Well, we welcome you back again to another podcast of Struggling Well. as we get into today. I grew up in a very conservative world, a Baptist world. and when I was growing up in the church, you would never think of looking at anything that came out of the Catholic Church.
You wouldn't it was just was an anathema. You just didn't do it. And so it wasn't well into my adult life that I began to recog iz that there are some Catholic authors and Catholics theologians who not that I necessarily agreed with everything they said but they had some powerful words and they had written some powerful things and one of those people was a man by the name of Henry Nen and Nen I was first introduced to Nen when I read a book that he wrote the return of the prodical son
he sat in St. Petersburg Russia and looked at rem Brand's painting of the return of the prodical studied it for days. I have come to appreciate art later in my life. I don't think I could sit and look at a painting for days, but he did. And he wrote a very powerful book out of that very familiar parable that Jesus told in Luke about the return of the prodical son. And so that kind of introduced me in a way to some of the Catholic theologians and some of their insights that they had into scripture. And that we want to talk about something that you read recently that he had written that has I think an impact and something that we wanted to share with people.
yeah, it's been fun reading different people. You know, if you've heard me say this before, I love to research and read and I've been reading Henry Nan for years and have just been fascinated by his simple yet profound way of pointing something out. you know, you can read a lot of authors, theologians in particular, and they write so high in the sky, you know, you need a dictionary along with reading it. And there's something very childlike about Nan's writing. And I don't know if it had to do with that his faith was childlike and that he just believed God and maybe didn't struggle in the same way as I do. And yet there definitely is there is evidence that he did struggle with depression and some other things like we all do. But anyway, this article that I read this essay that I read, he speaks about solitude, community, and ministry. And it's a it's some reading that I've had to do for a class that I'm about to take that I'm very excited about. But the thing that now in stresses is that disciplehip requires something from us. we often think that Jesus disciples or maybe you don't think this but I certainly have had to clear this picture in my mind that they just kind of followed Jesus around you know not thinking much about anything just following him and watching him do what he did but they were also required of and Jesus taught them a lot of ways to be as followers of his and also believers in what he was saying. and some of it came in the way that he lived and one of the things that he did which is he would often take time away to pray. He would take time by himself and be in a solitary place and just pray. And now's thought is that prayer happens when we carve out time and space to be quiet.
Well, you talk Suzi about the solitude that Jesus demonstrated. He modeled it. for his disciples. And I know for me in my life that I don't like solitude. I don't like quiet. I don't like not hearing anything. So when I get in the car, I'll turn the radio on, not cuz I'm necessarily interested in listening to something, but just because I want to fill dead space. and yet you're right and it's no one talks about it. I think solitude is the beginning point of being able to hear God's voice. You know, we sometimes say, "Oh, if God would just write it in the sky, if he would just, you know, make something really clear to me." But that's not necessarily typically the way he operates. He wants us to be alone with him. And that's what Jesus modeled and what he wanted his disciples to do. And that includes you and me as his disciples today.
And that solitude could then lead to meaningful engagement with community. Is that fair to say?
Yes. And that's what Now one says and then community leads to ministry but I love how he speaks about and I we've read this before from many other authors but solitude we're afraid of it. you know some of us don't like to be alone period. I cherish being alone but I know someone at this table who does not like being alone and it's not Tim Briggs our producer. It's someone else. But
you talking about Gus?
Yeah Gus, our 90 lb dog. No he does not like to be alone at all. No. But in solitude, when we look at what Jesus did is he went to a solitary place and he prayed and he heard from the father and the father says to him and we hear him the father say this to him later on. This is my son. This is my beloved son. Well, if I'm busy coming to God with my, you know, my list of everything I want him to do, it's going to be really hard for me to hear him. And so, you may be wondering, well, how in the world do I hear from God? Well, I think if you are in the word of God, maybe in a consistent place. You're reading in a consistent place. I've been in Romans. So, that's been my consistent place. So, as I get to a verse and I just sit with it, and this is not a plan or a program or 10 steps to find solitude. This is just a thought. If I sit with that verse and just wait, waiting again is not something we do well, but if I just wait with it, I think you'll be surprised. And I am often surprised that God says something to me in that verse. In other words, he's saying, "Pay attention to this verse." Or he's asking me the question, "Does this how are you doing with what I'm saying here?" And so solitude was really essential to Jesus. and we see often times that he spends time with the father, then he calls the 12 together. you know, he called the 12 out of the massive grouping of people that followed him. That was part of what he did. And Nan speaks to that in this essay is he after he had been with the father then he picked 12 and oddly enough he picked one that would betray him. But that was part of fulfilling the prophecy that had been foretold. But in order for him to be able to be with community and understand who his community should be, he needed time with God and he needed to know. I mean did he pray? Who should be my 12? I we don't know. But he spent time with God. And then that community had the same thing that they were hoping for and pointed towards and that was to minister in some way. And we see that in the gospels that he and the 12 then went and ministered to people. They healed people. They helped people along the way. They touched people. but we often times miss that first part of solitude.
Yeah. And I think we tend to look So, so solitude and community are opposites and so many times we see them as an eitheror proposition. Either it's solitude or it's community. I believe what it is a both and.
The solitude is a necessary beginning point but community is absolutely necessary in order to live the Christian life because Christian life was never meant to be lived as a solitary life. But there is a need for solitude in order to then move into the community which then leads to ministry. So, so ministry is the part that so many of us I think sometimes we try to start there. You know, here's a work project, here's a missions trip, here's a you know, whatever it may be. And we can feel really good about ourselves when we engage in ministry. and yet before you even get to ministry, it's an internal looking at myself. So, the solitude's important so I can hear from God. And then the community is important so that I can draw from one another. I can help share the burdens of other people. They can share my burdens. We can rejoice together. and it's a messy thing. Community is going to be messy cuz we're all a mess. But it is necessary. Again, not one, two, three steps, but the progression of the pathway that you go down are important that ultimately leads to ministry. Taking the good news of the gospel and sharing it with the world around me.
You know, if you take that backwards, how can we do how can we even be in community or do ministry if we're not listening to what God has to say? I love how Nan says this that Jesus listened to that voice all the time and he was able to walk right through life. he goes on to say people were applauding him, laughing at him, praising him, rejecting him, yelling hosana and then crucifying him. But in the midst of that all, Jesus knew one thing that he was the beloved and he clung to that voice. And then Nan says this later on, there are many voices speaking loudly. Prove that you're beloved. Prove that you're worth something. Prove you have a contribution to make. Do something relevant. Be sure to make a name for yourself. And isn't that what happened in the temptation Jesus experienced with Satan was, you know, he was saying, "Prove to me that you can do wonderful things. prove that you're something. Turn these st bones into bread. But Jesus didn't have to prove anything because he already knew he was beloved.
Yeah. So, here's a little pop quiz so you can take it on your own. there are three times in the Gospels where it's recorded that God spoke from heaven and said, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." So, see if you can find those three times that he says that. But the other thing that's just a you want to do it, you can do it. You don't have to do it.
we will grade you.
But, you know, here's the thing. You talk about hearing his voice. I love the opening of the book of Hebrews because it says in the in days gone by in various times past in various ways our fathers heard from God. So you think about the you know the burning bush just on and on. But then it says but in these last days he's spoken to us through his son.
So all the craziness of the Old Testament different ways that God chose to reveal himself and to speak to people in these last days he's spoken to us through his son. and that is taking time to be alone with the father and listening to his son. I do that often through his word, but I also do that through the spirit who lives within me. And that progression is something I think that's important for us to as disciples to do.
We really urge you to take time and space to just sit and listen because you're it's hard to become quiet because immediately something comes up for me, it's oh my gosh, I forgot to call somebody. I got to do that. As soon as I get quiet, my mind gets filled up with stuff.
now calls it this. He says, "Your inner life is like a banana tree filled with monkeys jumping up and down." And isn't that true that just when I start to get quiet, a million things come into place? But here here's the thing, folks, that if we don't spend time with him, we're going to wonder and stumble and we're going to be confused and oftentimes go into places that we should never have been because we haven't heard from him what we should do and who we should be.
So we encourage you to find that time to carve that time out in your daily routine, certainly your weekly routine to hear from God. Have a great day.
Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit Andspirituality. com