Bread for the Journey: Our Shared Faith

Often times the words someone else has written say better what you want to say than you could yourself. This past Thursday night I shared with our Catalyst interns a quote from one of my heroes of the faith, Henri Nouwen. This is as close to a "mission statement" as I can think of for who we are at what we are aiming for here at Wesley.

Being a Christian is not a solitary affair. Nevertheless, we often think about the spiritual life in highly individualistic terms. We are trained to have our own ideas, speak our own minds and follow our own ways. European and American education places so much emphasis on the development of an independent personality that we have come to view other people more as potential advisors, guides and friends on the road to self-fulfillment than as fellow members of a community of faith.

In the intimacy of my relationship with God I still find myself thinking more about my faith, my hope and my love than about our faith, our hope and our love. I worry about my individual prayer life, I speculate about my future as an educated man, and I reflect on how much good I have done or will do for others. In all of this, it is my individual spiritual life that receives the most attention.

That God reveals the fullness of divine love first of all in community, and that the proclamation of the good news finds its main source there has radical consequences for our lives. Because now the question is no longer: “How can I best develop my spiritual life and share it with others?” but “Where do we find the community of faith to which the Sprit of God descends and from which God’s message of hope and love can be brought as a light into the world?” Once this question becomes our main concern we can no longer separate the spiritual life from the community, belonging to God from belonging to each other, and seeing Christ from seeing one another in Him.

Henri Nouwen
"Behold the Beauty of the Lord"

Considering what is written above, it is also interesting to note that the Lord's prayer in our readings this past week begins with "Our Father" and not "My father." Let us meditate on the prayer Jesus taught us, and what it means for the communion of saints of which we are a part.