotional resource, or as a book to just read.  I haven't used it as a group study book, but I imagine it would work for that as well.  I highly recommend it.

Posts
Link to my posts that mention the book

Graceful Silence

In the devotional I read today, Henri Nouwen said:

Moments of true compassion will remain engraved on our hearts as long as we live.  Often these are moments without words: moments of deep silence.

I was reminded of the book of Job.  When Job was in despair, his friends came and sat with him in silence.  For a while, they said nothing at all to him.   I imagine that must have been a comfort; to have friends who would sit in silence, not trying to fix anything, not giving advice, not seeking explanations, just being.

Job 2:11, 13 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. ....They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. 

It was when the friends started talking that things went downhill.

Silence can be uncomfortable.  I was trying to imagine this morning what it would be like if a friend came into my office and shared grief.  Would I be able to keep watch, sitting in silence, if that was what was needed?  I hope that I could.

Silence can be a gift, and it can be an act of compassion.  It's not the only way to respond, but it can be one choice of grace.

A Place to Pray

We are invited - or would you say commanded by God - to pray.  So we should pray.  But how does the environment in which we are living impact our prayer lives?  How do we impact others' prayers?

Henri Nouwen, in Here and Now, says this:

It is very heard to live a life of prayer in a milieu where no one prays or speaks lovingly about prayer.  It is nearly impossible to deepen our communion with God when those with whom we live and work reject or even ridicule the idea that there is a loving God.  It is a superhuman task to keep setting our hearts on the kingdom when all those whom we know and talk with are setting their hearts on everything but the kingdom.

So, what do we do?  If we are in an environment that makes prayer difficult, what do we do?  For many, changing that environment is impossible - we can't leave it, and we can't change the people in it.  Can we find time apart from that milieu (as Nouwen calls it) to pray?  Can we move to be in contact with more Christian friends?  I'm grateful for my accountability group (Emmaus Reunion Group) because it a place that nurtures prayer.

And what about our activities and their effects on other people?  Can we create a place that is more nurturing for the prayer lives of other people?  What do we do that discourages them?  What do we need to change?

Prayer and Connection

Outside my office window today

Henri Nouwen, in Here and Now, speaks of the impact of "the attentive repetition of a well-known
prayer."  He writes of praying Psalm 23 over and over, even though he doesn't feel at peace, and even though the world around him is busy and ugly.  He prays the prayer anyway.

The deeper these words enter into the center of my being, the more I become part of God's people and the better I understand what it means to be in the world world without being of it.

What does it mean to be in the world, rather than of it?  Yesterday I spoke about isolation, and how I believe we have to be part of the world in order to shine our light... to be in the world without being of it.

What is our source?  What is our origin?  Where are our roots?  Are we rooted in the world?  Or are we rooted in God's kingdom?

I go to work every day, and I feel as if I have a purpose and mission in what I am doing.  I'm using the gifts I have to contribute to the ministry of which I am a part.  Sometimes I get to go on the road, and visit with other people and other places.  And yet, none of that is where my roots are. My roots are at home, with my family.  I am called to go out, and yet I am connected to home.

Could it be that that is what Nouwen was talking about?  We are called to go out into the world, to use our gifts, share our time, contribute to God's ministry, and yet we are to be connected to God. We are to be  "of" God.  In God we find our home.

And so, prayer, even though it sometimes feels as if it is not connecting us to world, its purpose is to strengthen our connection to God.

Judgment and Humility

In Sunday school a couple of weeks ago, Joe said that we often (and I'm paraphrasing) see the sin in someone else because it makes us feel superior.  We enjoy looking down at other people.

Henri Nouwen wrote

We always say again:  "What about him?  What about her?"  What Jesus says to us, as he said to Peter who wanted to know what would happen to John:  "What does it matter to you.  You are to follow me." (John 21:21-22)

How much time do we spend evaluating and judging other people?  What does that create in our heart?  What does that create in my heart?  I know it leaves me bitter and unhappy.  Is it because we think it makes us feel superior?

Nouwen goes on to say

God does not ask us to define our little niche in humanity over and against other people.   God's question is: "Are you reading the signs of your times as signs asking you to repent and be converted?"  What really counts is our willingness to let the immense sufferings of our brothers and sisters free us from all arrogance and from all judgments and condemnations and give us a heart as gentle and humble as the heart of Jesus.

The image we should have of humility isn't one of a sad dog who has been scolded so often that he's timid and obedient, out of fear of punishment, but instead, our vision of humility should be Christ, dying on a cross, not out of fear, but out of love.  He was humble in his obedience.

To have a heart as gentle and humble as Christ, as Nouwen phrases it, means first to repent, seeing our own sin, naming it and asking for forgiveness.  Then, out of the overwhelming love we experience from God, we can offer the same love and forgiveness to others - not arrogantly and not with judgment, but with love.

And that's easy to type, but hard to do.  May we all have grace.

Hope, Part 2

Yesterday, I talked about hope.  Henri Nouwen says that the opposite of hope is fatalism.  He says that fatalism is the attitude that makes us live as passive victims of exterior circumstances beyond our control.  If you've been in a church meeting lately, then you might have experienced fatalism.  How do we avoid that?  How do we grasp faith and hope instead of fatalism.

I think we have to remember from where our hope comes.  Our hope comes from Christ.  God is in our world, and in our lives, and in our churches.  Our job is to recognize and follow God.

I think we forget..  I think we habitually move through life blind to the presence and hope of God.

And I think as we work in ministry, as we go to Church meetings, as we walk through our days, we need to remember that God is with us, and to point out to others that God is there.  That God is involved.  In this is our hope.  We are loved. God gives us grace enough to love each other.   And we are a church that can make a difference in the world.  We have to make sure that we don't forget it.

Why Don't we Listen?

Come to me, you who labor and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.  Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your soul.  Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.(Matthew 11:28-30)

This morning I read a piece by Henri Nouwen that mentions the scripture above and asks the question, "Why is is so difficult to be still and quiet and let God speak to me about the meaning of my life?"

First of all, I think it is an excellent question.  I often find myself ignoring any leading from God, moving quickly through my day, lost in the busyness of it.   If I even remember to listen for God, it is after I intentionally remind myself to do it.  And I'm not very intentional about it.

Nouwen ponders several possible reasons for our inattentiveness to God.  Is it a lack of trust, a lack of relationship, a doubt of God's presence or of God's interest in our lives?  Is it because we are afraid of God?  What is the reason?

I wonder if it is any of those, although I admit that any of them might be the cause.  I wonder if it is just because I am not in the habit of listening for God.  Everything else clamors for my attention. God doesn't (at least not very often).  In order to listen, I have to be intentional about it.  I have to remember to listen.  I have to block out everything else that is screaming for my time and gifts and focus on God.

I think that's one of the major reasons disciplines are so important.  They are just habits that focus our minds and ears on God.

The Father's Eyes

Yesterday, I talked about using one of Nouwen's questions in Bible study to open our hearts to where we can love more generously. That post brought to mind for me a video that I saw on Facebook.  It tells the story of a young business man who is hurrying through his morning, leaving home, driving a car, stopping to get coffee at a "Starbucks-like" place.  All through his morning, we hear his innermost thoughts.  In his mind, he sarcastically speaks to other drivers, other people in line at the coffeeshop.  He recites to himself how they are all getting in his way, how they are too slow, and how he is being inconvenienced by their presence.

While he sits and waits, impatiently, for his coffee, someone hands him a glasses case that says, "Get Service."  He opens it up and inside is a pair of glasses.  He puts them on, and he can see what problem each person is facing in his or her life, written in front of them.  He looks at the person who brings him coffee, and sees "fighting addiction" written out in the space in front of him. The young mother on the street, with her two children, have words that say, "Single mother, barely making ends meet."  A teenager has run away from home.  Instead of seeing how these people have inconvenienced him, he begins to see them with God's eyes, seeing what their problems are, and learning how he can be of service to them.

What if we had glasses like that?  What if we had eyes like that?  What if we could see other people's problems, and felt God's pull to love them more generously?  How would our world be different?  How would we be different?

It's easy for me to see how someone is causing me a problem.  It's harder to see beyond that and to find where I can love more generously, serve more fully.  There are times when I just don't want to do that, and yet God calls me to it.

A More Generous Love

Several years ago I was a student in a Disciple I class.  The teacher of that class taught us several ways to move deeper into a Biblical passage - questions to ask of any passage to seek out the meaning in it.  Those bible study techniques have stuck with me, and I often use them when I teach, to lead the class into the passage.

I was reading Nouwen's book, Here and Now, this morning. The chapter I read was about reading spiritually.  We often read to gain knowledge, but to read spiritually, is to allow God to read us.  He says, "Spiritual reading is reading with an inner attentiveness to the movement of God's Spirit in our outer and inner lives.  With that attentiveness, we will allow God to read us and to explain to us what we are truly about."

It's a different way of reading, isn't it?

Nouwen writes that we should ask the question, "How does God speak to me here and call me to a more generous love?"  I like that as a way to read the Bible.  What is God using in this passage to lead me to a more generous love?  Using that question can allow God to read us - to point out to us where we are not being loving, not being generous.  Through that question, God can open our hearts to feel a more generous love toward someone else.

The Goal and The Race

Seneca Rocks

Since I finished Lighten the Darkness as a devotional resource during Advent, I'm looking for new resource.  I picked up Nouwen's Here and Now this morning.  I picked up where I left off the last time I read it, and started reading.

The chapter is about Disciplined Living (Not a bad chapter to start with when one is looking for a new resource for a discipline!).  Read this passage:

Do you not know that in a race the runners all complete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.

He used an analogy of an Olympics table tennis match, and how determined each competitor was to win the game.  As I write this, the temperature outside is 0 degrees, and the Winter Olympics are fast approaching; it was an image that stuck in my mind.

What is the race?  What are we running toward? My first response is to think Paul meant life with God - that the goal is life with God.  Does that sound right?  I think so, and I think it is a goal that we don't always keep in mind; at least, my focus on it is not always clear.  My first take away message from the devotional I read this morning is that - to keep my focus clear on the goal.

Secondly, Nouwen is amazed by the determination of those who were playing table tennis, and by the joy on the face of the winner.  Do we invest that kind of energy in meeting the goal that we have set?  So often I sit down to do a devotional reading, and I just rush through it, because my goal isn't to grow as I read it, but instead to finish it as quickly as I can. I wonder what would happen if I consistently redirected my energy to reach the goal I'm trying to reach.

Choosing Joy

I've always had problems with the idea of the "power of positive thinking." Yes, I do believe that the choice to have a positive attitude can make a difference in how we react to life and to how much we are open to the good which can come from anything. I've always worried, though, that the concept of powerful positive thinking could lead people to the idea that we can control what happens to us through positive thinking.

We are a society which believes that we have control. We value control; we covet control. We are very quick to believe that we can control our circumstances, and quick to grab hold of that positive thinking can be a way to control our lives.

I disagree.

I do believe that a positive attitude can make us more open to the work and presence of God in lives. I do think it makes a difference.

But today I read a passage from the Nouwen book Here and Now. He is talking about joy. Joy is a relationship with God. It is closeness to God. I have considered before that even the saddest circumstance can be a source of joy.

Nouwen talks about choosing joy; that we can choose to be joyful, even in the worst circumstances. Maybe I knew that, but I stopped what I was doing today to consider it. We can choose joy.

All things new

She sits in her chair
and listens to what is said.
She's seen it all,
heard it all,
done it all.
She knows best,
and the new ideas are just
drops of rain,
falling from the sky,
memories of previous rainfall,
Water, evaporated, soaked into the cloud
and released again.
Quenching no thirst.

What has been
is what will be.
What has been done
is what will be done.
There is nothing new
under the sun. *

He attends the meetings
Listening.
Remembering.
Pining.
Hoping for the days gone by,
when he knew what was what.
When gloves and hats were commonplace,
and when everyone knew her place.
His place.
He longs for the way it used to be,
and doesn't understand why it isn't that way
Anymore.
If we just did what we used to do,
then he would be safe,
and the church would be well.

"Would that we had died in the land of Egypt.
Or would that we had died in this wilderness.
would it not be better for us
to go back to Egypt?" **

We sat in a committee meeting
and complained about last year's meeting
What was its purpose;
what was its benefit?
And then the time came
to plan for the next year's meeting,
so we pulled out the schedule from before,
and just changed the titles.
Why would we complain about the past,
and then repeat it?

I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth,
do you now perceive it? ***

Our past gets longer each year,
and stretches behind us,
tempting us with its security
and even with its failures,
to believe that we have seen it all
done it all.
To fall into the trap of saying,
"There is nothing new under the sun."

But the son defies that logic.
The son says, "Today is a new beginning.
Everything is forgiven.
Start again, with a day full of promise."
And it is our choice.
Do we believe him,
take the risk
take the chance
take the step of faith
to say, "I believe that God is here.
And that he brings forth a new thing."?

See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them
they will be his peoples
and God himself will be with them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.

"See, I am making all things new." +

Choose. Believe.
Write it down, for he is trustworthy and true.
And he means what he says.

Inspired by a writing by Henri Nouwen in Here and Now
Scripture used:
* Ecclesiasties 1:9-10
** Numbers 14:1-4
*** Isaiah 43:19a
+ Revelation 21:2-5 (various verses)