DQ 5.1 - Wrapping up, final thoughts, moving forward… (March 22 - )
Henri mentions his upcoming 40th anniversary of his ordination, but he did not live to see that day in July 1997. He died on Sept. 21, 1996. He drank the cup until the end. We are now wrapping up our online discussion of the book. So let’s make it wide open now: What was your favorite insight from the book? What insight did you gain from this discussion? Will anything change for you as a result?
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April 7th, 2007 @ 8:21 am
I have really enjoyed the community that was created by sharing our love for our Savior in the cup which God offers us in Christ.The blood poured out for me represents eternal life and my sins represent death. What Christ did for me on the Cross is great and I am sorry that I have offended him in so many ways. My answered prayers are the markers that Christ is alive and my Hope is made stronger through the power of the Holy Ghost. When I get tired of reading the Bible and serving others, the cup of communion is served and then all of a sudden, I feel all fresh again to follow Jesus. Over the course of Lent, the echo for me has been “Do this in remembrance of Me,” and the reflection of all the things I do and the importance of my dependence in a relationship with Christ. My favorite insight in the book is the deeper meaning that the cup has to me now, and that I will always be more thankful when I lift my cup. Henri is like Hemingway in his writing style—so simply written, but yet so deeply thought out and descriptive. However, despite Henri’s gift in our community celebrated, we have to admit that without our love for God and His love for us, this would not have happened. Thank you for sharing your faith with me.
Happy Easter!
April 3rd, 2007 @ 9:21 am
That has not been determined yet.
April 2nd, 2007 @ 10:46 pm
So what is the next book going to be?
March 28th, 2007 @ 6:32 am
My Lenten prayer has been simple: “Find me God. Rest in me.” I have learned again that the reason to pray is not to get specific results but to be in relationship to God. There have been days I have felt very strong because of that relationship.
These forums have become part of my Lenten reflections. I appreciate very much how all of you have shared how and why you drink the cup of life. I can’t say for sure how it has changed me. Like my prayer, it is good enough to be in relationship with you and to trust that this is good for both of us. I have caught myself feeling calmer and more focused in dealing with other people in recent weeks — drinking the cup in front of me and knowing, for that moment, that is all there is for me.
Thank you.
March 27th, 2007 @ 8:18 pm
After reading Henri’s book, I would say that I am more ready and willing to sip from the cup on a regular basis. The book has really revealed a lot to me about life and God’s salvation.
As I have reflected on this book I have arrived at something of a paradox with regards to the cup He offers. While it is not necessarily a reward for drinking the cup, we do gain a “fuller” experience of life as a result of opening our hearts to God’s love through the Holy Spirit. Particularly during the unpleasant “sips” of our lives.
So, every time that I drink from the cup I feel as though my heart becomes closer to God, and my life “fuller” through His grace and the love of the Holy Spirit. I agree with Patty’s comment above, that, by the grace of God, I hope that I will have drank the cup to the bottom by the day that I die. I pray that in that moment my soul will be united for eternity with God.
One thing the book has done for me, and many of the comments that people have made here, is give me a greater feeling of hope as life marches on. A more confident feeling of hope that God’s love and grace are in every moment if we have the courage to look for them.
To use a sports cliché to describe how the book has changed me, I would say I am going to try harder to “let the game come to me.” The game being life. I think I will try to have a lot more patience to work through the challenging times, as opposed to trying to gloss over them, or ignore them for as long as possible.
And lastly, since reading Henri’s book, I can no longer share a glass of wine with family or friends with out first raising it high and proclaiming, “to life!”
Peace be with you all my brothers and sisters.
March 27th, 2007 @ 9:44 am
In the early part of the book, Henri says to reflect and be critical about our life and how we are living it. Somehow, I missed much of that step until I was about 60 years old. It was about that time, I learned, among other things, the huge difference between happiness and joy. Henri adds careful clarity around the feeling of joy and especially what it means in our relationships with others - “we need to be angels for each other. (pg. 51)
Further, Henri talks about the attributes of community and how our lives can become more meaningful in community. I recently joined two small groups in our church. It has been amazing to me how important these people have become in my weekly life. My own life “has blossomed in unexpected ways” (pg. 75) and I believe the lives of the other participants have as well. In our small groups we feature silence (and listening), the Word and active caring for each other, much like Henri outlines in Chapter 9.
I think the key beauty of this book and our discussion is the affirming and encouraging of an important aspect of Christian life. I don’t know if I will change my direction, but I may try to run (drink from the cup) a little faster.
Thank you for the forum and thank you for the many thoughts.
March 26th, 2007 @ 8:09 pm
I think what I have learned most is what someone said last week and Henri seems to imply - we do tend to drink our cup bits at a time or sip by sip, for me most days it is a definite sip and others, barely a sip, but as I sip I pray that I am continually learning to follow Jesus and accept my role in life whatever it may be today.
I guess that is why I cannot believe I have drank my cup to the bottom until I die, and I pray that I have done it then. I wish you all a blessed and joy filled Easter.
March 26th, 2007 @ 8:45 am
I learned that we are called to be literal followers of Christ, to drink our cup of joy and sorrow as He did, lifting it up in complete love for the Father, thus blessing others by sharing our radical uniqueness and being blessed likewise by them. Our lives become a canticle of an endless “Yes” to God. It is making ourselves a gift to God and to those whose live we touch. Drinking the cup requires total trust, faith, acceptance, vulnerabilty and may call us to accept the unacceptable at times. I learned how I struggle and fall short in doing so, but that “guardian angels” were about to assist me. I saw that Henri eventually found his angels in Adam, Trevor, Bill and other folks by definition marginalized and vulnerable. They brought him the grace him to become himself, to reach out in love for the Father.
I found community and a place where my truth is spoken in our sharing and discussion, that the many paths to God are but one path for those who search.
This book and discussion have deepened my understanding and beliefs about Christ’s death and resurrection. I am both bewildered and affirmed. Yet, the whisper of Love,saying,” I am with you always” is a bit more audible. Maybe I will be given the grace to say it back. Thank you all for such a grace filled
Easter cup. God bless.
March 24th, 2007 @ 8:52 pm
“The way we are seen and understood by others is different from the way we see and understand ourselves. We will never fully know the significance of our presence in the lives of our friends. That’s a grace…”
After reading Can You Drink the Cup?, I think of Henri as my friend. He has become a guide to helping me follow the Way, find the Truth, and live the Life. I can imagine Henri’s voice saying, “Come THIS way.. This IS the road we want.. We are almost there.”
Maybe Henri knew, maybe he didn’t know that many, many people would be affected by his own search for living the Gospel, as described by his writings. I have been tremendously blessed and enlightened by this man. I have come to trust the Lord Jesus in a deeper way. I have learned to understand more and more what it means to be human. Life is simpler than the world wants me to believe. I cannot live the life I am given unless I am in a living, active, real relationship with the person of Jesus the Lord. Henri shows the way to do this in this book, Can You Drink the Cup?.
All Glory be to God…..
March 24th, 2007 @ 9:29 am
I am a substitute teacher employed by four different school districts which introduces me to the gamut of how families’ socio economic status affects their value of and ability to attain education for their children. While the elementary teaching job market is not good here, I wonder if given the choice, would I opt for a permanent job with a “rich school” with resources and higher academic rigor or with a “poor school” hosting students with more behavior problems but for whom school is one of the few life lines in their lives?
In chapter 9, Henri states, “It is not easy to distinguish between doing what we are called to do and doing what we want to do.” In my case, I should add, or what I feel guilty if I don’t do. Henri continues, “Our many wants can easily distract us from our true action. True action leads us to the fulfillment of our vocation…the question is not, ‘What do I most want?’ but ‘What is my vocation?’” In light of this profundity, I still waffle. But isn’t what I want important? Surely, I shouldn’t teach the most needy of students out of guilt? Plus, I don’t always feel all that good about my teaching/management abilities in these schools. Doesn’t what I want have some sort of play in my decision towards a vocation? Afterall, I’m going to be good at what I want to do.
I received some help in my questions from Charles Ringma’s “Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen,” a daily devotional in which I read an entry titled, Vocation: Serving that Goes Beyond Good Intentions. Here Ringma quotes Henri in Seeds of Hope as saying, “‘Idealism, good intentions and a desire to serve the poor do not make up a vocation.” Ringma expounds, “Much more is required and further probing questions need to be asked: ‘Am I adopting the difficult way because of frustration or guilt?’… ‘Do I have the resources or skills?’…Do I have a call to this type of service or am I constrained by idealism or wishful thinking?’ Ringma concludes that our challenge is “not consistency in carrying out the call but certainty in regarding what we are to do. For it is certainty that alone can be an adequate foundation for our consistency.” Ok, that helps, don’t do things out of guilt, Kelly…but about what am I certain?
This uncertainty in me is perhaps why I found the following Henri statement in Can You Drink the Cup so comforting: “What God calls us to do we can do and do well.” Ahhh….that’s it. I don’t have to worry. When I’m there, I’ll know it. And hopefully I’ll have the courage to keep moving until I get there. As that saying (sorry don’t know who said it) goes, when my greatest gifts meet with the world’s greatest needs, there I’m home…at least for that moment.
Thanks, Henri for your simple yet true words. Thanks, God for waiting on me.