Yeah, perhaps the perspective is different between reading an excerpt of the book on LJ as opposed to reading through the rest of the book until that point. Nouwen was a pastor who taught at some prestigious universities and served as pastor at a community of those with mental disabilities. He's way intelligent, but his perspective has been known to be "hit or miss" in some cases.
Law and Gospel, I think in Nouwen's terms, is not the main issue, so if it comes across as Law then that could very well come across as that, it's just that Nouwen's years of working with others and being in relationship with them has formed his concept of faith, not the distinction between Law and Gospel.
Silence is way scary, and in your cases, Lew and Kim, those instances might have been depressed moods or bouts of depression...that's a guess on my part, but the point is that when there's depression or other problems of the mind that we all have at time to time, lots of advice, words, and opinions are distorted. For instance, during times of depression I'd even read Scripture and feel nothing but condemned. Nouwen's point is not to tell others what to do or to demand silence from his readers, but neither does he intend to spurt out Law.
A vocation is our purpose in life, and that purpose does handle despair, but if we have a vocation - whether it's the "right" or "wrong" one - and we busy ourselves with it to block out our sorrows and issues, then it can CAUSE despair. So you could do what you love, what you've been called to do, and still feel despair because of unresolved stuff boiling underneath the surface.
For a depressed person, silence can be even more frightening. But for those who are blocking out the sorrows of their life and busying themselves with jobs, movies, etc., silence is just what they need. It doesn't apply to all right now, but I believe it will at some point. Seek out this book to read the rest, but what I posted is a pretty sweet morsel of the whole.
Law and Gospel, I think in Nouwen's terms, is not the main issue, so if it comes across as Law then that could very well come across as that, it's just that Nouwen's years of working with others and being in relationship with them has formed his concept of faith, not the distinction between Law and Gospel.
Silence is way scary, and in your cases, Lew and Kim, those instances might have been depressed moods or bouts of depression...that's a guess on my part, but the point is that when there's depression or other problems of the mind that we all have at time to time, lots of advice, words, and opinions are distorted. For instance, during times of depression I'd even read Scripture and feel nothing but condemned. Nouwen's point is not to tell others what to do or to demand silence from his readers, but neither does he intend to spurt out Law.
A vocation is our purpose in life, and that purpose does handle despair, but if we have a vocation - whether it's the "right" or "wrong" one - and we busy ourselves with it to block out our sorrows and issues, then it can CAUSE despair. So you could do what you love, what you've been called to do, and still feel despair because of unresolved stuff boiling underneath the surface.
For a depressed person, silence can be even more frightening. But for those who are blocking out the sorrows of their life and busying themselves with jobs, movies, etc., silence is just what they need. It doesn't apply to all right now, but I believe it will at some point. Seek out this book to read the rest, but what I posted is a pretty sweet morsel of the whole.
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