Henri Nouwen on Church

more thoughts from Henri Nouwen...

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.

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.

Believing in the Church

The Church is an object of faith. In the Apostles' Creed we pray: "I believe in God, the Father, ... in Jesus Christ, his only Son in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We must believe in the Church! The Apostles' Creed does not say that the Church is an organization that helps us to believe in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. No, we are called to believe in the Church with the same faith we believe in God.

Often it seems harder to believe in the Church than to believe in God. But whenever we separate our belief in God from our belief in the Church, we become unbelievers. God has given us the Church as the place where God becomes God-with-us.

Monastery Stays

Liked this article... will definitely have to look into this option the next time I go to Europe.

Praise You In This Storm

I was at the church I grew up in this morning for the first time in a long while, because my brother had asked me to attend. He is now on staff at the church as their worship pastor, but a worship band that he is a part of from his bible college was playing at the church this morning, and T. had asked several times if I would attend.

One of the girls on the worship band sang this song, and oh, it caught at me.

My heart is tender and broken today, wrestling with many things seen and heard, and as she sang, just for a few moments, Jesus drew near.

So needed in the midst of a very hard day.

Hard Sunday

This has been "one of those days."

I'm going grocery shopping in a few minutes. I need to get out of the house and forget for a bit.

I'm haunted by a pair of eyes I saw recently. Not in a good way.

I'm amazed by how much the embrace of a child can soothe and heal.

I'm craving chocolate.

I want cookies, without the work of making cookies.

I'm wondering where I "fit" in the world, and how long it will be until I find that place? Shouldn't I have that place already at 25?

I went to church this morning for the first time in a while.

I'm caught by a song the guest musicians sang, "Praise You in this Storm."

I'm thinking about blood and water and life and death and birth.

And now I'm going grocery shopping for a while.

Article Worth Reading

I received a link to this article in an email from 24-7 Prayer this morning, and was captivated by it. I wasn't surprised, either, when a friend also posted a link to it on facebook, and other friends responded.