Today is election day in my other country. (For those who don't know, I hold dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, though I am currently only eligible to vote in Canadian elections.) I'm watching with the rest of the world for the outcome.
But, in the meantime, here are some other headlines that are catching my attention...
Rome Hosts Vatican-Muslim Summit
Stoning Victim "Begged for Mercy"
God, Politics and the Kennedy's
Earthquake Aid In Short Supply
Pakistan Child Wedding Halted
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
The Poverty of our Leaders - Henri Nouwen
Another thought from Henri Nouwen... I particularly like this one, having grown up within the culture of church leadership.
The Poverty of Our Leaders
There is a tendency to think about poverty, suffering, and pain as realities that happen primarily or even exclusively at the bottom of our Church. We seldom think of our leaders as poor. Still, there is great poverty, deep loneliness, painful isolation, real depression, and much emotional suffering at the top of our Church.
We need the courage to acknowledge the suffering of the leaders of our Church - its ministers, priests, bishops, and popes - and include them in this fellowship of the weak. When we are not distracted by the power, wealth, and success of those who offer leadership, we will soon discover their powerlessness, poverty, and failures and feel free to reach out to them with the same compassion we want to give to those at the bottom. In God's eyes there is no distance between bottom and top. There shouldn't be in our eyes either.
The Poverty of Our Leaders
There is a tendency to think about poverty, suffering, and pain as realities that happen primarily or even exclusively at the bottom of our Church. We seldom think of our leaders as poor. Still, there is great poverty, deep loneliness, painful isolation, real depression, and much emotional suffering at the top of our Church.
We need the courage to acknowledge the suffering of the leaders of our Church - its ministers, priests, bishops, and popes - and include them in this fellowship of the weak. When we are not distracted by the power, wealth, and success of those who offer leadership, we will soon discover their powerlessness, poverty, and failures and feel free to reach out to them with the same compassion we want to give to those at the bottom. In God's eyes there is no distance between bottom and top. There shouldn't be in our eyes either.
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