More on the church from Henri Nouwen

The Church, Spotless and Tainted

The Church is holy and sinful, spotless and tainted. The Church is the bride of Christ, who washed her in cleansing water and took her to himself "with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless" (Ephesians 5:26-27). The Church too is a group of sinful, confused, anguished people constantly tempted by the powers of lust and greed and always entangled in rivalry and competition.

When we say that the Church is a body, we refer not only to the holy and faultless body made Christ-like through baptism and Eucharist but also to the broken bodies of all the people who are its members. Only when we keep both these ways of thinking and speaking together can we live in the Church as true followers of Jesus.

I saw her

I saw her tonight, walking down the street on the way to the tea shop, just as I was talking to Jesus about her, wondering how she was, where she was, what she was doing now.

We paused, walking opposite directions, and spoke for few minutes.

Her eyes made me sad. Tired, worn out on the stuff of life. Broken, empty even.

It was a strangely beautiful moment, seeing her, even though it made me sad. I'm praying still, perhaps with increased intensity.

Jesus, be with her. Pick up the pieces and knit together a heart that you love.

Recurring Dream

I’ve had the same or at least very similar dreams three nights in a row now… Nothing cohesive, just flashes of images…

I dream that I’m lying in bed, in the darkness of the night, but for some reason I can see the wall right beside my head. I sleep in a loft bed, so I’m only about 2 feet from the ceiling, and I see the top 18 inches or so of the wall, and when I wake up in my bed in the dream, and look up at the wall, it is crawling with spiders – all kinds of shapes and sizes… some of the obviously poisonous tropical varieties.

There are flashes of faces… I don’t remember whose, but the impression is that they are people I know well…

I keep thinking the words “youth ministry” when I think back on the dream…

The strongest image is the spiders, followed by the words, and then the faces…

Don’t really know if I think this dream means anything… but it’s been bugging me this morning, so I thought I’d jot it down… plus, any time I dream the same thing multiple nights in a row, I begin to wonder if I need to pay attention...

You can imagine how pleasant it is to dream that you’re lying awake in bed, and that the walls are crawling with spiders…

Thoughts? Is this one just bad pizza, or do I need to pay attention?

Called out of Slavery - Henri Nouwen

Got another great meditation from the Henri Nouwen society when I arrived at work this morning... love the idea that the church literally is a group of people that are "called out".

Called out of Slavery

The Church is the people of God. The Latin word for "church," ecclesia, comes from the Greek ek, which means "out," and kaleo, which means "to call." The Church is the people of God called out of slavery to freedom, sin to salvation, despair to hope, darkness to light, an existence centered on death to an existence focused on life.

When we think of Church we have to think of a body of people, travelling together. We have to envision women, men, and children of all ages, races, and societies supporting one another on their long and often tiresome journeys to their final home.

Stealing rest

I am struggling with scheduling issues at the moment... with figuring out which things can stay, and which might need to go, to make space for the time I'm increasingly feeling is necessary to spend with Jesus in this season.

This week in particular is extraordinarily busy - something scheduled after work every night. All lovely and wonderful things, all things I think that God is in, none of them things that can be dropped or postponed.

I told a friend last night that it's becoming clear to me that this week I'm going to have to steal those moments of peace and rest wherever I can find them. Taking the bus for an hour and half home each day, grocery shopping alone, standing in the shower, as I'm studying to prepare for the small group I lead that meets this week, walking to meet various friends for tea and coffee dates, resting in my chair for a few minutes before bed, with candles and incense...

I believe that Jesus is present in the busyness and in the rest, I'm just feeling a need to change the balance of busyness and rest in my life for a season. But for this week, I'm trusting that He'll honor the moments of rest that I'm able to steal, and gift me with His presence in a tangible way.