It seems I can barely read a page or two of Nouwen’s, In the Name of Jesus, before I have to stop and write. This is going much slower than the last time I read the book three years ago.
Today I forced myself to read the whole first chapter start-to-finish before putting it down and reflecting. Hard task. Lots to reflect upon when Nouwen so concisely articulates the core of Christian leadership.
Some of us in full-time congregational ministry are tempted to be relevant, to be well-informed and well-read, to be primarily concerned with getting things just right. But Nouwen suggests a difference between arguing from moral “right and wrong” and living inside the heart of God. Too often when Christians get into arguments over issues, the issue becomes the core of the debate, rather than the relationship we all share in Christ. Our “sense of self” overpowers the issue. Nouwen writes,
“Dealing with burning issues without being rooted in a deep personal relationship with God easily leads to divisiveness because, before we know it, our sense of self is caught up in our opinion about a given subject.”
When Jesus was confronted with hot issues, he always started with the person, not the topic. He exhibited no general commentary on the subject of prostitution. Rather, he cared for the person.
For if I am the “rightest” person in the world, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong. If I can outwit and out-debate you, but do not share your soul, well…
But thanks be to God for those bright lights in the kingdom who teach those of us who are weak-minded what it is like to care for the “other” above anything else we might happen to do in the name of Jesus. I am convinced that God is at work in the church today to restore a basic call to discipleship over church organization. God is at work.
I love Anne Lamott’s saying: “God accepts us just the way we are, and loves us too much to let us stay that way.”
