In The Wounded Healer, Henri J. Nouwen talks about the conundrum of being both a person who experiences pain, despair, and spiritual desert living in a broken world, and the call to interact with the world in a way that brings glory to God’s name.
He writes,
How can the Christian leader direct their explosive energy into creative channels and really be an agent of change? It might sound surprising and perhaps even contradictory, but I think that what is asked of the Christian leader of the future is that [they] be a contemplative critic.
Nouwen explains that the contemplative critic doesn’t fall into patterns of despair that ask about the future of the world, rather, the contemplative critic,
…might be able to look at the people [they] meet, the contacts [they] make, and the events [they] become a part of, in a different way. [They] might reveal the first lines of the new world behind the veil of everyday life.”
As a former debater, political science student, and perpetually online thinker, this is a challenge for me. Too often, I see the challenges we face on the global, national, and local levels as insurmountable reminders of human brokenness. I often find myself despairing: if only people saw the world the way I do, if only they would vote the way I do, if only they would prioritize the issues close to my heart – then, we would make progress towards a kingdom that brings glory to God.
But this view is too narrow. My view of the goodness of God is ever-expanding. My experiences with scripture are changing me. My understanding of the person and ministry of Jesus is changing as I seek, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to look progressively more like my savior.
Nouwen continues,
It is not the task of the Christian leader to go around nervously trying to redeem people, to save them at the last minute, to put them on the right track… The Christian leader is called to help others affirm [the] great news, and to make visible in daily events the fact that behind the dirty curtain of our painful symptoms there is something great to be seen: the face of Him in whose image we are shaped.
This is the challenge I face, and the call I struggle with. Cynicism takes us to a place of anger on one side and despair on the other, leading us to ask the questions: does God even care? Is he powerful enough to correct the wrongs we see? Is he just enough to hold the evil accountable? And if he is, why doesn’t he do it?
But in the view of Nouwen, as a contemplative cynic, we are called for something greater – to be way finders for those that don’t see through the fog of the broken world to the bigger story of God’s plan for a new creation.
Friends, this doesn’t negate our call to be people of action. We are not free from the need to stand with our friends and neighbors in the face of injustice, nor are we allowed to turn a blind eye to evil, with our eyes fully fixed on the new creation.
Nouwen closes,
“the Christian leader who is able to be a critical contemplative will be a revolutionary in the most real sense. Because by testing all he sees, hears, and touches for its evangelical authenticity, he is able to change the course of history and lead his people away from their panic-stricken convulsions to the creative action that will make a better world…He is not a naive optimist who expects his frustrated desires to be satisfied in the future, no a bitter pessimist who keeps repeating that the past has taught him that there is nothing new under the sun; he is rather a man of hope who lives with the unshakeable conviction that now he is seeing a dim reflection in a mirror, but that one day he will see the future face to face.
We are called to be bearers of hope and light to a broken and hurting world, one that groans with the injustice, evil, and greed that is now shaking the foundations of government, society, and humanity. That is a tall task, and one that is daunting to me. As I continue to wrestle with my role as a man of action and hope in the face of injustice, a critical contemplative, in the view of Nouwen, I invite you to join me.
The path of the contemplative critic does not need to be lonely. In community, we expand our perspectives, sharpen our skills, and lead with unshakeable hope, surrounded by those who are also heeding the call.
A Profitable Read 