Virtue: Humility
Resolution: I choose to honor others above self.

Human Story: Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

The society in which we live suggests in countless ways that the way to go is up. Making it to the top, entering the limelight, breaking the record- that’s what draws attention, gets us on the front page of the newspaper, and offers us the rewards of money and fame. The way of Jesus is radically different. It is the way not of upward mobility but of downward mobility. It is going to the bottom, staying behind the sets, and choosing the last place! Why is the way of Jesus worth choosing? Because it is the way to the Kingdom, the way Jesus took, and the way that brings everlasting life.
-Henri Nouwen, (1932-1996)

From the time Henri Nouwen was five years old, he felt the closeness of God in his life, a desire to be with and to know Jesus.  Born in Nijkerk, Holland, on January 24, 1932, he felt called to the priesthood at a very young age. According to Nouwen, he felt that two voices were speaking to him: one saying, “Henri, be sure you make it on your own—make something of your life; find a good career and be sure I can be proud of you.” As well as another voice saying, “Henri, whatever you are going to do, even if you don’t do anything very interesting in the eyes of the world, be sure you stay close to the heart of Jesus; be sure you stay close to the love of God and never lose touch with your vocation.” Throughout his life, Henri felt the tangible tension and struggle between those two perspectives.

Henri Nouwen became an internationally renowned Catholic priest and author. He wrote over 39 books on the spiritual life, which sold over 8 million copies in over 28 languages. Nouwen was also a respected professor and beloved pastor. He famously taught at the University of Notre Dame, and the Divinity Schools of Yale and Harvard. He also reached out to thousands through leading Eucharistic celebrations, lectures and retreats all over the world. 

However, Nouwen felt that his true home and his most valuable vocation came when he accepted the invitation to leave Harvard and become the priest at the L’Arche Daybreak community near Toronto. L’Arche Daybreak is one of over 100 communities founded by Jean Vanier where people with developmental disabilities live full-time with assistants. Many people in the L’Arche community are rejected and outcast in the world. But L’Arche embraces everyone, handicapped members and assistants, reminding all that God loves us in our brokenness. “L’Arche exists not to help the mentally handicapped get ‘normal,’ but to help them share their spiritual gifts with the world.” (Nouwen).

Nouwen spent the last ten years of his life living and ministering in the L’Arche Daybreak community.  This accomplished author and former professor devoted his energies to those whose IQs and disabilities placed them on the margins of society. And, in doing so, he felt that the love of God became more concrete, transforming and real to him than ever before. “These broken, wounded, and completely unpretentious people forced me to let go of my relevant self—the self that can do things, show things, prove things, build things—and forced me to reclaim that unadorned self in which I’m completely vulnerable, open to receive and give love regardless of any accomplishments.” – Henri Nouwen

Lesson: Philippians 2:3-11 (NIV)

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:6-11, considered an early Christian poem, is the centerpiece of the book of Philippians. Everything Paul says in the book revolves around it. It is also one of the most common texts used when describing the incarnation of Jesus, which we naturally ponder this time of year. The Son of God, perfect and good in every regard, became a human being. Humans can be nasty creatures. We’re stinky and our bodies make strange noises. We eat food and it leaves our bodies as excrement. Our bones ache, our muscles get sore, our breath stinks, our teeth stain and our wounds get infected and filled with pus. Jesus, the glorious and all powerful second Person of the Trinity, entered into this nastiness with us. And if entering into this nastiness with us wasn’t enough, he voluntarily made himself even lower by dying in one of the most humiliating and brutal ways the world has ever seen. The stair-step nature of this poem, with Paul describing a descent of Jesus going lower and lower, only to ultimately be elevated, is obvious.

There are subtle echoes in this passage to the Adam story from Genesis 1-3. The word “likeness” jumps out, as God states in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…” Yet another echo to those early chapters of Genesis is found in Philippians 2:6, where Jesus did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage or “grasped.” Our minds should immediately be taken back to the Garden, where Adam and Eve saw that the fruit was “pleasing to the eye and desirable for gaining wisdom” after the serpent tells them eating this fruit will make them “like God.” (Genesis 3:5-6) From the very beginning humans have been trying to grasp equality with God. Yet here is Jesus, God in the flesh and equal to God, having every right to use that to his own advantage, but making himself nothing. Humans (mistakenly) strive for equality with God. Though we would like to think we’ve learned from our past mistakes of trying to be like God, we still try to build a life where God is not needed, and where we define good and evil on our own terms.

The point of this passage is not merely to philosophically ponder the mysteries of the incarnation. No, the point Paul is making is that followers of Jesus need to let this same kind of thinking that dominated Jesus’ mind also dominate ours. Humility is honoring others above self. The incarnation is a beautiful example of that. During this season of expectation, let that attitude direct our thinking.

Remembrance

One: God of all Creation
All: What do you require of us?
One: to do justice
All: seeking peace & reconciliation, standing with the marginalized and forgotten
One: to love kindness
All: showing compassion and unconditional caring for those in need
One: to walk humbly
All: following in the steps of Jesus, lifting up not the work of our hands but the power that sustains our service.
www.churchofthebrethren.org

Challenge

1. Commit Philippians 2:6-11 to memory.

2. The English word "humility" stems from the same root word in Latin that is related to humus (not hummus). Humus is an organic component of soil formed by the decomposition of leaves and other plant material. Find a way this week to appreciate simple aspects of nature that we take for granted—even things we depend on for life or sustenance. Maybe it is possible to beautify a desolate or forgotten area no longer in its prime.

Reflection

In a culture driven by productivity, how can you balance the tension of setting and achieving goals personally, academically, or professionally while keeping a posture of humility and preferring others?

Consider Henri Nouwen’s great joy in working with people with severe special needs. He said he learned more from the L’Arche residents than his Harvard students even though many were unable to care for themselves or communicate with him. What do you think these friends taught him? When have you learned from people who were very different from you? 

Further Growth

2021: 3rd Sunday in Advent

Old Testament: Zephaniah 3:14-20
Psalm: Psalm 85
New Testament: Philippians 4:4-9
Gospel: Luke 3:7-20

2020: 3rd Sunday in Advent

Old Testament: Isaiah 65:17-25
Psalm: Psalm 126
New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28
Gospel: John 3:22-30