Work on the White House starts Friday, May 6. (See the White House blog for background information.) The fussy neighbors who insist that their highest priority is to protect the neighborhood school from the perception of danger have complained about "those dangerous people" to the newspaper and plan to protest at the house tomorrow as the first wave of volunteers comes in--insuring the spread of the very perception they say they are fighting against.
Circumstances make me think about a Christian's call to serve...our call to mission...who we as a church and as individuals are supposed to be in the world. One time at a Christian bookstore, I overheard a woman saying that her children were in a Christian school...she would never have her kids in a public school. She didn't want them exposed--I'm not sure to what. Different color skin? different economic resources? different cultures? or perhaps to my children who are active and dedicated members of the Presbyterian church and lived their faith in the public schools.
We don't live in a perfect world. It is dangerous, though I think not as dangerous as we are led to believe with the 24 hour news cycles. Certainly there is brokenness everywhere, including the richest families, the most "normal" among us. My family lived with active addiction for years and we were the "preacher's family"..."nice people"..."upper middle class"..."Christian." It didn't stop addiction from entering our world and beating up on us for a while.
Had it not been for rehab, outpatient services, an incredible legal gift, and a family who could learn to trust again, our son would not have a second chance at a healthy life. That is our family's most intense experience of resurrection so far. The people who helped enable the healing showed...compassion.
As Jesus teaches the crowds in Luke 6, he makes the statement, "Be merciful as your Father is merciful." Sometimes the word is translated "perfect." The word is better translated "compassionate." In Aramaic, the word is the plural of a noun that, when singular, means "womb." Compassion...the Latin passion with the prefix com meaning with gives you this idea that you must feel with someone...a "visceral empathy." Robin Meyers in Saving Jesus from the Church, says that this empathy that Jesus speaks of is from deep within us...like a woman's compassion for her unborn child. What a difference a word makes.
If we are trying to be "perfect," we have to live those public lives in which nothing is wrong and we can avoid pain or trouble just because we try. If we are "merciful" we just feel sorry for those who cannot live (or pretend to live) these perfect lives. If we are compassionate, we feel with those who are suffering, with those in need. Jesus points us toward a compassionate God...a God who feels for us like a mother for her unborn. Churches of Jesus' time, and church people, expected a God who was "holy," a God gazing on us from perfect heavenly heights and hoping that we would get our act together before we died and had to go to hell. Jesus says not true. God shows each of us compassion and...here's the kicker...expects us to do the same.
We, as disciples of Christ, cannot put "those people" in some other place and let some other person deal with their issues while we keep our neighborhoods "holy." Our neighborhoods are not holy, even if we want them to be...and pretending they are makes us the equivalent of the Pharisee praying, "Thank God I am not like those people."
If we are disciples of Jesus, we must live lives of compassionate service. On Friday, May 6, that means we start work on the White House in spite of the dissension. We will welcome and serve the least of these into our neighborhood. And...we will have compassion for the fussy neighbors who are filled with fear. We will love and respect them too.
That is what shows God's compassion to the world. That is how God's compassion transforms the world. It is extraordinarily hard for us, but with God's help, we will commit to gracious welcome to all...our friends and our enemies. Interestingly, Jesus doesn't say we have to feel it. We just have to act it out. God will do the rest.
Friday, May 6 can be a day that reveals anger and discord and perpetuates fear and brokenness. Or Friday, May 6 can be a day that reveals Jesus Christ at work in our world.
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