Epilogue

I pulled a book that has over 12 post-it notes tabs sticking out around the edges marking passages to which I can easily refer back because as I read the book the words resonated and seemed to speak directly to me. The book is "Life of the Beloved" by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Reviewing the book tonight reminded me that Fred, a friend of Nouwen, wanted help finding the spiritual connection that he knew Nouwen possessed. Fred was not participating in any religious practices and asked Nouwen to write a book that would speak to him, along with his friends, in the secular world.

The chapters that follow are earmarked and underlined and I remember telling people that this book had made me feel as if I had been hugged. I bought extra copies of the book for graduation gifts.

In the epilogue, ten years of friendship and writing have passed. Fred gently shares the news that the writings had not been able to bridge the gap between his own secular world and Nouwen's life as the beloved. "Although it is clear that you try to write for me and my friends from your own center... you do not realize how far we are from where you are. You speak from a context and tradition that is alien to us, and your words are based on many presuppositions that we don't share with you. You are not aware how truly secular we are. Many, many questions need to be answered before we are able to be fully open to what you say... Who is God? Who am I? Why am I here? How do I get faith? When you do not help us to answer these questions, your beautiful meditations on being and becoming the Beloved remain dreamlike for us." (p 115-116)

My prayer for the congregation?

Dear God, Let us be aware that the words spoken to each other in our church community that bring comfort and counsel may sound as drivel and meaningless to our neighbors and acquaintances that do not have our religious heritage. Before we can have conversations about a shared spiritual life, they may need help addressing you, or express questions about you. Let us find these circumstances not as an epilogue to our conversation, but as a prologue to bridge a relationship with those whom we seek to share a common table. Help us find new words to honor the fundamental quest that drive men's search for meaning in their lives. They recognize the faint cry, "You are my Beloved, on you my favor rests," and long not to strain to hear their blessings. Give us a heart for those whose faint of hearing has left them in a muffled world. Amen.