A Favorite Re-Read

Just finished a long overdue re-read of a favorite book of mine by Henri Nouwen, In The Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. One of several books I like to re-read periodically from time to time. The late Henri Nouwen is one of my favorite authors. He was a Catholic priest who also taught at Harvard, Yale, and Notre Dame. He wrote a lot of amazing things about Christian spirituality. The most fascinating thing about his life is that, in his later years, he followed the call of God to move from Harvard to be the pastor of a mentally handicapped community in Toronto.

In In the Name of Jesus, His main focus is on giving insight for ministry to the spiritual leaders of the 21st Century. Much of it has to do with temptations for ministers and the disciplines to overcome them.

He first addresses the temptation to be relevant. By this he does not mean relating the Gospel to our culture, but the temptation to idolize on our own accomplishments when people desperately need to be loved.

He writes, "The question is not: How many people take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus?" This combats a minister's constant pressure to depend on his own abilities and accomplishments, when the world desperately needs someone who is intimately connected with the heart of God. He speaks of contemplative prayer as the remedy for this. "Through contemplative prayer we can keep ourselves from being pulled from one urgent issue to another and from becoming strangers to our own heart and God's heart... Contemplative prayer deepens in us the knowledge that we are already free, that we have already found a place to dwell, that we already belong to God, even though everything and everyone around us keep suggesting the opposite." He goes on to say,

"It is not enough for the priests and ministers of the future to be moral people, well trained, eager to help their fellow humans, and able to respond creatively to the burning issues of their time. All of that is very valuable and important, but it is not the heart of Christian leadership. The central question is, Are the leaders of the future truly men and women of God, people with an ardent desire to dwell in God's presence, to listen to God's voice, to look at God's beauty, to touch God's incarnate Word, to taste fully of God's infinite goodness."

The second temptation of ministers that he talks about is the temptation to be spectacular. The disciplines of confession and forgiveness are the remedy for this temptation. He writes, "Confession and forgiveness are the concrete forms in which we sinful people love one another."

The last temptation he deals with is the temptation to be powerful. He talks about the maturity of being led by God to places you would rather not go. He writes, "Here we touch the most important quality of Christian leadership in the future. It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffering servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest." He emphasizes that this is not to be confused with a psychologically weak leadership in which leaders are passive victims "of the manipulations of their milieu". "...I am speaking of a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love. It is a true spiritual leadership. Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. The refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly."

I feel like I've just re-typed the entire book, yet I've only scratched the surface. There is so much more I could say, but I'll stop there. I really didn't do justice to it. I really recommend this book for anyone in leadership. It's a quick read, about 107 pgs. It can be read in an hour and a half.

Other good books by Nouwen that I'd recommend:
The Way of the Heart
The Return of the Prodigal Son
Clowning in Rome