Waiting for Jesus
As the noise of the holiday season rises, how can we recover the stillness, peace, and joy at the heart of Advent? In this deeply moving episode of Now & Then, host Wendy VanderWal Martin welcomes pastor and author Rich Villodas to explore his new devotional, Waiting for Jesus: An Advent Invitation to Prayer and Renewal.
Rich shares how the rhythms of the church calendar have reoriented his life and ministry in New York City — “the city that never sleeps” — toward waiting, peacemaking, rejoicing, and beholding. Together, Wendy and Rich reflect on how these ancient Advent themes offer an antidote to our culture’s frenzy and distraction, inviting us into a slower, more attentive way of being with God.
Listeners will be drawn into stories of how prayer sustains community, how true peace begins within, and how joy and lament can coexist in the same heart. Rich also opens up about the lasting influence of Henri Nouwen — his honesty, vulnerability, and insistence that we are all the beloved of God.
Whether you’re longing to rediscover the sacred meaning of Advent or simply seeking renewal in a weary world, this conversation offers a compassionate and contemplative guide to centering your life on Christ amid the clamor of December.
“Waiting is not despair — it’s dependence.” — Rich Villodas
Listen now to be inspired, refreshed, and reminded that even in a restless world, the invitation to behold beauty and live as God’s beloved still stands.
Available On
Transcript
-
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Hello, Rich Villodas. So great to have you on the podcast with the Henri Nowan Society. Oh, For those of you who are unfamiliar with Rich, you are in for a rich conversation. And in particular today, we're excited because you have a new advent devotional coming out, Waiting for Jesus. Do you want to tell us, just to kick it right off, Rich, why did you write this?
Rich Villodas: Well, Wendy it's so good to be with you here, and I absolutely love the good work that's happening here, honoring the legacy of Nouwen and the impact he's had on my life. In terms of the book, Waiting for Jesus, when I got to the congregation where I pastor now, almost 18 years ago, I was introduced to the practice of ordering life around the church calendar which was very new for me. And so, for the last 20 years, every advent season our family and our church you know, are ordering, ordering our lives around hopefully the presence of Christ and not commercialism and consumerism. And so, as I thought about the pull in our society, that when Christmas time comes an advent it is easy for Jesus to get lost in all of that, and not just for a world out there, but for followers of Jesus. And so, as I thought about anchoring ourselves around contemplation on the presence of Jesus in this season, I thought maybe a helpful resource for my community, my congregation, and maybe beyond would help those who are trying to keep Jesus at the center of a season that often marginalizes him. And so that's the short answer as to why I thought a book like this would be helpful for followers of Christ.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Now, you've structured the book in a particular way. Do you want to tell us a bit more about that and the intent behind how you've structured it?
Rich Villodas: You know, in some ways it's very similar to how the advent season is structured. I've used a little bit of creativity around trying to offer something fresh. And so typically those who, you know, follow Advent which is a time of waiting for the coming of Christ, waiting for the birth of Christ, and waiting for his return, is oriented around the themes of hope and peace and joy and love. And in a similar way, I'm, you know, structuring around the themes of waiting and peacemaking and rejoicing and beholding. And it's just a little wrinkle on classic themes, because ultimately, we are waiting for the world to be made new and it is an active waiting that we're participating in. I don't want to just talk about peace out there. We are called to be peacemakers.
Rich Villodas: And so as we're waiting for Christ to come, we have a part to play in the world that we are inhabiting right now. I don't want to just talk about joy in a generic kind of a way, but we are tasked with the call of rejoicing, even in the midst of a hurting and broken world. And it is that beholding piece. I really believe you know, love can be pretty abstract or pretty generalized, pretty diluted. It is the act of beholding Jesus. You know, Psalm 27, verse four, one thing, have I desired of the Lord? And that will I seek after to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life? And to behold the beauty of the Lord? The advent season is to behold the beauty of Jesus. And so hopefully that little framework is letting people know we want to move beyond generic spirituality into an active kind that joins God and what God is doing in the world, even as we're waiting for Jesus to make all things new.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Now, you have these four themes, and we'll get to them a little bit more later, but the book is split into 25 readings for each day of December. And then you've written a portion. But then tell us where you go from there on each of these daily readings, because I think that piece is really beautiful, and I'd love for our listeners to get a sense of the invitation that perhaps the table you're setting for them.
Rich Villodas: What I discovered in 2020 at the start of the pandemic I started leading these midday prayers on Instagram, partly because I just wanted to keep our community connected in a world that was social distancing. And, because where I pastor in Queens, New York City was the global epicenter at that time of the pandemic, I just wanted to do something to keep people together. And so every day, for about three, four months, I would lead a midday prayer on Instagram, 15 minutes. And then I did a survey at the end. It's just like, if you've been part of this for the last four years, four months, rather let me know what you think about the last four months of participating. And what I learned was, number one people did not know how to pray. And number two, they needed a community to help them stay grounded.
Rich Villodas: And so, as I thought about this resource, this Waiting for Jesus resource, I thought, number one, I want to guide people in how to pray. Lots of folks sit down and they will, am I supposed to just throw words at God? Am I supposed to just sit here and listen to God? What am I supposed to do? And so, more than anything, it feels like I'm offering a guide to be with God that's oriented around a reflection oriented around times of stillness and silence oriented around a devotional reading from someone that has really marked my life - Nouwen being one of them. And I think there's about three different times where I, I could have done 25 you know, meditations on what Nouwen has said because of the impact he's had on my life. But really it's a guide to teach people how to stay connected to God, because prayer on some level feels really easy, but for many people, it's very frustrating because they don't know exactly what to do. And so hopefully this is a guide to anchor and to help orient people around their life with God.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: So you've written a piece, and then you have a piece from someone you call a guide. And as you said, Henri's offered several of those through these 25 readings. And then there's some invitations around silence. And prayer itself, some written prayers to help people engage. Now at the Henri Nouwen Society, we often talk about our mission being spiritual transformation. As people know themselves to be God's beloved, you know? And on all of the other spiritual wisdom that Henri brought, now, really spiritual transformation is we are inspired, we're formed and shaped, and then that gets activated. And that's not linear. Of course, sometimes we're active, which inspires us, and then that grows us up and forms us. And sometimes, yes, we're in the process of being formed by something, perhaps a difficulty. And that leads us to action, to help others who are struggling. And, and in the process of that, we experience inspiration. But this book seems to be really an invitation into that formation to be formed and shaped through waiting for the coming and the coming again of Jesus the Christ. And so, tell us, you've already mentioned that Henri's accompanied you for a long time….
Wendy VanderWal Martin: How has Henri Nouwen been a formational guide for you? Can you dig into that a bit more for us?
Rich Villodas: Oh, you know, the first time I read anything from him was in college. I was about 21 years old. I was taking a spiritual formation class, and my professor assigned Return of the Prodigal son. And as I read about the younger son and the elder son and the father, I was just incredibly moved. It was language I'd never heard before around the tenderness of God, around the ways that the younger son and the elder son lives within me. And so, when after reading that book, I thought, first of all, who is this guy? And did he write anything else? And so I remember just scouring the, the, the college campus library. And within the first year, I probably read at least five or six of his books. Within the first year I wrote a paper to graduate on the inter, you know, I, I was doing interdisciplinary studies, and so I was talking about the connection between pastoral ministry and the discipline of solitude.
Rich Villodas: And it was Nouwen's works, you know? So Return of the Prodigal Son you know, Life of the Beloved, the Way of the Heart, Out of Solitude, Wounded Healer, In the name of Jesus. I mean, all of these books, I was just devouring the first couple of years after reading Return of the Prodigal Son. And here's what I would say, if I could sum up all of those books in terms of the impact it's had on me as an individual, as a follower of Christ, as a pastor a few things come to mind. Number one, he had this way of just leading with brokenness and vulnerability. And so as I was reading, it was just like, oh, you know, that's my story. That's, this is, I'm finding myself in his words because of his honesty around his brokenness.
Rich Villodas: His ability to articulate his identity as fundamentally one who is beloved of God is one that I have come back to over and over again. Where is my identity found? But his ability to integrate, which I think, I have tried as a pastor over a number of years to really pull together aspects of formation that are often compartmentalized. And so his ability to hold together psychology and spirituality, his ability to hold together love of God and love for the poor, and marginalized his, his ability to hold, to speak to truth, to power, and to name the ways that powers and principalities are at, at work in the world and causing great harm. And at the same time, to speak on that from a place of deep tenderness the last 25 years, my life is unintelligible without the books and the impact that he's had.
Rich Villodas: And, and one of the things that I appreciate Marjorie Thompson, who you probably know is a friend of mine. She's spoken at our church on a few occasions, and I remember when she came to our church in Queens and just talking to Marjorie about her friendship with Henri, and she would talk about how, and I would read it as well, and some of his biographers would talk about how frenetic and frenzied and anxiety-ridden he would be. And in one moment, he's offering contemplation, and the next minute he's running into the next meeting or whatever it was. and so all of those things humanized him in a way that just made him such a model for me as a follower of Christ. And as a pastor and leader.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Now your first section on waiting really invites people into that experience of some silence, some solitude, the discomfort of waiting and the discovery that waiting can be particularly spiritual ally. Now, there are things you share in the book, of course, but how I can't hardly imagine that waiting in New York City just aren't. It's like oil and vinegar, I would think. So how do you speak about waiting to people who are perhaps frenetic and anxiety driven? Do you feel like this would be a cold of cup, a cup of cold water <laugh>? Or is it sort of, what are you talking about waiting? Like, tell us a bit more about the choice for that to be that first thing.
Rich Villodas: I live in the city that never sleeps New York. I've been here my entire life. And so we are habituated into frenzy and anxiety just by the sheer environment we live in. And so, yes, on one level it sounds so foreign to talk about stillness, to talk about waiting, contemplation, what in the city and I think about the words of like Carlo Carretta who talked about fashioning a desert in the city. Like, we can't, we need to create a desert spaces in the midst of our city. And this is really difficult in my context, which is why I see it as kind of a prophetic word to those who are increasingly dominated by being in a constant state of partial attention, moving from one thing to the next. And so New Yorkers have it in all kinds of encompassing ways.
Rich Villodas: But with the rise of technology, we're all distracted, we're all tempted to live life superficially New York City, we have this thing called like a New York second, the way I define a New York second is the time between the light turning green when you're driving, and the sound of the horn of the person behind you, which I mean, we don't give much time at all. It's green. You better move, man. And so that's the context where I'm at. And yet I've discovered, especially being a pastor of a congregation in which we're trying to be formed along these lines, is, the language I've used is, you know waiting is an act of formation. You know, what God does in us as we wait is just as important, sometimes more important than what we're waiting for. And so, to frame waiting as a formational enterprise where I'm not talking about just twiddling our thumbs and not doing anything, you know, now when we talk about active waiting and passive waiting, where passive waiting is like, there's nothing to be done here.
Rich Villodas: As opposed to as I'm waiting, as I'm in a state of what feels like powerlessness and not being in control, there's something that's being formed in me, in my life with God. There's certain things that are being removed from me in terms of what I think I need to be okay in the world. and so waiting is a stripping, waiting is a recognition that we are not in control, and that can lead us to greater despair or that can lead us to greater dependence. And I think the advent season is an opportunity to say, we cannot fix the problems of the world on our own. We need some, we need a power from on high. We need a God who's going to enter in. and so our waiting is not so much an act of despair, but an act of dependence that's forming something in us.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Thank you. Now, your next section is peacemaking. And as I read through it, it seemed in some ways to be particularly focused on inner peace making within ourselves. And how - make the connection for us between this inner peace as people who bear the image of God, in a world that's ripped apart by just hatred and chaos and confusion and mistrust, how does that peacemaking within ourselves translate into this environment in which we often feel so helpless. Overwhelmed to make a difference. When it's the opposite of peace in so many of the contexts we find ourselves in.
Rich Villodas: You know my mind first goes through the words of Thomas Merton, who really made a correlation between our inward peace and the outward peace. And my paraphrase of it is, it's really difficult to work for peace in the world when you're not at peace with yourself or not at peace with God. And so you will project out into the world what lives within you. And so this is not to, to talk about having interior peace is not a means of saying, you know what? The power the problem's out there, those are just going to be the problems. That's the them problem, not a me problem. That's not the point. The point is to what degree can the peace that I'm cultivating on the inside work for the peace on the outside? And whether we're talking about a disagreement with a spouse or a trusted friend in the kitchen, whether we're talking about the ways that we're parenting, whether we're talking about congregational conflict, and the ways that we're moving towards healing and wholeness as opposed to exacerbating those problems, much of that is connected to the kind, the quality of peace that I'm carrying on the inside.
Rich Villodas: And so this is a season we're waiting for the prince of peace to come and make all things new. And in the process, as we are waiting, we're trying to receive something within us, that there is a possibility of living as a calm presence in the world, not marked by reactivity, not marked by an anxiety that's purely driven by emotionality. There is a space in the world in which I am becoming more at one with God and at one with myself. Therefore, in my communication, in the quality of my presence, I'm cultivating greater connection and not greater disruption. And so, for me, it is, the hope is that the peace that I cultivate within is being expressed to the world outside, which is really Jesus called. Blessed are the peacemakers where they will be called children of God, someone who's actively working for peace in the world, but we cannot give what we do not have.
Rich Villodas: And the words of Act three where Peter and John come up to that man at the gate called beautiful, and they say, silver and gold, I do not have, but what I do have, I give you it's impossible to give what we don't have. And so that interior peace serves as a really important starting point for the peace that we long to see in the world. And I'm convinced, Wendy, so much of the conflict, the disruption, the fractures in our society just get intensified because we have not taken the time to search for and to receive the interior peace that only God can give us.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Well, and I think one of the reasons Henri continues to resonate so deeply with people is he was someone who is very honest about his pursuit of, of inner peace and his failures, his limits, his times of great weakness and woundedness that made that very difficult. And, and yet he invites us into practices that build in us peace.
Rich Villodas: Yes.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Now your third section is called rejoicing, and you talk about joy as being a choice. So again, a practice of joy being formed and shaped to be someone who is rejoicing. And I found you, you sort of touched on a number of different ways to cultivate joy. Which one resonates for you the most Rich? How do you cultivate joy for yourself?
Rich Villodas: You know, being a parent of you know, now I have a teenager and a middle schooler, but I'd say their formative years, and especially with the middle schooler who's 11 you know, Jesus Jesus has let the children come to me and for, you know, they are a model of what life in the kingdom of God looks like. And I think part of that is their sense of openness, their sense of, they're not trying to prove anything, but I think it's also their joy and delight, their ability to rejoice in the little things. They're on a swing, and the child keeps saying, do it again. Do it again. Their ability for wonder. I think for me that's probably been the space of greatest formation in transformation because I have discovered, at least within myself that the older I've become, the more delight deficient I can become as well.
Rich Villodas: And so I fail to see the ordinary joys and the simplicity of life in which laughter and delight and beauty are right before me, but I miss it. And so whether I'm stepping down on a Sunday morning to enter into like an elementary space where, you know, 50 elementary students are gathered together, and I'm seeing the fun, the joys, like even just being in that space as an observer, something is happening, something contagious. Something I'm, I'm receiving a gift. And which is why I tell our church, like when someone volunteers at our church with our kids' ministry folks usually think they're doing the church a favor or they're doing us favor. I'm like, no, we're doing you a favor by allowing you to volunteer with these kids because these kids are a source of great joy, and because of their joy, you're going to receive something as well.
Rich Villodas: And so, for me, it can be hard to rejoice in a world that's marked by great pain. It could almost feel guilty to rejoice, like we should be doing more lamenting. And yet, at the same time I hold these two together, I don't think joy and lament must be compartmentalized. And in fact, our ability to lament and hold onto that part of us will this correlation between our ability to carry joy. And so the more we cut off lament, the more we cut off joy. So this is about an integration. and yet it's so easy to, in the world we live in we focus so much on lament that we skip the joy part. and so we're not talking about an either or but in this season, I think there's a particular attention that we're placing on joy. Don't worry Lent is coming. We'll focus on more lament and all the rest there. but I think there's an opportunity to rejoice.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Well, and Henri spoke often about how sorrow and joy co-mingle. Yes. And that when we're true to our sorrow and make true space for it, something in that making of the space comes joy. Joy, of course, is not the same as happiness. And, there's sort of an exquisite moment of recognition, awareness, attunement to the presence of God where sorrow is acute, then joy can be acute as well. So I, I absolutely just celebrate that lack of dualism in this devotional you've put together that there's space to, to find all of those things.
I've been married for about four years now, and my husband and I met both marked by a lot of grief. And yet, I don't know how much you do Enneagram stuff or, or how much listeners do. But, but he's a seven, which, you know, that means that spontaneous, playful. And I, I often tease him and say, you're perpetually 12 <laugh>, but
Rich Villodas: I'm
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Super serious, and I've always been very responsible. And there's something about living with a 12-year-old <laugh> that brings great joy and delight and wonder. So I, I'm an empty nester. My kids aren't with me anymore. But God's given me the gift of, of a spouse who, who sees the childlike joy and wonder of life and, and draws me into a playfulness that doesn't come to me very naturally. And so, whether it means you should volunteer for the children's ministry at your church, or find some Enneagram sevens to hang with <laugh> you know, ensuring that there's a conduit to joy. As a practice, as a discipline, even, especially for those of us who maybe are a little more melancholy, a little, you know, older child, responsible, et cetera that this aspect of rejoicing is so important. Not just in Advent, but again, part of this formational offering that you're putting in front of the body of Christ. So,
Rich Villodas: Well, well, well, as a fellow seven on the Enneagram, I say amen to all of that there. My wife would probably say she's living with a perpetual 12-year-old as well. So I'd say, I'm just, honey, I'm just trying to give you the gift of, of just joy and all the stuff.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Well, this isn't the podcast to talk about the shadow side <laugh> of that, but, but I'm sure Rosie and I would have a chat about some of those things too. Indeed, indeed. But we will choose to focus on the gift. Indeed. Now, your fourth theme is beholding. And I love this. I mean, I've done advent themes for many years. You know, the Love Candle is the fourth week And there's something very beautiful about that. But this beholding I, you know, as I was reading this section in your book, Rich, I thought Henri might call this moving from distraction to attention. Henri loved movements. And what do we need to shift away from and move towards? And tell us more about beholding as you offered it in this beautiful book?
Rich Villodas: You know, when I think about beholding, first of all, I'm someone who, over the last quarter of a century, I think starting with Henri's works, has introduced to me the contemplative tradition. And so, while our congregation and I have been formed by multiple traditions of Christian faith it is the contemplative one that I keep coming back to over and over again. And so, whether I'm going to monasteries or whether I'm going to retreat centers, or whether I'm trying to spend time with God and centering prayer, the contemplative component of my life has been really significant in my life with God. And it is the beholding, you know, it's easy to be marked by consumerism, commercialism, and to just go with the frenetic pace of the holiday season. And so that word beholding for me is, it's, it's a quality of stealing ourselves, of, of being able to see what's before us and not, and not just see anything, but to see the beauty that is before us.
Rich Villodas: I recently gave a talk on this idea of beauty and spiritual formation, and this the, the famous phrase that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And as I was writing this talk I thought, wait a minute. I think that is such a true statement. However, usually that line is seen from the perspective of subjectivism, that I see something that's beautiful and someone else might not see beauty in the same thing. And then it hit me from a contemplative tradition that's either language of subjectivism or it's language of contemplation. Because if beauty is in the eye, the beholder the longer you behold, the more beauty you'll begin to see. And so something that might not necessarily be regarded as beautiful on the surface, the longer you behold the more beauty you're going to see.
Rich Villodas: And so, beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder, but not subjectively. This is contemplation. And I think that applies across the board to our relationship with God. And in the advent season, this is an opportunity to behold the beauty of God and all of its expressions the beauty of God and the expression of Christ coming, the beauty of God, and, and the people that are near us, the beauty of God and the poor, and the marginalized, the beauty of God in a created order that's marked by just beauty. It's an opportunity to slow down and to behold, you know, that, back to that Psalm 27, beholding the beauty of the Lord and inquiring in his temple. And so that word, beholding, again, love, which is the word that's traditionally used. I mean, I love, love, and I love the word love but it can be pretty generic and, and doesn't necessarily hit us where we need to.
Rich Villodas: And so I thought, I need something else, at least in this resource that is going to lead us into some particular way of being in the world that's not just marked by sentimentality, but marked by a kind of beholding that actually forms the love of God within us and in the way we see the world. And so I love the word beholding. In fact Maggie Ross, who's this Anglican writer who's written a number of things on beholding, she wrote a book called Silence, A User's Guide, and another book on writing on the icon of the heart. Her claim is that the word behold is the most important word in the Bible. And she does this beautiful treatment on all the times, behold, shows up, behold the Lamb of God, behold, I bring you good news. And in a society that's increasingly distracted and marked by a continuous state of partial attention, I think that word behold is a needed one.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: You know, Rich, it makes me think about an experience I had this summer. I live on the East Coast, and my daughter got married. So we had some family come and we went whale watching. And I thought, you know, how many activities do people voluntarily sign up for to sit in a boat, <laugh>, staring at the ocean, hoping something will protrude? And if it does, it's momentary. The whales we have out here, often, they're minky whales, which just literally means you just see the rise of their back. Like in some ways not that exciting <laugh>. And you're not seeing them all the time. You might only see one or two on a three hour whale watching excursion. And I thought, how beautiful that there's at least something that still draws us to wait and to behold. And we just finished our meditation series this past Saturday and we focused on creation, and we called it Creation Speaks: Nature as a Path to God.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: And just like you were saying, you read through the participant feedback I was doing that this week. And I think in the world that is so challenging right now, so frenetic, chaotic, distracting people are longing for something that draws them into the context in which beholding is second nature. And you know, you talk about living in New York, and yet I see this tree behind you. So, you know, one might think you would only see buildings and skyscrapers, <laugh>, and yet I see these beautiful green leaves just, you know, gently floating in the wind. For those of you listening and not watching us on YouTube it's a lovely tree in behind Rich's head, and what are the ways that creation draws us? And so people perhaps will be reading this in December up where I am, that means snow, cold ice <laugh>.
Wendy VanderWal Martin: And yet, how do I get myself bundled up and outside to smell a different kind of air and to be present to creator God in a way that beholding it, it's unavoidable almost. And so I think you've invited people to consider what gifts do I need in my life, this advent where there's advent calendars for tea and soap, and <laugh>, you know, Tonka trucks, and like Advent has become commercialized in so many sort of soul draining ways. One of the things Rich, that I wondered as I read this book, is Henri always moves us to community. Right? So, silence, solitude, prayer, contemplation, but then get with others. And so, I, in so many ways, this is an interior journey, this book, and yet I wonder about the absolute blessing of small groups of folks
Wendy VanderWal Martin: taking your book, reading it together, and having a weekly time of saying, what did you experience this week? What did you hear God say? How, what caught your attention? In what ways did rejoicing become tangible? And what can we share with each other about these, these themes of waiting and peacemaking and rejoicing and beholding. We've been doing a lot of book clubs for Henri Nouwen Society, and the most important part has been that people are connecting with others to share their experiences. So tell us about the community potential of Waiting for Jesus.
Rich Villodas: You know, as a pastor, I spend a good portion of my time thinking about and not just thinking about it, trying to put into action a culture where people can move towards one another for the sake of their spiritual development and their spiritual formation. And here's what I discovered because as I mentioned, I'm someone who's been really impacted by monasticism. When I go to a monastery, and usually I go to the Boston area to a Benedictine monastery out there, and I am so moved by the amount of communal prayer that's taking place in the monastery, that their individual life with God is being sustained because they're part of a larger community in which there is intentionality to pray and to be with one another. And for me, like a resource like this, I think the best use of the resource is to join with others on the journey.
Rich Villodas: We cannot, “the me and Jesus” kind of spirituality is a really unbiblical one. In fact, you know, me and me and God, not even Jesus had that kind of spirituality in which he's always inviting his disciples into community and connection and conversation and relationship. And so a resource like this, especially in a time…. talk about beholding. Sometimes we need a community to create the necessary boundaries to actually pause and stop. I need structure in my life, otherwise I'm just tossed to and fro in this holiday season. And so, yeah, I could totally see churches and small groups and communities say, you know, over the next four weeks of this advent season, as we're waiting for Christ, waiting for Jesus to come, waiting for the Christmas season to ensue, I might need a structure where in intentional conversation is being had around waiting and peacemaking and rejoicing and beholding. And so my hope is that it's not just an individual journey we're taking, but one that we're doing together in community
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Rich, it truly is a beautiful book. And so I hope that many will take the opportunity to purchase Waiting for Jesus: Advent Invitation to Prayer and Renewal. It's really beautiful. Thank you.
Now at the Henri Nouwen Society, we are at about the six month mark in preparing for our 2026 conference. And so in every podcast conversation that we're going to have, we invite the guest to reflect for just a moment, as a final question, on our theme for that conference, which is Longing for Home: the Prophetic Witness of Henri Nouwen in a Wounded World. You've made some reference already, Rich, but as someone who has been shaped by Nouwen for 20 some odd years, as you think, where we are today and moving into 2026, what endures of Henri's witness and how is it prophetic in a world that continues to be so wounded?
Rich Villodas: Yeah, I mean, if I, to really do justice to this question, I need another at least an hour to talk nonstop about all the ways. But what comes to mind for me Henri's witness in terms of prioritizing those who are on the margins of society, those who are often unseen and rendered invisible for me, is one of the greatest prophetic acts of his life and what endures. It is very easy to see life through those who are powerful, to see life to those who are calling the shots. And the question becomes, where is Jesus in all of this here? Who is Jesus close to? Who is Jesus prioritizing? And Henri, throughout the course of his life would offer a prophetic, an alternative vision of what life looks like when God is in control, and that life looks like proximity to the poor moving close to those with the world overseas or the world oppresses.
Rich Villodas: And that for me, what I love about him is he's not just offering a kind of on beloved and and, and that's all I need to live that sense of belovedness needed to now be pointed outward especially to those who are not regarded as beloved. And so what's a prophetic act to begin to see those in the world who society overlooks as beloved? And what does that look like then in the way society is ordered in the way decisions are made, in the ways that policies are established? What does it now look like to see a world that's more oriented in that way? And I think that's, for me, at least as a pastor of a church where, in the poorest neighborhood in Central Queens where it's often overlooked I see beautiful people, beloved people. And that is such a prophetic sign and a witness to the great work that Henri has done over the years. And so I could say a whole lot of other things, but what, that's where my heart goes. His sense of belovedness was not just something, was not just a privatized, emotional thing. It was so formational, which led to others being seen as beloved. And and that's a really beautiful prophetic act that he embodied to the full
Wendy VanderWal Martin: Thank you, Rich. That's a beautiful way of connecting Henri to today's realities that need our beholding, need our peacemaking, need our rejoicing. Yes. Sometimes need our waiting, but need our renewal, which is in the title of Waiting for Jesus: Advent Invitation to Prayer and Renewal. And if you're curious about that 2026 conference, it will be held May 14 to 16, about six months from now at the University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, there will also be an online possibility to register and experience the conference in a hybrid fashion. So please be on the lookout for Longing for Home: the Prophetic Witness of Henri Nouwen in a Wounded World. Rich it has been a treat to get to know you and to have this conversation about your beautiful advent resource. I do hope that communities will take advantage of it and really be formed and shaped together in what typically is a hectic season, but historically, for the body of Christ has been an invitational season to be renewed in anticipation of the Christ who comes back and makes all things new and makes all things right. So to all of our listeners, thank you for being with us. Never, ever, ever forget that you are the beloved of God. It's been great to have you, Rich.
Rich Villodas: Thank you, Wendy.