WorldHope Corps

JUST RELEASED: 2nd book in the Nouwen Triology Spiritual Formation  By Henri Nouwen with Michael J. Christensen and Rebecca Laird  (HarperOne July 2010) The first book in the series, Spiritual Direction , introduced readers to Nouwen’s core message on how to live the questions of the spiritual life. Now Spiritual Formation reveals Nouwen’s sage advice on how to live out the five classical stages of spiritual development. Purchase at discount :   $17.15 at Amazon.com “Spiritual formation is not about steps or stages on the way to perfection. It’s about the movements from the mind to the heart through prayer in its many forms that reunite us with God, each other and our truest selves.” —Henri Nouwen, from the Introduction  “Spiritual formation presents opportunities to enter into the center of our heart and become familiar with the complexities of our own inner life,” says Henri Nouwen, one of the most widely read and articulate spiritual writers of i...

What's a self-described Latino-Evangelical-Pentecostal-Progressive Preacher doing at Drew Theological School this week? Preaching, Prophesying, Teaching and Discussing the "Rise of Latino-Evangelical-Pentecostal-Progressive Christianity in America" focused on shalom and social justice for the common good. Gabriel, and his wife, Jeanette, are co-pastors of the Lamb's Church of the Nazarene (where I once served as associate pastor and still claim my charter membership).     The original Lambs Church building is now a boutique hotel and restaurant in Times Square, but the church remnant relocated to lower Manhattan and became a vital multicultural, multilingual, multinational community of faith focused on what it means to love God, self and neighbor as a "global Christian."  Rev. Salguero, in addition to serving as pastor of the Lamb's Church, is an internationally noted pastor in the Evangelical tradition.  He is Director of the Hispanic Leaders...

Of course I was there on the Mall  for the big Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive in Washington DC on October 30.  Where else would I be?   And my family was with me, along with my daughter's best friend and her family. Instead of catching the Huffington Post bus from New York, or flying on Ophrah Express, we drove down together in a van from New Jersey and stayed two nights on the metro line for easy access to the city. Although there was a long line at the metro station to board a train, we managed to squeeze in and get to the Mall in time to stake out a spot to stand for the three hour Rally and live comedy show with over 200,000 other members of the Great Silent Majority there for the Million Moderate March calling on all Americans to "bring it down a notch"  in favor of civility and the common good.  The divisive rhetoric in the country was just too much to bear alone, so we came together to laugh and sing.  There was lots of moder...

I’m thrilled that Richard is coming to campus this week to lecture on "Contemplative Mind as an Alternative Consciousness" for the annual Tipple-Vosburgh Lectures at Drew University.   If you are near Madison, NJ, be sure to join us on Tuesday , October 19, at 7:30pm at the Dorothy Young Center. My good friend, Jeff Markay, introduced me to the works of Richard Rohr a few years ago, and I’ve found myself listening to his tapes over and over to gain new insights.   Known for his articulation of a “Spirituality of Imperfection” for the second   half of life, Rohr speaks deeply to my heart and to thousands of others, and I commend him to my audience.     In reading his book on the Enneagram, I learned that I am a Seven and how to get along with a Five.    In listening to his tapes on Saint Paul and   Franciscan Spirituality, I heard the Gospel of Jesus in a radical way that I had not heard it before.   And in listening several times to “...

I was blessed this week to participate in the first Malawi Summit sponsored by the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries to bring together church groups and organizations (like WorldHope Corps) involved in ministry in Malawi.   Eight mission groups were represented at the Summit in Nashville, including:, Belmont UMC, Church of the Resurrection in KC, First UMC in Ankany, Iowa, and other active clergy and laity). We compared notes, found out what each other were doing, and asked questions about how we might work together in a more coordinated and transparent way in Malawi. Most gratifying for me was learning that the WorldHope Corps initiatives--HOPE HOMES, HOPE SCHOLARSHIPS AND HOPE TAILORING SCHOOL--have been enthusiastically embraced and supported by the other volunteer mission groups.  And that there are others who want to put in village wells and support the work in Malawi, each in their own way. Rev. Herb Mather, a Drew Theological School graduate, an...

I love this prayer offered today by a Drew seminarian for the family and friends of Tyler Clementi, and for many others who live in despair ...  And I wanted to pass it on... One of our national trainers and a member of the National Shalom Committee is a professor at Rutgers University where this latest youth suicide occurred.  She shared with us how emotionally overwhelmed the campus community is right now, and we want to lift up those in need of help and healing into the Light of Christ. Shalom, Amen Michael  Dear Lord: We humbly bow our heads to thank you for your faithfulness when we come to you in prayer. We lift up your name in praise, Oh God because we know that we are weak and powerless without you.  We know that you are the hearer of the prayers of every sinner, Lord, of every woman, every child, every man, every lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersexed child. For we are all your children. The children of ...

Following Fr. John Dear's challenging lecture last night on the Road to Peace, I offered the following reflection on the tension between contemplative and active forms of peacemaking in chapel at Drew this morning:      Are you an active or a contemplative Christian? Are you an activist who prophetically speaks truth to the power…or a contemplative who prays for peace and tries to live a life of compassion?  Are you a contemplative-active or an active contemplative? (It’s complicated.  It’s a spectrum.  The two poles are in tension.) Last night Fr. John Dear was in the house [at the annual Henri Nouwen Lecture at Drew].  We heard a radical gospel according John --the peace and justice activist.  We also heard him talk appreciatively about his friend, Fr Henri Nouwen, the more contemplative peacemaker—who died 14 years ago this week (Sept 21, 1996).  Henri Nouwen is a well-known writer of 40+ books on contemplative spirituality, in...