Although many, we might even say most, strangers in this world become easily the victim of a fearful hostility, it is possible for men and women and obligatory for Christians to offer an open and hospitable space where strangers can cast off their strangeness and become our fellow human beings.
Interpretation
It emphasizes the importance of welcoming and accepting strangers to foster genuine human connection.
In this quote, Henri Nouwen highlights the need for compassion and hospitality in a world often marked by fear and hostility towards strangers. He argues that it is not only possible but essential for individuals, particularly Christians, to create a safe and welcoming environment where strangers can feel accepted and recognized as fellow human beings, thereby reducing the barriers of 'strangeness' and fostering genuine relationships.
In practice
Using the quote in a sermon about embracing diversity and fostering community.
The Christian leader of the future is called to be completely irrelevant and to stand in this world with nothing to offer but his or her own vulnerable self. God loves us, not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God has created and redeemed us in love.
The immense joy in welcoming back the lost son hides in the immense sorrow that has gone before....our brokenness may appear beautiful, but our brokenness has no other beauty but the beauty that comes from the compassion that surrounds it.
Suffering invites us to place our hurts in larger hands. In Christ we see God suffering – for us. And calling us to share in God’s suffering love for a hurting world. The small and even overpowering pains of our lives are intimately connected with the greater pains of Christ. Our daily sorrows are anchored in a greater sorrow and therefore a larger hope.
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, welcome, to accept.
Waiting is a dry desert between where we are and where we want to be. (Finding My Way Home)
Becoming the beloved is pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am, in fact, thinking of, talking about and doing from hour to hour.
Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh.
Racism is a form of hate. We pass it on to our young people. When we do that, we are robbing children of their innocence.
Affection is the most important thing. And the quality of affection - with your friends, your lovers, your family. But particularly for your own generation.
Loneliness is like starvation: you don't realize how hungry you are until you begin to eat.
A desire for social connection is fundamentally hardwired into our psychology, and so being deprived of it has devastating mental and physical consequences. Yet we live in a society which has become ever more fragmented and atomised.
Forgiveness - this needs to be our greatest skill. The way to get good at forgiveness is: to be thankful for all the little things you see in the other person.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.