Being Led

Henri Nouwen has the story that I have always wanted to have. There is a secret part of me that wonders if this is part of why I am going to law school. After twenty years in academia holding a high profile position as an author and professor at Harvard, he moved to L' Arche a community for the mentally handicapped. To be able to succeed on society's terms and then move "down" to redefine success and fulfillment seems somehow better than being accused of opting out of an admirable career track because you don't have the aptitude or ambition. Perhaps my admiration for his story was what made Nouwen's reflections on Christian life and LeadershipIn The Name of Jesus so meaningful. Throughout this slim eighty page book, Nouwen's reflects on his transition between his two "careers" and gives warnings against temptations common to worldly success. He ends with a powerful counterintuitive statement:

"If there is any hope for the church in the future, it will be hope for a poor church in which its leaders are willing to be led" [64]

Clearly the poor church, taken literally, is not what the American church is after, but the being led part is even more offensive to me personally. I think I have built up so many defenses against the concept of following because of both my hippy upbringing as well as the poor examples of people in the church who end up being led by poor leadership. Good leaders must know how to recognize the value of following and be able to discern who to follow. I am still at the beginning stages of recognizing my deficiency in the area of submission and following. Once again my reactionary nature has to be brought back to the center of paradoxical truth.