My friend and fellow Crossroads pastor Joel Hedlund posted this quote on his blog yesterday (www.ellev8.com).
For those of you who are not familiar with Nouwen, here is his bio from Wikipedia...
Henri Jozef Machiel Nouwen (Nouen), (Nijkerk, January 24, 1932 - Hilversum, September 21, 1996) was a Dutch-born Catholic priest and writer who authored 40 books on the spiritual life.
Nouwen's books are widely read today by Protestants and Catholics alike. The Wounded Healer, In the Name of Jesus, Clowning in Rome, The Life of the Beloved and The Way of the Heart are just a few of the more widely recognized titles. After nearly two decades of teaching at the Menninger Foundation Clinic in Topeka, Kansas, and at the University of Notre Dame, Yale University and Harvard University, he went to share his life with mentally handicapped people at the L'Arche community of Daybreak in Toronto, Canada. After a long period of declining energy, which he chronicled in his final book, Sabbatical Journey, he died in September 1996 from a sudden heart attack.
Here's the quote...
“To pray, I think, does not mean to think about God in contrast to thinking about other things, or to spend time with God instead of spending time with other people. Rather, it means to think and live in the presence of God. As soon as we begin to divide our thoughts about God and thoughts about people and events, we remove God from our daily life and put him into a pious little niche where we can think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings. … Although it is important and even indispensable for the spiritual life to set apart time for God and God alone, prayer can only become unceasing prayer when all our thoughts —beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful —can be thought in the presence of God. … Thus, converting our unceasing thinking into unceasing prayer moves us from a self-centered monologue to a God-centered dialogue.”
This is great stuff about learning to experience life through the lens of God - not because we are required to do so but because living in the knowledge of His grace and love creates life transformation.
It's interesting to throw people a curve ball every once and a while.
I hope that you have a great Christmas. Rest in the grace of Jesus and jump
boldly ...
6 comments:
I love Nouwen. I am rereading some of his stuff right now. Good quote!
Another good quote from Nouwen:
Attractional: "Jesus refused to be a stunt man. He did not come to walk on hot coals, swallow fire, or put his hand in the lion's mouth to demonstrate that he had something worthwhile to say."
Henry Nouwen:
Leadership: "Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time. Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance."
Henry Nouwen:
Power and Control: "It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life..." "The temptation of power is greatest when intimacy is a threat. Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire-builders have been people unable to give and receive love."
Henry Nouwen:
Name-Calling: "Words like 'right-wing,' 'reactionary,' 'conservative,' 'liberal,' and 'left-wing' are used to describe people's opinions, and many discussions then seem more like political battles for power than spiritual searches for the truth."
Anyone have any of this author's books just laying around, I'd enjoy reading some.
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