September 20, 2008: An Introduction to Solitude, Community, and Ministry

Dear Friend,

Sleeping in a bed seems to work so much right after sleeping in a sleeping bag. I woke up, showered whatever grime was left over from the night before, bought breakfast at the Penny Market, and headed to the office to get some stuff done. We would all be meeting at the IMPACT building at noon, so I wanted to accomplish a little something before then. I managed to clean out my email inbox and reply to some messages. I also was able to get frustrated with the new format of Facebook. Why do things as ridiculous as Facebook need to be continually revised? And why do I get so frustrated with such ridiculous revisions?

At the IMPACT building, we gathered food from our leftover stash for lunch. We would be eating lunch at the Bateses and having a general Retezat debrief. We would also be discussing an article Daniel put in our EE booklets, an article written by Henri Nouwen. My group threw some simple things together for lunch. We weren’t going to get busy with preparing anything.

During debrief, some of us expressed a let down from having to leave the Retezat early. I expressed a similar feeling, but I explained my feeling was coupled with a feeling of “in between.” I was still, in a sense, coming down from the mountain and was now having to prepare myself for work in the city. I expressed a great excitement for the work I’d be doing, how it fulfilled in a way what I come to Northwestern for. I told them a lot about what I wrote in my first blog entry (“Road to Romania, or Exposition.”) Dave mentioned during the debrief how we still fulfilled most of what we set out to do, which was take a break from Lupeni for awhile and experience other things in the wilderness. We did that, so we should therefore feel we had accomplished something during our shortened time in the Retezat.

Chelsea, Anne, and Andrew made some amazing quesadillas for us with the remaining tortillas and cheese. Andrew mixed some salami in his and mine, which added a much needed kick. Other than that, gummy worms and crackers made up the rest of our lunches. There was a lot of hot chocolate, as well. I finally tried some with cinnamon, something everyone was convincing me I should do. Dave actually planted some in my mug, so I didn’t have much of a choice. I’ll admit, it was pretty good.

I’ve become a big fan of Henri Nouwen in the past year. I actually picked up a copy of his book The Inner Voice of Love while I was on tour this past summer. The Inner Voice of Love consists of journal entries Nouwen wrote while he was going through a particularly difficult time in his life. Each chapter is about a page or two long and concentrates on getting you to the point where you depend on God’s love alone to satisfy your needs. There’s much more to the book, but that’s the basic idea.

I digress. I’m a big fan of Nouwen. That being said, I was excited about reading the article, entitled “Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry.” The article caused quite a stir amongst the members of the group. I won’t try to explain all that went on in our conversations, first because it was complicated and second because I’m not entirely certain I understand the article in the first read. Nouwen is an author you need to read a couple of times, because each time you discover new things that add to the puzzle of what he’s getting at. Despite how seemingly simple Nouwen’s writing is, it’s quite profound and the simple truths he explores require further exploration. I’ll try, however, to explain as much as I can.

In light of New Horizons mission and our groups continuing discussion of social capital, the emphasis of community could not be greater. Much of the debate occurred in light of Nouwen’s emphasis of solitude. Personal opinions on each of the subjects and how they influence ministry were shared. The overall conclusion, in my mind, at any rate, was that solitude and community cannot remain mutually exclusive sources for ministry, yet each play an important role in that ministry. I’ll have to read and reread the article in order to form a better idea of Nouwen’s thoughts.

We ended the night with watching a movie called Seducing Dr. Lewis. It was a drama/comedy about a small fishing community trying to convince a big time city doctor to reside with them. Having their own doctor in town would in turn help them to build a factory, where everyone would be able to get a job and get off of welfare. It reminded me of the Hugh Grant film The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. There were a lot of the same collected tricks pulled by the townspeople to convince the newcomer of something that really wasn’t there. In the end, everyone is happy. It was a delightful film. How it applies to what we’re doing here, I’m not sure. Maybe we’ll find out later.

Tibi has been gone this weekend to his farm in another part of the country, so I have the flat to myself. He wasn’t anticipating my early return. I’m not sure when he’ll be back. I’ve been thinking lately about my eventual departure from the group, or just my eventual departure from Lupeni. I’ll see my classmates again at Northwestern, and will occasionally see members of New Horizons in Bucureşti. However, I’ll be entering my own solitude eventually and am hoping it will be balanced with a sense of community. I’ve also been thinking lately, as my internship is a kind of ministry, that ministry will go hit high velocity in the city.

Blessings.
Kailen