Compassion is a Verb

There are probably half-a-dozen important messages that can stand alone as topics for discussion in Luke 6:39-45 

Seeing our own blind spots, and recognizing - and following - someone who doesn't share our blindness.
Understanding what we don't understand, and recognizing - and learning from - someone who can teach us new understandings.
Acknowledging our own faults / biases / prejudices, and removing them. This will help us to recognize how easy it is to have biases and be gentle when addressing them in others.
Being careful not to judge a book by its cover. Focus on a person's actual conduct and its results not on what they say or look like.
It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.
Whenever you start something new, make sure it is built on a good foundation. And - since storms will always happen - make sure you build before the storm hits!

Jesus is calling us to live our lives out of an alternative vision of reality that reverses the values of our culture and “renews the face of the earth.”

Jesus stresses that it is not enough to come to him and hear his words. We must also act on them.

This is when the Good News becomes hard news, because all of us who come to Jesus and hear his words will have to make some major changes in our habits, attitudes and behaviors to actually act on his teachings.

He shows us how God intends us to live together. But because this age is not living in the way God desires us, it means that opting to live God's way right now will require both wisdom and innocence; courage and humility. (Adapted from David Ewart, www.holytextures.com. March 2019)

Live Your Lives As An Alternative Vision of Reality

Luke 6:27-38



   ¹ When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down ² and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said: 

   ³ "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 


   ⁴ "You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. 


   ⁵ "You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought. 


   ⁶ "You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat. 


   ⁷ "You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'carefull,' you find yourselves cared for. 


   ⁸ "You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. 


   ⁹ "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family. 


  ¹⁰ "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. 


  ¹¹ "Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. ¹² You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble

 Eugene Peterson (The Message) The Beatitudes

Fisher of Man

 
Yes I know it’s February and Christmas is a distant memory, and while I love the holiday, I’m glad it’s all behind us and we are well into the New Year and closing in on Lent. So then why do I choose to use what many consider a Christmas classic, It’s a Wonderful Life as a power segue to our gospel, (Luke 5:1-11)? In this reading we are reminded that Jesus is not talking to what we might consider leaders in the community…the people with, money and authority. Jesus is talking to the common man and in words they will understand. He tells them that as fishers of men, they possess the ability to transform the world.

So what does this have to do with the movie? How well we have come to know the story of George Bailey, a struggling businessman whose dreams and aspirations are shattered as his life gets sidetracked by unintended consequences. I wonder how many of us can relate to unplanned events in our lives that have taken us far afield from our life’s plans. As we look back don’t we often wonder how different life would have been if unintended consequences had not intervened? The movie reminds us that everything that happens has consequences and that everyone in some way relates to one another.

There are two scenes in particular that reminds us that in some small way we are a force for change, although sometimes we don’t recognize it. In a discussion that George has with his father during dinner, the very evening of his father’s death, George condescendingly rejects any notion of following his father’s footsteps and take over the bank someday. His father tells him, you know, George, I feel that in a small way we are doing something important. Satisfying a fundamental urge for a man to want his own roof and walls and fireplace, and we’re helping him get those things in our shabby little office. And while not in his plan, George does follow in his father’s footsteps.

The other scene comes as George, a victim of unintended consequences and on the brink of despair, wonders if his life was all worth it. His “guardian angel,” Clarence shows and tells him that every man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

We all know people who by their very presence have made us better persons just by being in our lives. How many, we wonder, have touched us without our or their knowledge. These are “Godly” people.

Truly Godly people are the ones who make a difference everywhere they go, although unintended consequences may prevent them from even knowing that they have. Somehow, they always seem to be in the right place at the right time and doing the very thing that is most needed at any given time. And the difference between Godly folks and everyone else, is that they try to live life as Jesus did by loving God the only way they can…by loving each other. We are not alone; we are not insignificant; we are loved, cared for and intended for wonderful purposes. It truly is a wonderful life.