The “Introduction” to Nouwen’s, In the Name of Jesus, is only four
pages long. Big print. Lots of space. Little pages. But in a handful
of words Nouwen manages to capture the question many of us eventually
face: “Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?”
He realized somewhere along the journey that all of his time training
the best-and-brightest-up-and-coming ministers did little to
strengthen his walk with God, and perhaps at times actually served as
a detriment. He felt compelled to replace his ministry to the bold and
beautiful with a simpler care for the poor in spirit. And when he went
to minister to them, he found that it was they who healed him.
Looking back I now realize that I devoted too much of my energy to
getting smarter, when I probably needed to master the spiritual
discipline of not trying to master everything. But I digress, because
this is not about navel gazing introspection. Instead, Nouwen’s book
is a call, a reminder to put first things first. It is a reminder to
do kingdom work that puts those created in God’s image above
everything we create in our own image.
That’s it.
