Duane's Story

It’s hard to believe it has been three decades since that memorable church service. At the time I was a young youth minister and I remember the steady stream of phone calls flooding our church office. Caller after caller asked the same question: “Is it true that Henri Nouwen is speaking at the Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana?” “Yes, at 7:00 this coming Sunday evening,” our church receptionist Maggie kept responding.

What was striking about the surge of phone calls was that they weren’t coming from our church members or Presbyterians in Southern California. They were coming from Catholics. The callers’ first response to hearing that Father Nouwen was in fact speaking on Sunday evening was a quick, “Great!” But nearly all callers followed with the same second question: “Why is Henri Nouwen speaking at a Presbyterian church and not a Catholic church? He IS a Catholic priest after all!” Maggie graciously answered, “You’ll have to ask Father Nouwen that question.”

On the Sunday Henri Nouwen was scheduled to speak, our pastor explained in the morning worship services that seating would be limited for our special evening service as we expected a large crowd. Henri Nouwen had just returned from his extended time in Latin America and our church was one of the first churches in the United States where he would be speaking and sharing his experience. On the church patio that Sunday morning were a lot of perplexed Presbyterians wondering who this Catholic priest was and why was he speaking at our church.

I was not perplexed. Our Associate Pastor Bob had introduced me to Nouwen’s work and Bob was instrumental in bringing Nouwen to our Presbyterian church. I was excited and in awe that I would meet Father Nouwen, having read many of his books. I was deeply moved and influenced by his book Wounded Healer. The book profoundly influenced my thinking about being a servant leader. Decades later two quotes still resonate within me:

For one man needs another to live, and the deeper he is willing to enter into the painful condition which he and others know, the more likely it is that he can be a leader, leading his people out of the desert into the promise land. For we are redeemed once and for all. The Christian leader is called to help others affirm this great news, and to make visible in daily events the fact that behind the dirty curtain of our painful symptoms there is something great to be seen: the face of Him in whose image we are shaped.

I arrived early to the Sunday evening service and was glad that I did. Lots of people arrived early in order to ensure a seat. I took a seat with friends and they commented that there were a lot of “new” faces at the service. My friends remarked that they suspected the majority of the new faces were Catholics. We were delighted to see such a variety of people in church.

As I observed the people with the “new” faces I noticed two things: 1) Their faces looked unhappy; and 2) Most of them sat with their arms across their chests as if they were holding onto something internally. I happened to know lots of happy Catholics and none of them sit with their arms across their chests. It was clear to me that any unhappiness experienced that evening centered on the fact that they were displeased that Henri Nouwen had chosen to speak in a Presbyterian church rather than a Catholic church. He WAS a Catholic priest after all.

But I also observed the faces of Presbyterians seated throughout the sanctuary. They didn’t seem comfortable in their familiar pews. They had the look of perplexity, uncertainty, and diffidence, as if their faces involuntarily blurted out “What is going on here? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with this.”

The church was packed that Sunday evening. People who arrived late had to stand in the back. Into this odd mix of people and emotions our Pastor welcomed all, introduced Henri Nouwen, and offered a prayer. Father Nouwen then rose and in his gentle, humble, and gracious manner shared of what God had shown him in Latin America, what God had impressed upon him, and as a result, his increased sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit in his and others’ lives.

As Henri Nouwen spoke the atmosphere in the church changed. Metaphorically speaking, an awakening dawn interrupted the evening service. Into the darkness of discomfort and distrust beamed a transforming light. Into the cool air blew a warm breeze of faith. Onto the unhappy and perplexed faces of those gathered that night emerged smiles like sunrises spanning across the sanctuary. By the end of the service there were no arms across chests, but rather arms extended and hands clasped, Catholic to Protestant, brother to sister. We concluded the evening by singing, “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,” and for many of us gathered that evening, it was our first experience of what that Oneness could look like and feel like. It was powerfully inviting, energizing, and unforgettable.

The memory of that service is vivid three decades later. The decades have taught me that God’s power is real and accessible. Therefore it is NOT hard for me to believe that the Spirit of God can remove barriers, heal wounds, upend history, transform hearts and communities. That night, and many others since, have convinced me that the work of Wittenberg 2017 and its call to prayer, repentance, reconciliation, and unity is a worthy pursuit and holds the promise of being a transformative experience. It prompts me to recall another quote of Henri Nouwen from Wounded Healer, when he wrote: It is exactly in common searches and shared risks that new ideas are born, that new visions reveal themselves and that new roads become visible.

Source: Wittenberg 2017 - "Duane's Story", from the Wittenberg 2017 (US) website
http://www.wittenberg2017.us/duanes-story.html