1st
Heuertz Family Update Letter for October 2010
1 October 2010
Dear Friends,
These past few weeks have been pretty full. Phileena and I just returned from visiting all the Word Made Flesh communities in Asia. We celebrated the 15th year anniversary of our first WMF children’s home in Chennai, India; in Kolkata we were able to visit the first Sari Bari community center and the new Sari Bari community center as well as the first Sari Bari prevention unit; sadly, we were in Kathmandu, Nepal for the memorial service for one of the elderly women WMF has been caring for in our home for women—she died just days before our arrival; and we spent time with our staff in Bangkok, Thailand who are bursting with vision and hope to keep vulnerable children out of the commercial sex industry.
On our way home we encountered a little bit of a travel misfortune.
With about 5 hours left on our 16 hour flight from Bangkok to Los Angeles, a threat was discovered. Someone had written, “bomb on board” on the lavatory mirror. The plane sped up, overshot L.A. by 100 miles or so before coming back and landing in a remote area of the airport. As we got off the plane we were unaware of what had transpired, but it quickly became apparent that something was wrong. There were nearly 30 fire trucks and emergency vehicles surrounding the plane as well as dozens of FBI counter-terrorism officers.
For the next 4 hours all 200 passengers were detained in a holding area. We went through security checks again and some of the passengers were interrogated. Thankfully no bomb was found and we were all eventually released, but by that time Phileena and I had missed our connecting flight as it was nearly 1 AM.
We did finally get home and were more thankful than ever that God has always given us safe travels over the years. Thank you for all your prayers.
Our trip to Asia actually kick-starts what will be a full fall of travel:
- 09/24-27 Chris will be in Durham, NC for the Center for Reconciliation Teaching Communities Week on “Friendship at the Margins”
- 09/27-28 Phileena travels to Wilmore, KY to speak at both Asbury University & Asbury Seminary chapels
- 10/03-04 Chris heads down to Nashville, TN to speak at Belmont University
- 10/06-08 Both Chris and Phileena head out to Atlanta, GA to co-present at the Catalyst Conference
- 10/16-25 Chris will attend and speak twice in Cape Town, South Africa for the big Lausanne III conference
- 10/29-30 We’ll be in Omaha, NE for WMF Board Meetings
- 11/06-07 Both Chris and Phileena have been invited to Larnaca, Cyprus to lead a World Vision International Retreat on contemplative spirituality
- 11/10-12 Both Chris and Phileena head back to Durham, NC for CFR Board Meetings
- 11/18-19 Chris will visit Boston, MA to speak at Eastern Nazarene College
In addition to the travel, 2010 has been an extremely productive year for both Phileena and me in terms of writing. Both of our new books, Friendship at the Margins and Pilgrimage of a Soul are doing great. Thanks for helping us get the word out about the books and thanks so much to each of you who have sent in feedback, which sure has meant a lot to us.
Recently we found an excellent review of Phileena’s book; I wanted to share some of that with you,
“[Pilgrimage of a Soul] by Phileena Heuertz stands in the tradition of those books that struggle to bring together the “journey inward and journey outward” and it, too, may someday be considered a watershed and seminal offering.
Some of this raw and poignant meditation is a memoir, telling of her spiritual journey, her call to serve the poor, and a great section on her 33-day pilgrimage down the El Camino de Santiago. Besides Heuertz’ work with the amazing Word Made Flesh (her husband’s book about that extraordinary global work is called Simple Spirituality: Learning to See God in a Broken World) she has dug deeply into the important authors and directors in the contemplative tradition. Her work in global missions and “downward mobility” to serve is guided by her inner life of deep spirituality.
As one with ecumenical interests who has learned much from Catholic mystics, I am just floored (and so happy) that a solid evangelical publisher like IVP has an author so fluent in the writings of not only Henri Nouwen, but John Mains, Thomas Keating, Macrina Wiederkehr, Cynthia Bourgeault, Tilden Edwards, and obviously the important work of Ronald Rolheiser. From the important feminist theology of Carol Lakey Hess to the liberation themes of Jon Sobrino, to the self-awareness gleaned by books from the likes of David Benner, Heuertz has worked the literary field and picked the best fruits to bring to the table of this fine book. There is also poetry, moving charcoal sketches drawn by an artist friend, and great and honest reflections on how to keep God’s sustaining presence alive in your life.”
With endorsements from Franciscan Richard Rohr to Baptist Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, you should know that this book is being seen as a true gift, an amazing story, a reliable guidebook for the contemplative activist.
In September another book, Living Mission, released. Both Phileena and I, as well as David Chronic, contributed chapters to that book. Hopefully you’ve seen it by now, if not you can order it on amazon.com.
And we’ve also been busy writing articles for a number of on-line and print journals. Hopefully you saw my recent article, “Friendship with God” in the current edition of Good News, and look for my article on ecumenicism in next months’ Immense Journal. Phileena also has written, “Contemplative Activism: A Transformative Way” for Conversations which comes out this fall.
Finally, we want to thank everyone for sticking with us over all these years. Typically June-August are the worst months for non-profits and charities as giving usually goes way down during the summer. But we have been shocked to note that June-August have been some of the best months this year for our personal support account. We’re humbled by your generosity and thankful to consider you partners as we continue to vocationally find our way forward.
We do pray God’s blessing on each of you and that together we can continue to strive for hope and peace in a world that desperately needs it.
With gratitude,
Chris and Phileena
