the wounded healer

I recently reread Henri Nouwen's classic The Wounded Healer. In the third chapter of this book - "Ministry to a Hopeless Man" - Nouwen analyzed a brief conversation between a hospital patient and a theology student. The patient, Mr. Harrison, was a 48-year-old farm laborer who was facing major surgery on his legs. The student, John Allen, was taking a year of clinical pastoral training under the supervision of the hospital chaplain. During the conversation, Mr. Harrison expressed fear that he would not survive the operation, and compounding his negative frame of mind was the reality that he had nothing waiting for him at home except more hard labor - no family, no friends, no hope. The theology student failed to connect with the patient and walked away from the visit feeling frustrated. Not surprisingly, the hopeless Mr. Harrison died during surgery the following day.

Reflecting on this interaction, Nouwen asserted that Allen failed to exercise Christian leadership during the visit. Nouwen identified three basic principles of Christian leadership: personal concern, a deep-rooted faith in the value and meaning of life, and an outgoing hope which always looks for tomorrow. Nouwen observed: "A Christian leader is not a leader because he announces a new idea and tries to convince others of its worth; he is a leader because he faces the world with eyes full of expectation, with the expertise to take away the veil that covers its hidden potential. Christian leadership is called ministry precisely to express that in the service of others new life can be brought about. It is this service which gives eyes to see the flower breaking through the cracks in the street, ears to hear a word of forgiveness muted by hatred and hostility, and hands to feel new life under the cover of death and destruction."

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19a).