My appreciation for the importance of words increases with every Op-Ed column, news report, and magazine article that I read. Perhaps it is a sign of the times. I’ve always had great respect for the words of authors whose books I lose myself in, and have discovered anew their importance and value as I write these short pieces for the website. Three authors, one with whom I’ve shared inspiring conversations and the other two whose written words give me hope, recently reentered my Advent life through their comforting words.
A California friend of mine, Bill Doulos, sent me a copy of the homily he delivered at The Church of Our Saviour on November 27th, the title of which is “Join In Our Crusade!,” an invitation “to be an evangelistic outreach and a beacon of compassion for our neighbors in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond.”
Bill founded Jubilee Homes, a network of homes whose residents are in recovery and transition from substance abuse and incarceration. Bill and his supporters provide a safe and healthy living space for the healing of soul, mind, and body before residents reenter the world. His quotation from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables grabbed my soul, but more on that in a moment.
Henri Nouwen in Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith provides daily snippets of truth into the mysteries of faith and wisdom while encouraging me along my journey—an arduous one in which faith and wisdom often appear elusive. His brief thoughts on the December 10th entry, titled The Peaceable Kingdom, restored my faltering Advent soul:
“All of creation belongs together in the arms of its Creator. The final vision is that not only will all men and women recognize that they are brothers and sisters called to live in unity but all members of God’s creation will come together in complete harmony.”
Words are important.
Muslims, Jews, and Christians consider Isaiah a prophet. His vision, described in the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, is lyrical and profound:
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the panther lie down with the kid,
calf, lion and fat-stock beast together,
with a little boy to lead them.
The cow and the bear will graze,
their young will lie down together.
The lion will eat hay like the ox.
The infant will play over the den of the adder;
the baby will put his hand into the viper’s lair.
No hurt, no harm will be done
on all my holy mountain,
for the country will be full of knowledge of Yahweh
As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Jean Valjean, whose apocalyptic vision was cited by Bill Doulos in his homily, captured my attention when I read: “…to love another person is to see the face of God…Will you join in our crusade? Who will be strong and stand with me? Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing? Say, do you hear the distant drums? It is the future that we bring when tomorrow comes!”
The aforementioned authors, Doulos, Hugo, Nouwen, and the Prophet Isaiah speak of apocalyptic visions, but not in the dire terms I’ve become accustomed to think of apocalypse—imminent disaster, cataclysm, large-scale destruction, even annihilation.
I read and reread their words searching for personal terminology that would carry me beyond the doom and gloom words and phrases to those that are more closely aligned with my seasonal thoughts and feelings. In my pursuit, I scoured a variety of definitions, and settled on one that coincided with my segueing into Advent—an event of “momentous consequence.”
Words are important.
Isaiah prophesies a time when God’s creation will come together—I love the imagery he uses, and though the skeptic in me questions and doubts, the prophet’s words bring me hope even in these troubling times. Victor Hugo’s character, Jean Valjean, likewise renews my faith as he calls for imagining a time of song when a distant drum calls me to stand strong, see beyond the barricade, and to live more fully into the better part of my self.
Bill Doulos asks in the closing words of his homily, “Will you join in our crusade?”
Yes is my response.
Henri Nouwen lovingly, but with the firmness of spare words admonishes me:
“We must keep this vision alive.”
And so I will.
by 
Yesterday our Pastor sang to us the first two verses of this hymn and we sang together the last two. Tears were streaming down my face. I searched the Internet and found a rendition I hope will post here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yzhCKGbNSuA
I subscribe. Yes!
Kay,
Thank you for sending this video. Shalom is a beautiful word that, in addition to offering peace while greeting or saying farewell to another, means wholeness and contentment–a feeling, or state of being whose advent we anticipate with hope and faith.
Roger
Remember way back in your grade school days, when you were given four pictures, perhaps of a train, a car, a bus and an orange, and the teacher asked you, “Now which one of these doesn’t belong?” That was my reaction when I saw the grouping of authors: “Doulos, Hugo, Nouwen and the Prophet Isaiah”! Wow!
As the aforementioned “Doulos,” I offer this thought. The Gospel of John in the first chapter states “In the beginning was the Word….” and goes on to equate the “Word” with the creative source of the universe and with the incarnate Christ. According to Genesis, God did indeed use words to bring into being all the goodness of nature, including us humans.
So as children of God we use words to inspire and to create goodness in the world. I believe we begin with imagination, we put our imagination into words, and then we naturally follow up with action. This progression is all of a creative piece. So yes, “Words are important!”
Bill,
What would a pantheon of authors, in this context, look like without a writer whose last name means “servant of God?”
Thank you, Bill, for reading and commenting.
Roger
Thanks Roger,
Inspiring words especially today as I am preparing some materials in order for us (The Crossroad Publishing Company) to reissue four little Nouwen booklets that we published some years ago as the Path Series. And it is also helpful to be reminded that I can/should see Christ in my new partner and my almost three step kids (adult children). Really helpful in so many ways.
Onward, Roy
rmcbks@gmail.com
Roy,
Thank you for reading and commenting on this piece, and Nouwen’s words continue to inspire me as do his reflections on a life of struggle and Christ centeredness. Reissuing his thoughts in these booklets is wonderful, thank you. When you write “…I can/should see Christ in my new partner…” I’m reminded of Lambert Dolphin’s words when he described that “I saw the face of Christ in the eyes of the poor” in India. He taught me, and I don’t “wear” the lesson well I’m afraid, that if we look closely we can see His face in all facets of Creation, but especially in the eyes of the poor.
Roger
Your words brought Goethe’s wonderful quote to mind that I love, find very powerful, and have enjoyed lively discussions inspired by it: “Begin whatever you can do or dream you can do. Begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic.”
So much to garner from these simple words. What jumps out for me is genius is in the doing, doing is boldness and boldness is where genius lies. So it’s really not: He/she is a genius but rather what she/he did was genius. Calling someone a genius labels us, saying what we did was genius elevates and promotes the thought that we are all capable of more. It’s in the doing, in the boldness of doing. When I am in action I am no longer in fear.
Here is another Goethe quote I find inspiring: “Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one’s thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.”
Ahh, yes, action. “Action is the most difficult thing in the world.” The first step is the hardest. I find comfort in this quote because it makes me feel I’m not alone. Goethe died in 1832. Some things never change and I find comfort in that, too. I must conjure up work for myself, creating something from nothing. That is my challenge being an artist. But, really, the challenge is in taking the first step. BEGIN IT, says Goethe. Some folks prefer to punch a time card and have their work laid out for them daily. I’ve done those jobs and I enjoyed them. But what is most satisfying is what I create from my God given talents that I have culled and crafted over a lifetime. Thank you for inspiring this thinking that created these words.
Jo Anne,
Thank you for this comment.
I used this Hemmingway quote in the preface to my dissertation: “There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have must be paid heavily for their acquiring. They are the simplest things, and because it takes a man’s life to know them, the little new that each man gets from life is very costly, and the only heritage he has to leave.”
Your comment reminded me of his words, and though I wrote them years ago I had little idea of how accurate they would be as my life unfolded. Keep crafting those “God given talents,” the ones you “have culled and crafted over a lifetime.”
Roger