Deuteronomy 10:12-22
and Mark 12:28-34
Wow!
I am really enjoying this sermon series on Joy Practices and I have
heard from a lot of you that you are enjoying it to. Who knew that a Stewardship sermon series
could be so much fun?!? The past few
Sundays we have been combining lessons from our Scriptures with ideas from “The
Book of Joy” featuring the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. We have practiced meditations in worship
focusing on our ability to forgive and our ability to feel gratefulness. After last Sunday’s sermon so many of you
shared with me what you were grateful for, and that in turn was the highlight
of my week. I am so grateful for all of
you!! Today we continue our study of Joy
Practices with a look at compassion.
Like other sermons in this series, we will be watching a few short
videos and doing a meditation as a part of this sermon time.
Let’s begin with a word from our
friends . . .
(watch “Recognizing our shared
humanity” video)
Our friends today are asking us to
remember that we are connected with all the other people on this planet. In the “Book of Joy” they make the argument
that we cannot actually be fully human on our own. Rather, it is our connection to others that
forms our humanity. The Archbishop jokes
that no one is born on their own, and yet it is so true. We are all born into a network of
relationships and it is those relationships that create who we are. In the book, the Archbishop shares the
African concept of Ubuntu which teaches that a person is only a person through
other persons. It is our connection that
makes us human. And the practice that
fosters that connection is compassion.
In our reading from Deuteronomy, God is
teaching compassion as one of the primary commandments to the people of
Israel. Moses has been on the mountain
for forty days with the Lord, and at this point in the story he is relaying the
messages of God to the nation of Israel.
The question is posed, “what does the Lord require of us?” and the
answer is this, “to fear the Lord, to walk in God’s ways, to love God, and to
serve God with heart and soul.”
Moses reminds the people who God is,
the one who has chosen them as a special people to receive God’s call and
blessing. God is described as one who is
great and awesome, one who executes justice.
But it is interesting to note that this is no mere legal justice, rather
this is justice on behalf of the oppressed.
God provides justice for orphans and widows. God provides the justice of compassion. God is also the one who offers care for
outsiders. God loves the stranger and
provides for the stranger just as God provides for the Israelites.
Moses makes it clear that to love God
is also to love neighbor. And not just the
neighbor, but the stranger as well. Just
as God is the lover of strangers, so too are the people of God. The Israelites are called to remember that
they were once strangers, and as followers of God they are called to love the
strangers in their midst. Followers of
God are called to be people of compassion.
This is good stewardship. In
modern terms I would say that we are called to think of all the things that
might make us strange, to remember our own strangeness, and therefore to love
the stranger within our midst.
Of course, Jesus’ words in the gospel
of Mark are also a call to compassion.
In this setting, Jesus is walking in the temple and is being repeatedly
questioned and challenged by the religious authorities. He faces questions from Pharisees, Herodians,
and Sadducees, before a scribe approaches him to ask which commandment is the
first of all. Jesus’ response echoes the
words of God on the mountain in Deuteronomy.
We are called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind,
and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Compassion is at the core of Jesus’ teaching,
and compassion is at the core of our faith.
The two greatest commandments are to love God and to act with
compassion. To be a good steward of
God’s gift of love, is to share that love with others.
All of this sounds so simple, and yet
we recognize that it is work to practice compassion in our world. To practice compassion is to recognize the
shared humanity of those we share this planet with. This might be easy in your household, and
here in the church, but this gets much harder as we venture out into
society. It’s one thing to offer
compassion to someone in need at the food center or on the street, but is
another thing entirely to practice compassion for someone whose political views
we find offensive or simply insane. How
do we practice compassion across all the divisions of modern American society?
Just like the other topics we have
discussed, compassion is a mindset and a practice. Compassion is a sense of concern that arises
when we are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to see that
suffering relieved. One of the
differences between empathy and compassion is that while empathy is simply
experiencing another’s emotion, compassion is a more empowered state where we
want what is best for the other person.
As the Dalai Lama describes it, if we see a person who is being crushed
by a rock, the goal is not to get under the rock and feel what they are feeling;
it is to help remove the rock.
The Archbishop says that compassion
“is something that you have to work out in actual life. Try being kind when you are walking in the
street, and say good morning to the people you are passing, or smile, even when
you are not feeling like it.” Compassion
is attempting to make that connection with the stranger Moses was talking
about. Compassion is attempting to see
and acknowledge the common humanity of all those around us.
It is hard to develop compassion for
others if we don’t have compassion for ourselves. In the Book of Joy, we read that “Modern
culture makes it hard to have compassion for ourselves. We spend so much of our lives climbing a
pyramid of achievement where we are constantly being evaluated and judged, and
often found to be lacking. We
internalize these other voices of parents, teachers, and society at large and
as a result we are not compassionate with ourselves. People don’t rest when they are tired, and
neglect their basic needs for sleep, food, and exercise as they drive
themselves harder and harder. We treat
ourselves like we are part of a machine, and this makes us anxious and
depressed.” When we are harsh judges of
ourselves, then we are also harsh judges of others. True compassion starts in our own hearts.
Like all our other joy practices,
science says that compassion is good for you.
Practicing compassion releases endorphins in our brains and lights our
reward centers up just like when we eat chocolate. Oxytocin is released when we are compassionate,
which leads to a reduction of cardiovascular inflammation. Compassion is literally good for your heart!
Like smiling, compassion is
contagious. When we witness others
practicing compassion we are more likely to be compassionate ourselves. That is why church is so good for you. Research shows that compassionate acts ripple
out by degrees. If you are
compassionate, your friends, your friends' friends, and even your friends’
friends’ friends are more likely to be kind and compassionate. Compassion has a ripple effect.
Both the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop
tell us that we are most joyful when we are focused on others. When we are self-centered, thinking only of
me, me, me; is when we are the most depressed.
When we are thinking of others, when we are helping others, when we are
practicing compassion, is when we are most joyful. They write “When we close our heart, we
cannot be joyful. When we have the
courage to live with an open heart, we are able to feel our pain and the pain
of others, but we are also able to experience more joy. The bigger and warmer our hearts, the stronger
our sense of aliveness and resilience.”
The more we practice compassion, the more joyful we will be!
Let’s practice compassion now with a
compassion meditation . . .
· Sit comfortably in
the pew with the soles of your feet planted firmly on the floor. Place your hands gently on your knees or in
your lap.
· Close your eyes,
relax, and take a few deep breaths.
Center yourself here now, in this place, in this very moment.
· Think of someone you
love very much, a relative or friend or even a pet. Try to see their face in your mind’s eye and
notice how your heart feels when you think of them.
· Silently say the
following to them:
May you be free from suffering. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May
you find peace and joy.
· Breathe in and as
you breathe out imagine a warm light coming from the center of your heart,
carrying your love to your loved one, and bringing them peace and joy.
· Now turn this
compassion to yourself.
· Place your hand on
your heart and notice feelings of warmth, tenderness, and caring toward
yourself.
· Silently say the
following to your own heart:
May I be free from suffering. May I be healthy. May I be happy. May I find
peace and joy.
· Now offer this compassion
to a stranger.
· Think of someone you
neither like nor dislike. Someone you
may see at work, at the store, or even here at church.
· Reflect that this
person feels much like other people, they too are in need of compassion.
· Silently say the
following to this person:
May you be free from suffering. May you be healthy. May you be happy. May
you find peace and joy.
· Reflect on the fact
that everyone on the planet has the fundamental desire to be happy and to be
free of suffering.
· Allow your feelings
of compassion and concern to fill your heart, and feel the warmth, tenderness,
and caring. Radiate this feeling of
compassion out into the world.
· Now bring yourself
back to this moment. Sitting in worship
together in the faith community, the community of compassion. You may open your eyes.
Good job friends! That’s good stewardship! Let’s close with another video from the “Book
of Joy” . . .
(watch “Our greatest joy is when we
seek to do good to the other”)
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