Nouwen: The Interconnection of Prayer and Service
Prayer and service: we fill the pots to the brim. Christ changes the water into wine.
“Life becomes an unbearable burden whenever we lose touch with the presence of a loving Savior and see only hunger to be alleviated, injustice to be addressed, violence to be overcome, wars to be stopped, and loneliness to be eased. All these are critical issues, and Christians must try to solve them; however, when our concern no longer flows from our personal encounter with the living Christ, we feel an oppressive weight.”
A key question arises: “Can we see Christ in the world?” The answer is, “No, we cannot see Christ in the world, but only the Christ in us can see Christ in the world.” This means that through prayer, the Christ within us opens our eyes to the Christ among us.”—Henri Nouwen in The Road to Peace (Orbis Books, 1998).
Nouwen reminds us that prayer and service can never be seen as conflicting or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action becomes powerless piety, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation.
When we pray for others, we stand in God's presence for them, just as Christ does for us. Praying for others takes us out of our heads and places the world's problems in God's presence. Nouwen reminds us that when we pray for the world's endless needs, our soul expands and brings them into God's presence.
But we cannot embrace the world; but God can.
When we connect to God’s Presence, we are no longer victims of the fear, hatred, and violence that rule the world. In God’s Presence, we connect with the Christ within us and see the Christ in others. Our hearts of stone break, and we feel compassion as we pray for others. Our prayers are energy, pulses of Hope that connect with God’s greater energy that surrounds us.
We are filling the water pots to the brim. The wine-making is God’s. We remove the stone. “Lazarus, come forth,” belongs to God. We are the dry bones. Putting on flesh and breathing are God’s.
We are called to prayer and service together, not one or the other.
Joanna Joannaseibert.com