Flying, Falling, Catching by Henri J. M. Nouwen

Author:Henri J. M. Nouwen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

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BY THE END OF his time traveling with the Rodleighs in 1992, Henri felt excited about his project and eager to continue to learn how to write differently. Less than two weeks after Henri lurched away in his camper van, Rodleigh received a letter, thanking them for their kindness and hospitality. Henri confided that he now had lots of material for his book, and was considering writing it as his first attempt at a book for a secular audience.

Who would understand the wide-ranging connections he was seeing? On June 2, he wrote to John Dear, an American friend committed to community building and peacemaking, One day I hope to be able to tell you about a very interesting month I spent recently with a German circus. In some ways, life in a circus is not dissimilar to life in a community of nonviolence.

At the end of November, Henri again wrote to Rodleigh, now announcing that his ideas had swung back to introducing a religious element into the book and staying in more familiar writing territory. Rodleigh chuckled to himself, privately wondering how Henri would be able to find enough connections between the Flying Rodleighs trapeze act and any religious topic to fill a book.

After sending his letter to Rodleigh, Henri picked up his pen feeling inspired. He could easily imagine using three movements as a way to tell the story of the Rodleighs. That format was both familiar and had been enormously successful. Readers loved it. He was excited as he scribbled out a draft outline of three movements. Each connected the Flying Rodleighs to his L’Arche community and to the Church.

From career to vocation, he wrote. This first movement would include the personal journeys of each member of the troupe. Many assistants at L’Arche Daybreak had made similar choices.

The second movement was from individualism to community. Henri outlined this section with a rush of enthusiasm. To realize their vocation, the Flying Rodleighs had to live together because everything in the act depended on their teamwork and their care for each other. There could be no competition among them, no heroes, no anger or jealousy, and they had to practice their act continually together. In other words, it was like L’Arche: a lifestyle lived out in community with compassion, forgiveness, and a shared rhythm of life. “Look how they love each other!” is how Jesus said Christians would be recognized, and the same was true of the circus community. Henri reread his notes, thinking about all the ways this section could help many of the lonely people who wrote letters to him.

Finally, he envisioned a third movement from entertainment to inspiration. He had been thinking about this ever since he journaled about entertainment on his road trip with the circus. The point of the trapeze act is not just to distract people but to give them a glimpse of the beauty of life. Not only artistic beauty, but a beautiful vision of humanity in harmony, where it is possible for people to feel safe with one another.

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