Parker Palmer and Henri Nouwen are purveyors of truth: check out this quote from a speech Nouwen made to members of Fadica in 1994, the speech is called "Discovering Our Gift Through Service to Others":
"Parker Palmer, a spiritual writer of the Quaker tradition, says community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. So community is not like a place where you love each other sort of freely and warmly and affectionately. Community is in fact the place where you are purified, where your love is tested, where your childhood of God is constantly put through the mill of human relationships. That is what community is. Community is a place where Judas always is and sometimes it is just you."
I came across this quote from an excellent Advent devotional book called "Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J.M. Nouwen" published by Redemptorist Pastoral Publications.
3 comments:
Joe, I am a fellow young pastor in the ELCA and came across your blog while searching for meditations for my parish's lessons and carols service. Thank you for posting this quote! So true and so wise! And so good for me to read as I try to live in a new town and new church and new call.
Hi Sarah!
My pleasure, thank you for taking the time to read it! You are in my thoughts and prayers during this time of transition and so much newness! Please let me know how the lessons and carols service went!
Joe
What you think this comment means do you think it means that sometimes you are community or that you are sometimes Judas? I'm reading this Advent book right now and this reading is really important to me based on things that have just happened and really hits home the last line is a little confusing to me and so I'm curious as to your thoughts on it. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I understand it as sometimes there's a Judas in the community, but sometimes you are the community but that may be because I've had a bad situation where I found a Judas in the community and so I may not want to read it as myself being the Judas in the community. Your view would really help.
Thanks and blessings in this Advent season!!
Kitty.
Post a Comment