He gave his life to people who cared not about his credentials but simply his friendship.Īnd though his time at L’Arche was not easy, it became a rich gift to him. He left the prestige and influence of Harvard to feed and wash people who had no idea what Harvard was. He lived there until his death in 1996 at age 64.Īs much as all the fine books he has written, I am impressed with the facts of his life. But while there, he wrote: “Something inside was telling me that my success was putting my soul in danger.” So he left and spent the next 10 years of his life at a L’Arche community north of Toronto. As an academic and well-known author, Nouwen worked his way up the ladder to a teaching post at Harvard. It’s a movement toward failure, and, in that, a movement toward tenderness, love, and wholeness. “We don’t do great things at L’Arche.” Vanier writes about “descending” from a world of accomplishment to be present to the weakness and powerlessness of core members. It centres around wounded and weak people. In these homes, people with developmental disabilities – “core members” – and those who assist them share life together.īut the point is not to make L’Arche sound grandiose. Four decades later, there are many L’Arche homes around the world. Vanier called the humble household of three L’Arche (French for the ark). “The whole Christian mystery,” he wrote, “is revealed to us through the weak and the powerless, the little ones.” What Vanier slowly discovered, as he gravitated toward this realm of weakness and vulnerability, was the ability of these men to bring him, through shared daily life, to a deep experience of tenderness, love, and unity. This man of noble lineage and great capability began tending to the daily needs of these men who were, according to the success narrative, losers and nobodies. So, in the prime of his life, he invited the men to move into his home. He sensed their primal cry for love and belonging, and in their cry, he sensed the call of God. Then, while living in France, Vanier met two men who lived in an institution for people with developmental disabilities. As son of a former Governor General of Canada, Georges Vanier, he joined the navy and later became an academic in Europe. Vanier grew up in a setting of privilege. I can trace my doubts back, in large part, to the following three stories. Now, I am seriously questioning the underlying story-line that has driven me. This is not all bad, but all along I have had doubts. I’ve spent much of the past 15 years trying hard to be as effective and influential as possible, especially in my work on energy issues and cross-cultural relations. Indeed, I have lived most of my life blending the success story and Jesus’s story. This “try hard, be strong, make a difference” narrative is constantly reinforced in our culture and is easily and often adapted to faith. We Christians commonly fail to see the profound difference between the story of Jesus and the popular success script that tells us, “focus on a goal, don’t give up, believe in yourself, overcome set-backs, and you will succeed.” I wince at that story because I fear that I, along with many Christians, have often been one of those people cheering Jesus on, expecting him to do exactly those things that are outside his nature. And, in the end, according to their criteria, Jesus failed the Romans remained. The people could smell political success. The events of Palm Sunday illustrate this with particular clarity.Ĭommentators suggest the people waving palm branches during the “triumphal entry” viewed Jesus as an ascendant king who would oust the Romans. The story of Jesus’s life does not follow the standard success narrative of our day. And, as the revolution-minded crowds that welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday later discovered, he didn’t overthrow the oppressive Roman occupiers either. He didn’t hold any formal title or position. He didn’t have a seminary library named after him. He didn’t achieve the sort of successes we commonly applaud.
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