Your Faith Journey 126

Posted on Apr 25, 2021 in Blog |

Henri Nouwen explains in his third letter within the book, Letters to Marc About Jesus: Living a Spiritual Life in a Material World, that “God sent Jesus to make free persons of us. He has chosen compassion as the way to freedom.” In regards to compassion, Henri writes, “compassion…is taking part in the suffering of others, being totally a fellow-human-being in suffering.” And it is in the midst of our suffering where we find Jesus. Nouwen points out that “Jesus is God who-suffers-with-us.”

To live the virtue of compassion as Jesus’ followers, just as Christ lived it, requires seeing those who are suffering, listening when others are crying out, being present in the midst of the pain people are enduring, and bearing the burden alongside the sufferers. Living the virtue of compassion means denying ourselves when we are tempted to close our eyes and ears so that our lives are sheltered from the suffering of others, taking up the cross of suffering alongside our fellow human beings, and following Jesus as he leads us through the darkest valleys of life (Mark 8:34-35). For many of us, we have spent far too long avoiding the virtue of compassion because we prefer to avoid pain. Yet, according to Henri, “when you come to see Jesus more and more as the compassionate God, you will begin increasingly to see your own life as one in which you yourself want to express that divine compassion. What can happen then is that you feel a deep longing grow within you to make your own life a life for others.”

Throughout 2021, you are invited to focus on living with Jesus at the center of your life. To help us with Living Consistent with Christ, we are continuing our new message series connected to Henri Nouwen’s book, Letters to Marc About Jesus. This weekly Your Faith Journey devotional is connected with the series worship service messages and some of the content of Henri’s book.

*If you would like to read the book Letters to Marc About Jesus during our sermon series, you can purchase it through Amazon.com, ChristianBook.com, or Cokesbury.com.

Sunday (4/25)

This week you are invited to read part of the hymn “Take Up Thy Cross” by Charles W. Everest to begin your devotional time with God each day, then read the daily Bible verses, and conclude your time praying “The Wesley Covenant Prayer” listed below, or a prayer of your own, to help you live the virtue of compassion, just as Jesus lived it.

Hymn: “Take Up Thy Cross” by Charles W. Everest (UM Hymnal 415)

“Take up thy cross,” the Savior said, “if thou wouldst my disciple be;

deny thyself, the world forsake, and humbly follow after me.”

Take up thy cross and follow Christ, nor think till death to lay it down;

for only those who bear the cross may hope to wear the glorious

crown.

Prayer: “The Wesley Covenant Prayer”:

I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.

Put me to doing, put me to suffering.

Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,

exalted for thee or brought low for thee.

Let me be full, let me be empty.

Let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and heartily yield all things

to thy pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.

And the covenant which I have made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Monday (4/26)