Solitude Is Source of Freedom

Ministry must be done in a rhythm of engagement and withdrawal. Wise followers of Christ have always understood solitude to be the foundational practice. Jesus engaged in it frequently. But what makes it so important? Solitude is the one place where we gain freedom from the forces of society that otherwise relentlessly mold us. It is (in one old phrase) the "furnace of transformation."
Dallas Willard noted an experiment done with mice a few years ago. A researcher found that when amphetamines are given to a mouse in solitude, it takes a high dosage to kill it. Give it to a group of mice, and they start hopping around and hyping each other up so much that a fraction of the dosage will be lethal—so great is the effect of "the world" on mice. In fact, a mouse given no amphetamines at all, placed in a group on the drug, will get so hyper that in 10 minutes or so it will be dead. "In groups," Willard noted, "they go off like popcorn."
You'd think only mice would be so foolish as to hang out with other mice that are so hopped up, so frantically pursuing mindless activity for no discernible purpose that they put their own lives at risk.

- John Ortberg

Jesus Is a Peacemaker

Jesus, the Blessed Child of the Father, is a peacemaker. His peace doesn't mean only absence of war. It is not simply harmony or equilibrium. His peace is the fullness of well-being, gratuitously given by God. Jesus says, "Peace I leave to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you" (John 14:27).
Peace is Shalom - well-being of mind, heart, and body, individually and communally. It can exist in the midst of a war-torn world, even in the midst of unresolved problems and increasing human conflicts. Jesus made that peace by giving his life for his brothers and sisters. This is no easy peace, but it is everlasting and it comes from God. Are we willing to give our lives in the service of peace

- Henri Nouwen

Jesus Is Pure of Heart

Jesus, the Beloved of God, has a pure heart. Having a pure heart means willing one thing. Jesus wanted only to do the will of his heavenly Father. Whatever Jesus did or said, he did and said it as the obedient Son of God: "What I say is what the Father has taught me; he who sent me is with me, and has not left me to myself, for I always do what pleases him" (John 8:28-29). There are no divisions in Jesus' heart, no double motives or secret intentions. In Jesus there is complete inner unity because of his complete unity with God.
Becoming like Jesus is growing into purity of heart. That purity is what gave Jesus and will give us true spiritual vision

- Henri Nouwen

Jesus Is Merciful

Jesus, the Blessed Child of God, is merciful. Showing mercy is different from having pity. Pity connotes distance, even looking down upon. When a beggar asks for money and you give him something out of pity, you are not showing mercy. Mercy comes from a compassionate heart; it comes from a desire to be an equal. Jesus didn't want to look down on us. He wanted to become one of us and feel deeply with us.
When Jesus called the only son of the widow of Nain to life, he did so because he felt the deep sorrow of the grieving mother in his own heart (see Luke 7:11-17). Let us look at Jesus when we want to know how to show mercy to our brothers and sisters.

- Henri Nouwen

Jesus Hungers and Thirsts for Uprightness

Jesus, the Blessed Son of God, hungers and thirsts for uprightness. He abhors injustice. He resists those who try to gather wealth and influence by oppression and exploitation. His whole being yearns for people to treat one another as brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same God.
With fervour he proclaims that the way to the Kingdom is not saying many prayers or offering many sacrifices but in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and the prisoners (see Matthew 25:31-46). He longs for a just world. He wants us to live with the same hunger and thirst.

- Henri Nouwen

Jesus Mourns

Jesus, the Blessed One, mourns. Jesus mourns when his friend Lazarus dies (see John 11:33-36); he mourns when he overlooks the city of Jerusalem, soon to be destroyed (see Luke 19:41-44). Jesus mourns over all losses and devastations that fill the human heart with pain. He grieves with those who grieve and sheds tears with those who cry.
The violence, greed, lust, and so many other evils that have distorted the face of the earth and its people causes the Beloved Son of God to mourn. We too have to mourn if we hope to experience God's consolation

- Henri Nouwen

Freeing Transformation

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:16,17)
There is no union with God without transformation.
Paradoxically, the person who has struggled with personal transformation and become psychologically stronger is the person who can be empty and receptive before God. This vulnerability is an act of strength, since we no longer need to hold tightly to a false self that protects us from our inner pain and fears.
We are free at last.

- Mary Conrow Coelho in "The Weavings Journal"

Last Words Ought To Be Listened To

People often save their most important instructions, their most profound thoughts, their deepest concerns, and their most heartfelt expressions for last . . .
The Holy Spirit did not miss the opportunity to record the last words of Jesus before He left this earth. And as we might expect, those words are deeply significant. In both the Gospel of Matthew and the books of Acts, we read our Lord's parting instructions to His disciples - and to all who follow Him - before He was taken up from sight.
Think of it! We have a written record of the very words the Son of God uttered before ascending to the right hand of His Father in heaven. And these are the words - perhaps more than any others - that Jesus wanted to echo in His disciples' ears as He left them.
He didn't say: "Organise a political action committee."
He didn't say: "Remember to work for justice and visualise world peace."
He didn't say: "Be tolerant of one another," "Save the whales," Celebrate diversity," or "Commit random acts of kindness."
He didn't say: "Arm yourselves and take dominion over Rome."
What He did say was as clear as bright sunlight on a cloudless morning. There was nothing obscure or hazy about His final instructions.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:6-8)

- David Jeremiah in "Jesus' Final Warning"

Jesus is Gentle

Jesus, the Blessed One, is gentle. Even though he speaks with great fervour and biting criticism against all forms of hypocrisy and is not afraid to attack deception, vanity, manipulation and oppression, his heart is a gentle heart. He won't break the crushed reed or snuff the faltering wick (see Matthew 12:20). He responds to people's suffering, heals their wounds, and offers courage to the fainthearted.
Jesus came to bring good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and freedom to prisoners (see Luke 4:18-19) in all he says, and thus he reveals God's immense compassion. As his followers, we are called to that same gentleness.

- Henri Nouwen

Being Christ's Church In A Consumerist Culture

Eugene Peterson is just about the best and most eloquent biblical interpreter that we have today. He keeps urging us to keep close to the theological purposes of the church and its ministry. We are not merely commanded to reach out to the world, we are commanded to reach out in the name of Christ. In a consumeristic culture, if we are not careful, the church becomes reduced to just another lifestyle option to be used by us for our own selfish purposes, just another means to get what we want before we allow Jesus to use us to get what he wants. In our efforts to reach out to the world in evangelism and church growth, we end up offering the world the same thing that it could acquire elsewhere.
Here is a Peterson quote about the local church that I think we pastors need to placard over our office doors and ponder every time we go to work for the church:
'The congregation is not about us. It is about God. The operating biblical metaphor regarding worship is sacrifice. But this is not the American way. The major American innovation in the congregation is to turn it into a consumer enterprise. Americans have developed a culture of acquisition, an economy that is dependent on wanting and requiring more. We have a huge advertising industry designed to stir up appetites we didn't even know that we had. We are insatiable. It didn't take long for some of our colleagues to develop consumer congregations. If we have a nation of consumers, obviously the quickest and most effective way to get them into our churches is to identify what they want and offer it to them Satisfy their fantasies, promise them the moon, recast the gospel in consumer terms - entertainment, satisfaction, excitement and adventure, problem-solving, whatever. We are the world's champion consumers, so why shouldn't we have state-of-the-art consumer churches?' (Eugene H. Peterson, Transparent Lives, Christian Century, November 29, 2003, pg. 24.)
It's not about us. It's about God! I appreciated Peterson's reminder.

- William Willimon

Jesus is Poor

Jesus, the Blessed One, is poor. The poverty of Jesus is much more than an economic or social poverty. Jesus is poor because he freely chose powerlessness over power, vulnerability over defensiveness, dependency over self-sufficiency. As the great "Song of Christ" so beautifully expresses: "He... did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, ... becoming as human beings are" (Philippians 2:6-7). This is the poverty of spirit that Jesus chose to live.
Jesus calls us who are blessed as he is to live our lives with that same poverty.

- Henri Nouwen

On the Journey Towards Accepting my Anger

Recently, I got angry in public. That still feels like an accomplishment to me-to express anger rather than focus it inwards. I just wish I knew how to do it better. I tend to store up anger until I can say it 'right' or do the 'right' thing. Sometimes, when I can't control my reactions, I come on way too strong. This is my worst fear-to rage like my father did-but I know that I can express anger without harm. I am working on it.
I know that I am not alone in my community of L'Arche in striving to follow the Christian teaching to speak to my brothers and sisters with truth in love. But what is the truth? And how do we express our truth in a way that the other person can hear it? We can be paralysed by a false idealism that we need to be perfect to be more honest and direct. If we believe this, we end up wounding each other with false kindness.
On my journey toward expressing my anger compassionately, I look for role models. I am inspired by Stephen Lewis, the Canadian who is the U.N. Secretary-General's envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, as he rages eloquently against Western passivity in the face of this horrible pandemic. It helps me to see Jesus struggling with anger in the Gospels. Some of my friends with intellectual disabilities inspire me by their example. It takes a true humility; yet in time, with grace, anger expressed with love might liberate us.

- John Guido

Jesus' Self-Portrait

Jesus says: "Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for uprightness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness" (Matthew 5:3-10). These words offer us a self-portrait of Jesus. Jesus is the Blessed One. And the face of the Blessed One shows poverty, gentleness, grief, hunger, and thirst for uprightness, mercy, purity of heart, a desire to make peace, and the signs of persecution.
The whole message of the Gospel is this: Become like Jesus. We have his self-portrait. When we keep that in front of our eyes, we will soon learn what it means to follow Jesus and become like him.

- Henri Nouwen

Jesus, the Blessed One

Jesus is the Blessed One. The word benediction, which is the Latin form for the word blessing, means "to say (dicere) good things (bene)." Jesus is the Blessed One because God has spoken good things of him. Most clearly we hear God's blessing after Jesus has been baptised in the river Jordan, when "suddenly there was a voice from heaven, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him'" (Matthew 3:16-17).
With this blessing Jesus starts his public ministry. And all of that ministry is to make known to us that this blessing is not only for Jesus but also for all who follow him.

- Henri Nouwen