Henri Nouwen, My New Favorite

Oh what a gift. I'm convinced that my discovery of him was not by chance.

I am always in search of new authors, especially Christian authors. And by new I mean new to me. I had read his name somewhere--under a quote most likely--and I was intrigued. So I added him to my list of authors to be on the lookout for when I go to Half-Priced Books. But before I even had a chance to search, would you believe I saw one of his books lying right in front of my face, in a friend's house! Ahh! I gasped and grabbed it up and held it to my heart. (I'm dramatic like that). My friend said to go ahead and take it, that it had been her father-in-law's, and I could tell by the way she talked that neither she nor her husband had ever read it. What?! This treasure....just sitting here. Well, I'm sure God arranged the whole thing just for me because He loves me that way. Honestly, God is so nice to me.

So the title of the book? The Return of the Prodigal Son. That in itself is profound, is it not? I mean, think about it! So I began to read it right away. Ohhhh how I love this book. Probably at the tippy top of my list of all-time favs. And I have a lot of favs. I need to re-read it now because it has been over a year and the memory has faded.

So just as I always do when I find an author I'm impressed with, I research the author himself (or herself). Turns out....Henri was a celibate gay. A tortured soul, but a soul who loved God deeply.

See what I mean about not being coincidence?

So then I started looking for more of his books. So far I've read The Wounded Healer, Reaching Out, and I've read Michael O'Laughlin's bio of him.

Now I'm reading his diary from his final year. Called Sabbatical Journey. I bought it in August and his first entry was September 3rd, so I saved it so I could read it as a daily devotional. Here is his entry from yesterday:

Friday, September 29

Andrew Sullivan's new book, Virtually Normal: An Argument about Homosexuality, is one of the most intelligent and convincing pleas for complete social acceptance of homosexuality I have ever read.

Andrew Sullivan is a Catholic. He is just as open about being a Catholic as about being a homosexual. From his writing it becomes clear that he is not only a Catholic but also a deeply committed Catholic who takes his church's teachings quite seriously. That makes his discussion of the church's attitude toward homosexuality very compelling.

My own thoughts and emotions around this subject are very conflicted. Years of Catholic education and seminary training have caused me to internalize the Catholic Church's position. Still, my emotional development and my friendships with many homosexual people, as well as the recent literature on the subject, have raised many questions for me.

Yes. So many questions.

I used to be afraid to read the perspectives of people who believe differently from me. But not anymore. I want to be educated on this subject. I don't want to be like most Christians who believe what they believe just because it's what they've always believed because, usually, it's what they've been told from the pulpit.

And I agree and can see the point that modern translations of the Bible may not accurately portray God's total heart on any given subject. I agree that reading in context is vital and that the culture in which it was written has to be taken into account on subjects such as this one. I know my Bible quite well for a lay person. I read it every day and have for years. I am well aware what it says on the subject of homosexuality. And I'm also quite aware of what it doesn't say.

One thing I know for sure is that God does not hate gay people. There are some people he was truly angry with and other behaviors that he hates but homosexuality doesn't even make the list! God hates idolatry. And pride. And injustice.

Well that is the topic for a whole other blog post. So I'll end this one here.