Compassion

H2odevos p4p Lent 2013  “Compassion”

"Hey ey Hey ey this mercy moves

God is loose hey ey

God is loose in the world

Hey ey hey ey the universe is singing

Loose hey hey God is loose in the world"

Loose in the World - Peter Mayer

Sunday was a long day at church. It was a good day, three services, a meeting for our upcoming BE THE BLESSING Sunday, June 3, 2013, interviews with candidates for the position of choir director, Lasagna dinner and talent show for this summer’s mission trip to Chicago.  So, I talked so much that I don’t have much to say today. SO, I’m sharing with you three quotes that I think are just wonderful. They all illustrate the good news that “God is loose in the world.”

Stephen Cherry, author of  Barefoot Disciple-Walking the Way of Passionate Humility, writes, “The surprising, challenging news for most of us is that God loves adults, because compared with loving children, loving adults can be really quite difficult. Why? Because all too often life unfolds in such a way as to hurt people so deeply that they never bounce back. Life is harmful. It inflicts wounds. Life you could say, damages your health, certainly your physical health, but all too often there is psychological and spiritual damage, too.” (page 72) 

“The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.” Charter for Compassion

Douglas John Hall has written in The End of Christendom and the Future of Christianity,

“The opportunity that comes to serious Christians at the very point where Christianity seems to be in decline is an opportunity that has seldom presented itself in Christian history: namely, the opportunity actually to become the salt, yeast and light that the new Testament speaks of as the character of Christ’s disciple community. To grasp this opportunity, however, we must relinquish our centuries-old ambition to be the official religion, the dominant religion of the dominant culture. Ideationally, we must disengage ourselves from our society if we are going to reengage our society at the level of truth, justice and love.” (page 49)

Drop me a note if they ring a bell with you.

Blessings,

rtg