Daybreak, Henri Nouwen, and Me

I recently took a trip to Toronto, Canada to do research on Henri Nouwen. Nouwen was a Dutch Catholic priest who taught at Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Harvard Divinity School. He wrote a number of books about Christian spirituality, leadership, and loss. He spent the last 10 years of his life living in L'Arche Daybreak. This is a community of disabled adults and their assistants where I went to stay for a couple of days. I wanted to understand how Henri's personal story impacted his ministry. I was surprised to learn a lot more about life, ministry, and myself on the trip. This sermon is my attempt to share this experience with my congregation.