Leadership
In the Name of Jesus β notes
book by Henri J.M. Nouwen
(reflections on Christian leadership)
Intro:
-
Somehow I have to trust that God is at work in me and that the way I am being moved to new inner and outer places is part of a larger movement of which I am only a very small part.
The Temptation: To be Relevant
-
…broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self-the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things β and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I am completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.
-
…I am deeply convinced that the Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. That is the way Jesus came to reveal God’s love.
-
While efficiency & control are the great aspirations of our society, the loneliness, isolation, lack of friendship and intimacy, broken relationships, boredom, feelings of emptiness and depression, and a deep sense of uselessness fill the hearts of millions of people in our success-driven world.
-
…the life of sex, drugs, and violence among teen-age sons sons and daughters….the cry that arises from behind all of this decadence is clearly: βIs there anybody who loves me; is there anybody who really cares? Is there anybody who wants to stay home for me? Is there anybody who wants to be with me when I am not in control, when I feel like crying? Is there anybody who can hold me and give me a sense of belonging?β
-
The leader of the future will be the one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him or her to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying all the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there.
The Question: βDo you love me?β
-
βDo you love me?β We have to hear that question as being central to all of our Christian ministry because it is the question that can allow us to be, at the same time, irrelevant and truly self-confident.
-
This rejected, unknown, wounded Jesus simply asked, βDo you love me, do you really love me?β He whose only concern had been to announce the unconditional love of God had only one question to ask, βDo you love me?β
-
The Christian leader of the future is the one who truly knows the heart of God as it has become flesh, βa heart of flesh,β in Jesus. Knowing God’s heart means consistently, radically, and very concretely to announce and reveal that God is love and only love, and that every time fear, isolation, or despair begin to invade the human soul this is not something that comes from God.
-
Very few people know that they are loved without any conditions or limits.
-
In our world of loneliness and despair, there is an enormous need for men and women who know the heart of God, a heart that forgives, that cares, that reaches out and wants to heal.
-
In that heart there is no suspicion, no vindictiveness, no resentment, and not a tinge of hatred.
-
It is a heart that wants only to give love and receive love in response.
-
It is a heart that suffers immensely because it sees the magnitude of human pain and the great resistance to trusting the heart of God who wants to offer consolation and hope.
-
The question is not: How many people will take you seriously? How much are you going to accomplish? Can you show some results? But: Are you in love with Jesus? Perhaps another way of putting the question would be: Do you know the incarnate God?
-
Knowing the heart of Jesus and loving Him are the same thing. The knowledge of Jesus’ heart is a knowledge of the heart. When we live in the world with that knowledge, we cannot do other than bring healing, reconciliation, new life and hope wherever we go….our only desire will be to say with our whole being to our brothers and sisters of the human race, βYou are loved. There is no reason to be afraid.β (Psalm 139:13)
