Throughout our study of Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved, we have been learning how to receive the gift of God naming us “beloved.”
Last week we reflected on the
first of four words that Nouwen uses to describe the movement of the Spirit
among us. We heard we are “taken” or “chosen” by God.
The next word Nouwen is blessed.
When he talks about
“Blessed-ness” he isn’t talking about the kinds of material or superficial
blessing that we might see in pop culture and in the world around us.
Nouwen describes blessing as
hearing God speaking with “a small intimate voice saying, “You are my
Beloved Child, on you my favor rests.” (77)
God has spoken these words
before.
In Genesis 12, Scripture
tells us that God says to Abram, 2 I will make of you a great
nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a
blessing.
And in tonight’s reading from the
Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus declaring the blessed-ness of all different
peoples.
But even as we remember how God
blessed our spiritual ancestors, Nouwen acknowledges how often in our lives
today, that voice can be drowned out by competing claims, by condemnation and
by blame or shame. (69,73)
And then he suggests two practices for us to learn to receive the gift of our blessed-ness: prayer and presence.
We often define prayer as a
conversation with God.
Nouwen challenges us that “the
real “work” of prayer is to become silent and listen to the voice that says
good things about me.” - not to be self-indulgent but to be disciplined enough
to push aside the “many voices that question my goodness” and trust God’s
voice. (75-76)
I have taught the contemplative practice
of centering prayer and sitting in stillness to listen to God. Sometimes it’s
maddening because your mind wanders, and you can feel like you are wasting
time. But teachers will tell you that the distractions are part of the
practice. You learn to let the random thoughts float by and let them go,
without grasping at them and engaging them.
Nouwen describes how he uses the
prayer of Saint Francis, whose feast day was just last Saturday, as a sacred
word or prayer to return his attention to God. Others might use a single word
or phrase or recite the 23rd Psalm or the Lord’s Prayer. Finding
words to repeat slowly helps ground you in the silence and prepare you to “listen
to the voice of love” that is God. (78)
The second suggestion he makes is
a practice of presence. Mary Oliver has a poem where she said, “Sometimes I
need only to stand wherever I am to be blessed.” (“It was Early”, Evidence.)
When our lives are busy or we are
distracted, we may not notice what is right in front of us.
An easy example for me is how I
sometimes forget to really take in the beauty of this sanctuary; it can become
a backdrop for whatever activity is taking place, but I don’t really see it.
But take a minute to look around and to notice, the stained-glass windows, the
vaulted ceiling and the soaring cross, just to begin to name the ways that this
space is especially adorned for worship.
Along the same lines, when our
hands are full, we cannot receive anything more. I wonder what we might set
down to be open to receiving what God offers? How can we change our posture to
be open to the blessing that others may offer, and to learn to bless others in
turn? Nouwen tells the story of being asked for a blessing by someone just
before a prayer gathering, so he began to automatically make the sign of the cross,
but the person stopped him. She said she wanted “a real blessing”, so he took
time in their gathering to embrace her and call her by name, saying,
“I want
you to know you are God’s beloved daughter. You are precious in God’s eyes.
Your beautiful smile, your kindness and your actions show what a beautiful
human you are. When you have sadness, I want you to remember who you are: a
very special person, deeply loved by God, and all the people here. (71)
And then there was a cascade of
people who witnessed that blessing who asked to receive a blessing.
We ache to know we are loved, and
when we can receive the gift of our blessing, we can then bless others.
As I reflected on Nouwen’s words,
I thought of just the past ten days or so, and the many blessings I have
witnessed. Several of us went to Bat Cave for a house blessing for a house that
was built for a family whose house was destroyed in the hurricane last year.
And then Jill and I talked with a couple of preschool families about faith
practices that include teaching their children simple blessings. And on
Saturday, a friend gifted Ada with a blessing bowl at Denny’s memorial service
and guests wrote out their memories of Denny to share with his family. At
Sunday’s worship, Rita gave our benediction in German, and later that day, I
led a blessing of the animals outside.
It makes me wonder if we can
practice this attentiveness to God’s movement in our lives, through prayer and
presence.
Would you experiment with praying in stillness and quiet? I’ve printed the words from 1 John 4:7-8 for you; try reading them slowly and letting them sink into your heart as you listen for God’s blessing for you.
Could you find one person whom you
can bless? It can be as simple as telling them, “God loves you.” Or “It is good
that you exist.”
And then let’s see what’s different when we’re together again.
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