20 April 2005

We continue with words from "The Prophetic Imagination."

Jesus in his solidarity with the marginal ones is moved to compassion. Compassion constitutes a radical form of criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be take seriously, that the hurt is not to be accepted as normal and natural but is an abnormal and unacceptable condition for humanness.

We can never have a "compassionate" society or government until we face the pain and sorrow of the marginal people within our boundary and then set ourselves up as a community that will not allow them to fall through the cracks. This takes more than words. This takes action. This takes someone like me...and maybe you...taking less so that those who have less than less will have more. Compassion involves sacrifice. To help those in need, I must set aside my grand vision for myself, my self-centered world view, and begin to enter into a dialogue with those who are often stumbling through this day. This is not an argument for charity - though charity may be a part of the action. It is a call for justice in which all are to be brought to the table to participate in something beyond our words. Too often, we hear only words from talking heads that really are trying to preserve the great divide between those who have and those who do not. They attempt to put a soft side to that divide, but it is always a brutal reality of division that comes to life.

Connection: How can we step across those lines and extend ourselves to others. Another way to say that might be: When the Holy Spirit pulls us into situations that demand compassion, how will we take part in them for the welfare of all who are pulled into just such an arena?

Lord God, just as Jesus' guts were "stirred up" at the sight of those who longed for healing and wholeness, stir us up and lead us into a living relationship with others so that we are not afraid to offer ourselves to one another even as it means we give up a piece of the pie so that others may join us for the banquet. Amen.