Day 3, Lect. 9 - Compassion and Solidarity

Compassion and solidarity

We are all called to contemplatives in action (ones who see then act with thoughtfulness and deliberation) in this world. We are co-creators of the Kingdom, with God, and with each other. We need community, compassion, and solidarity if we are to help this world.

What if we could give without counting the costs? What if we could see our neighbor suffering, and enter into their life with true love and compassion to help them. And sometimes it is not about "fixing" their problems, sometimes it is just about "being there" for them.

It is hard. If you live in a big city like I do, you tend to get overwhelmed by the shear number of homeless and destitute. And some not so much physically destitute as spiritually destitute. I live on the edge of a DMZ. I am in a quite little pocket of a neighborhood, but I am surrounded by... well, by ghetto. Everyday, I drive through "Cracktown", see the girls working the corner (or at least dressed as though they were), and the guys with their britches falling off, buying Swisher Sweets and magnums of Colt 45 malt liquor at 830 in the morning. Everyday, I see these people pulling out of their Section 8 supported apartments in their Cadillac Escalades, and their BMW's. I find it very difficult to not shut it all out. To try to see God at work in this environment. To think to myself, "What can I do to help these people? Do they even really need or want my help?"

We are called to give all of our love to God, Christ, Ourselves, and Our Neighbors. But Lord, it is hard. Sometimes I have to block it all out, lest I become overwhelmed with it. There are times that I would take on all of the pain of a complete stranger, so that they may experience the Love of God. But I know that is not always, or even often possible, so I feel I have to lock it down.

But I am just one man... Do you notice the overwhelming flood of compassion and support that comes to a community after a natural disaster or a tragedy? It is immense! But where is it in the quiet days in between? For the homeless, for the sick, for the mentally ill? No one man can fix it all, but as a community, can we come together in love and compassion, in solidarity, to fix what is broken in our communities, in our cities, in our country, in our world?

One must open oneself up to see the suffering, before one can be available to heal the suffering.

In the eyes of God, no one life is worth more than any other life.

Day 2 Lect. 5 - Cleaning the Bigger Lens: Structures and "isms"

Structures and "isms"

In this session we discussed government, organizational, and social sin. Even as Jesus was suffering at the hands of his persecutors, so was Peter "keeping warm by the fire" of his denial. How often do WE "kept warm" while we we know that others were suffering?

We may not be able to fix everything, "there will be poor always" sang Ted Neely in Jesus Christ Superstar, but we need to be aware of what is happening around us.

How do we respond to the call of the cold, the hungry, the thirsty and the oppressed? How do we serve as the hands and feet of Christ in the world?

What can we do? What can *I* do?

It is not easy to think of these things. It is hard to get our minds out of our comfort zone. But we really do need to look at it, but it can be hard to see>

What are we afraid of? WHO are we afraid of?
Who do we have a difficult time seeing?
How do I become more compassionate towards those less fortunate than I?

Think about the was in which we generalize people. By groups, race, gender, religion, social strata.

We have to start by really looking at these things under a microscope and being honest with ourselves about them. This is probably the hardest part of these seminars so far for me. I like to think of myself as not being prejudiced, as being compassionate towards all, but I know that I am not. I have more prejudices than I care to admit.
It is only then that we can truly clean the bigger lens, see more clearly, more broadly, more deeply, so that we may love more completely.

Notes from the Scriptures:
Isiah 58- The misguided fasting of the self-righteous and God's instruction on the proper fast.
Sounds like big government and politics.

John 8:1-11- Jesus, the Stoning of an Adulteress, and the Pharisees
Let us not judge, for we are imperfect ourselves. People who live in glass houses...

Micah 6:1-8 What does God want of us?
Not our sacrifices, not our works He wants us to Love and be Loved and walk humbly with Him.

James 2:1-5 Favouring the Rich Man over the Poor Man
Do we not do this every day? Do we not gravitate towards those people who we think are more like us, or can do more for us? Sometimes (often) we see only what material benefit a person has to offer without ever being aware of the spiritual gifts that one might have to offer.

Luke 7:36-50 A Sinner Forgiven (Tears and Hair)
Even with greater sin, so is there greater forgiveness. The self-righteous do not see their own sins.