Thoughts on Compassion and Community

I am reading through a book entitled, Compassion that was written by Nouwen, McNeill and Morrison. It is a challenging read and an interesting one – one that I would strongly recommend to all of you. Here are some of my recent thoughts on compassion and community as shaped by my recent reading, praying and talking with some quotes from the book and the Bible.

Philippians 2:2-11

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

All of us as Christians live in this world, though as Jesus says, we are no longer of it. Like Christ, we are each sent into new territory with the call to be a light on a hill, to be shinning stars, to be Christ to those still walking in darkness.

Jesus came to earth as Emmanuel – God With Us – his very name a testimony to his compassionate nature. Likewise, we are called to go be with those who are in need: spiritually, physically and emotionally – not to just send a check to our favorite charity or missionary, or just give our tithe each week, but to actually, like Christ, go and be with those who need Christ’s love – your neighbor, relative, co-worker, the bum on the corner or someone in your congregation. It is a call to action. This is not a call to guiltily give change to the beggar, or feel bad that you have more material wealth than someone else. Compassion is derived from the Latin words pati and cum, which together mean "to suffer with." Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish, Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. It is a call to love other people because Christ first loved us.

None of this however, is possible in our own strength, this is not part of our human nature, it is only possible in the long run through a commitment to obedience and the power of the Holy Spirit. We cannot go out and love people or be compassionate to people in our own strength, for our own sake or reputations – instead, like Christ, we have to go in obedience. We are not called to be spiritual rock stars enjoying the sparkling Christian limelight, but rather to listen to the Lord and to those we are called to serve. It is only when we are in the tender arms of Jesus, in his will and directed by the Holy Spirit that we can truly live out that divine commandment to love our neighbors as our selves, to minister to the least of these. As we strive to walk in the will of God and live out our obedient calling to be compassionate, we will find that we can accomplish so much more in the supernatural overflowing of God, than we ever could do on our own.

And speaking of not being alone, in as much as we are never alone when we are in Christ, we are also called to live in community. To be compassionate we need each other – our brothers and sisters in the faith. We witness to God’s compassionate presence in the world by the way we live and work together. Furthermore, when there is no community that can mediate between world’s needs and personal responses, the burden of the world can only be a crushing burden, but as our strengths and spiritual gifts come together (and each one of us has been lovingly designed by our creator in a unique way) we will find that we can better meet the needs of the world around us. As individuals we cannot be everything to everyone, but as a community we can indeed serve a great variety of needs. Moreover, by the constant support and encouragement of the community we find it possible to remain faithful to our commitment to service. As we work together in obedience to God, each striving to model the servant hood demonstrated by Christ, we can change lives, bring hope and be used by God to build his kingdom.

I’ll close this entry by asking you to remember Christ’s challenge to his disciples in John 13:34-35 "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." They won’t know us as Christ’s disciples because we are missionaries, or because we go to church, or because we have a Christian T-shirt or bumper sticker, but because we love one another.