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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Friday, September 20, 2019

go where it hurts


Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”
                                                   Henri J.M. Nouwen
____________________________________

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts!

It does indeed
Compassion can only arise
When we are willing to see the brokenness,
Fear, confusing, and anguish of others

If we cannot go into that place of misery
we cannot have empathy

if we cannot see the anguish of a mother or father
from Central America,
if we cannot enter into that place where we
feel what they feel, as the sit in the middle of violence and chaos
and look at their little child

we cannot have the compassion it takes to
welcome them when after miles of trial and danger,
they show up at our border

But here is the thing
We cannot have compassion for others
Unless we have compassion for ourselves

We cannot enter into the brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish of others
Unless we are wilingl to see, and enter into
Our own brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish

Unless we have been willing to forgive ourselves
It will be very difficult to forgive others

Mourned over our own losses
We will struggle to mourn with other in their loss
For we will still be wrapped up in our own unresolved loss

Unless we are willing to see how we are weak
It will be next to impossible to be with those who are struggling
For we will still be trying to hide our weakness

We cannot welcome the immigrant at our border
With open hearts and open arms
If we do not understand, and have compassion for
Our own fears about having enough
Our own fears about safety

If we have not entered into those fears
We will respond to those who come, seeking refuge
Out of reflexive fear
Rather than from a place of understanding

Compassion means full immersion into the condition of humanity
Including our own 

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