Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39
“When we are not afraid to journey into our own center, and to concentrate on the stirrings of our own souls, we come to know that being alive means being loved. This experience tells us that we can only love because we are born out of love, that we can only give because our life is a gift, and that we can only make others free because we are set free by the One whose heart is greater than our own. And when we have finally found the anchor place for our lives within our own center we can be free to let others enter into the space created for them, and allow them to dance their own dance, sing their own song, and speak their own language without fear. Then our presence is no longer threatening and demanding, but inviting and liberating.”
Henri Nouwen in The Wounded Healer: Ministry in a Contemporary Society (New York: Image, 1972) 97-98.
This is a powerful book. Again, reply if you want the PDF.
Basically Nouwen reminds ministers that we cannot save anyone. We cannot make their problems go away. And, while yesterday we discovered that we can help them find hope, today we learn that our role is to teach them to find their anchor place in the One who loves them and from whose love nothing can separate them.
It this place we realize that our life is the gift to them.
This creates space for them to dance and sing, to speak and move in peace with joy. This invites them to a new way of living rooted in knowing that they are loved. If this is deep stuff, too deep to ponder, then know this. As Richard Foster put it, the world does not need more smart people, but more deep people.
The people around us need us to locate this anchor place.
When we do, our life becomes the gift they need. I am not there yet, but I am understanding these profound truths so I can help those around me, those I serve, those I work with, to experience this love and the peace and joy it brings.