As a progressive Christian, I am hesitant to admit how
dearly I wanted my college buddy to know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Clearly it was a desire for intimacy on my part, but I also wanted him to know
how dearly loved he was: if he could never be told of my love, at least he
would know the love of Jesus.
I recognized the experience decades later upon reading Henri
Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved, written for a young secular Jewish friend requesting
generic spiritual guidance. Henri wrote:
All I want to say to you is, “You are the beloved,” and all I hope is that you can hear these words as spoken to you with all the tenderness and force that love can hold. My only desire is to make these words reverberate in every corner of your being. (p 26)
When offered the manuscript to read, Henri explains in the epilogue,
the young man responded basically “thanks, but no thanks,” as it was still so
Christian. But Henri published the book anyway! I gave the book to a gay friend
graduating from seminary, fearing that he might lose his sense of belovedness
serving the church from the closet.
What awakens these memories is reading again Paul’s letters
to his “beloved,” congregations he
founded or shaped for whom he behaved as a mother caring for her children (1
Thes. 2:7), treating “every one of you as a father treats his children” (1
Thes. 2:11). I am in awe of Paul’s passion for the first Christians and their
passion for one another, sharing all things in common, giving thanks in all
circumstances, as well as their passion for loving and helping their neighbors,
what made the faith so attractive in its beginnings (see Elaine Pagel’s Beyond Belief). Among progressive
Christians, such passion is often focused in our pursuit of peace and justice.
Obviously, that’s a good thing, but do we welcome spiritual intimacy in this
process?
Our fear, of course, is becoming like some of our
evangelical brothers and sisters, who, as Jesus said of the Pharisees, “cross
sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as
much a child of hell as yourselves” (Matt. 23:15).
Seeing even “in the center of an intimate relationship the
seeds of violence,” Henri critiqued the passion that may lead from embracing to
grasping in his third movement of the spiritual life, a movement significantly
named “From Illusion to Prayer” in his book Reaching
Out (p 84). Prayer and contemplation may lead us away from illusory power
and control, away from idols and our own demons.
Religiously, we see this grasping in the misdirected passion
of the self-inflicted martyr and would-be terrorist, the inquisitor and the enforcer,
that can be found in every faith historically—even among progressive Christians.
The solution for Henri was hospitality, the ancient
spiritual practice, which he explains “is not a method of making our God and
our way into the criteria of happiness, but the opening of an opportunity to
others to find their God and their way” (Reaching
Out, p 51).
This, to me, is the best spiritual path and practice of
progressive Christians.
“Last call” for this weekend’s Kirkridge Oct 3-6 retreat: “For All the Saints!” which includes
a film and segment on Henri Nouwen.
Upcoming Henri Nouwen
events led by Chris Glaser:
October 12 in Pasadena,
CA:
November 9 in Dallas, TX:
January 12, 2014 in
Seattle, WA:
January 18, 2014 in
Chicago, IL:
What Community Meant to
Henri Nouwen (Sat. aft. TBD)
May 2-4, 2014 at
Kirkridge, PA:
Henri Nouwen’s Road to
L’Arche
Progressive Christian
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Chris, this has been a long-standing area of concern and reflection for me. I have been drawn to the "progressive" end of the pool because of my search for intellectual integrity, the freedom to question, a hunger for a faith consisted with the Gospel imperative for justice, and a positive approach both to science and other faiths. I find all this in the progressive world. But I often feel that the price we pay is a loss of the profound and humble surrender that characterizes transformational intimacy with God, the Divine Mystery. So I continually strive to integrate intimacy and authenticity in my own walk. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this important topic.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carl--yes I share the same concerns! Thanks for taking the time to respond!
DeleteThat's why I said "some" and not "all" nor even "most." And I did not call anyone "children of hell," nor did Jesus. He was referring to the suffering rigid religious people place on others as well as themselves. Thanks for writing!
ReplyDeleteThe church that I still hold my membership, United Methodist, state open doors, open hearts, open minds. This is not totally true. If you are LGBTQ, and you are totally honest, that is, out of the closet, the church door slams you in the face. This small thing, gay, is not accepted as an acceptable lifestyle of the UMC. That being said, one can have had and/or going through a divorce and all are accepted.If you are LGBTQ you could be in a relationship with the same person for decades. Due to the stigma of being gay, this is not accepted by this denomination. I would like to hear your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteYes, I've thought the denomination could have a lawsuit on its hands for false advertising! So many churches now post "all are welcome," but a national church workshop on welcoming diversity in congregations were able to list 40+ categories of people who are not welcome. Better not to promise something they can't carry out! Thanks for writing!
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