Compassion
We read so often in the Gospels that our Lord "had compassion". Jesus looks at people weeping and he has compassion. He sees the hungry, and he worries. He sees his friend's weeping and he weeps too. He suffers with them. Com as in companion, passion as in the passion that Jesus went through on his way to death on the cross. Being alongside others is what us ordinary folk trying to be good friends of Jesus do. When we enter into their sadness, and hopefully their joy sometimes too, we are like Christ, compassionate.
So it's very simple to be a Christian. If we take compassion as the essence of what Jesus is to us today then it's no mystery how to be a follower of Jesus. It's simply about compassion, sharing others' pain, standing alongside the poor, the grieving, the sick, the mistreated.
Music and liturgy are for me the great ways we reconnect with compassion. Music touches the heart and the mind and when the words are good they move us. I was listening to Bob Dylan sing Chimes of Freedom from his 1964 Album Another Side of Bob Dylan. It struck me how nicely it brought together a vision of a better world ("Chimes of Freedom flashing" with a myriad of images of those in sorrow. (The bells tolls for "the aching ones whose wounds cannot be nursed, For the countless confused, accused, misused, strung-out ones an’ worse ...
Liturgy, or worship, does the same. Perhaps most in our prayers of intercession. Here is one of my favourite prayers from New Patterns for Worship
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| College Bank Flats, Rochdale |
[We pray for the coming of God’s kingdom.
Christ’s coming Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.]
You sent your Son to bring good news to the poor,
sight to the blind,
freedom to captives,
and salvation to your people:
anoint us with your Spirit;
rouse us to work in his name.
Christ’s coming Father, by your Spirit bring in your kingdom.]
You sent your Son to bring good news to the poor,
sight to the blind,
freedom to captives,
and salvation to your people:
anoint us with your Spirit;
rouse us to work in his name.
Father, by your Spirit
bring in your kingdom.
Send us to bring help to the poor
and freedom to the oppressed.
Father, by your Spirit
bring in your kingdom.
I guess this sort of prayer works best if we bring to them stories and concerns from the world in which we live. Otherwise they can be too general. I often bring to mind all the people I have met or observe who are busy living, both giving and needing compassion.
The Diocese has given me a very interesting print out of the statistics for our parishes. There are a lot of people, and there is a lot of need. There is visible poverty in the town. They make for some very interesting reading. One statistic is that 25% of the population of our parishes are under 15. Out of a population of 16900 that's over 4000 young people. How do we as Church show compassion to the young and their parents ? Please let me know what you think so we can consider together how to develop our ministry with and for young people. How do we show compassion ?