Letters to Marc -- Week of March 2, 2014
Schedule:
Week
of March 2: Jesus: The Heart of Our Existence
Week of
March 9: The God Who Sets Us Free
Week of
March 16: Jesus: The Compassionate God
Week of
March 23: Jesus: The Descending God
Week of
March 30: Jesus: The Loving God
Week of
April 6: Jesus: The Hidden God
Week April
13: Listening to Jesus
- Henri Nouwen
a.
Born in Nijkerk, Holland ,
on January 24, 1932, Nouwen felt called to the priesthood at a very young age.
He was ordained in 1957 as a diocesan priest and studied psychology at the
Catholic University of Nijmegen. In 1964 he moved to the United States
to study at the Menninger Clinic. He went on to teach at the University of
Notre Dame, and the Divinity
Schools Peru .
b.
Nouwen's spirituality was influenced notably by his
friendship with Jean Vanier.
At the invitation of Vanier , Nouwen visited L'Arche in France , the first of over 130
communities around the world where people with developmental disabilities live with those who care
for them. In 1985 and 1986 he spent nine months with the L'Arche community in France . It was
during this time that he wrote these letters.
c. Nouwen's other books include The Wounded Healer, In the Name of Jesus, Clowning in Rome, The Life of the Beloved and The
Way of the Heart.
d. He died on September 21, 1996 from a sudden
heart attack
2. Overview of Letters to Marc: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World
a. Nouwen is 54 years old when he writes these
letters to his sister’s son Marc, who is 18 years old.
b. His nephew is trying to figure out what he
believes, and Nouwen offers to give him insights from his own life.
c. Nouwen knows that what he is writing will be
published.
Conversation starter: How has
your faith changed in different stages of your life?
3. Nouwen notes that living spiritually “is more
than living physically, intellectually, or emotionally. It embraces all that, but it is larger,
deeper, and wider. It concerns the core
of your humanity (4).
a.
Nouwen identifies the spiritual life as being centered in our hearts.
b.
He does not use heart to make a contrast between heart and head (i.e. feeling
vs. thinking), but he suggests that the heart is the center of our being.
c.
he suggests that spiritual is not the opposite of physical or emotional or
intellectual (4), but notes that the “unspiritual” would be that which does not
affect the heart of our being (4).
d.
He notes that there are many contexts in which to discuss spiritual, but the
context he uses is his Christian faith, which leads to the assertion that to
live spiritually as a Christian is “Living with Jesus at the center” (6,7).
Conversation starter: How would
you describe your relationship with Christ?
What events have caused significant challenges and/or affirmations of
your relationship with Christ?
4. Matthew 16: 13-20
a.
Caesarea Philippi had a shrine to Pan, the god of shepherds and flocks, and the
city was associated with various displayed of imperial power. Interesting place to contrast who Jesus is
with all the other options readily available.
b. "Son of Man" is a phrase from the
Jewish tradition that could reference a human being (Ezekiel 2), or to a
heavenly figure who rules (Daniel 7: 13-14) and pronounces God’s judgment at
the end of the age on oppressive rulers (Matthew 25: 31-46).
c.
Jesus has just performed miracles and argued with the Pharisees and Sadducees. When he asks the disciples who people say he
is, they could go in lots of different directions and still be accurate.
Conversation starter: If you
have do finish the sentence “Jesus is….. (and don’t use compound sentences in your
response!), how would you?
d.The
disciples offer answers that reflect their history and what they have observed,
but Jesus wants them to claim him in a way that goes beyond describing and
connecting with others, so he asks them who they say he is. Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son
of the Living God.”
e. Interestingly, this affirmation has already
been made by the disciples when Jesus walked on water to join them in the boat
(14:33). Maybe we need to keep laying
claim to who Jesus is in our lives!
5. Nouwen finishes by noting
that he does not lecture his nephew about who Jesus is (share book knowledge),
but he wants to share how he has come to know Christ. Nouwen notes that this will not avoid the big
questions, but it will allow them to be answered in the context of Jesus, who
is at the heart of his existence (7)
Resources used in preparation of these notes:
The New Oxford
Letters to Marc about Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World; www.henrinouwen.org/about_henri/about_henri.aspx
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Nouwen
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