the death of empathy

“Self-absorption in all its forms kills empathy, let alone compassion. When we focus on ourselves, our world contracts as our problems and preoccupations loom large. But when we focus on others, our world expands. Our own problems drift to the periphery of the mind and so seem smaller, and we increase our capacity for connection - or compassionate action.”

          Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships

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When I am on my walk.

In the cool of the morning

As the day is birthed

Things come into my head.

How they get there I do not know,

they just show up

Today God, the Spirit, my ruminating self,

Whatever,

started thinking about a certain kind of faith

I’ve been thinking a lot about faith lately

I get my lessons from the lectionary

(Weekly readings from the Bible)

And it has been wandering through the book of Hebrews

In in that book

written to people in the midst of a faith spasm

there is a section where

like a rolling driving bass rhythm

the worlds flow forth….

By faith, by faith, by faith by faith, by faith….

By faith Abel, Enoch, Noah

By faith Abraham, Sarah, Isaac

By faith Moses

By faith an entire cloud of witnesses

Left comfort,

Left certainty

Left the old

And stepped out into the unknown

Into the wilderness

And took risks,

And put their bodies on the line

Following the prompting of the Spirit

But what we see today

Is a “faith” far different from that we see in Hebrews

That faith that was costly

Sacrificial

And it was about God

And service

And transformation

And changing the world

Indeed it was a faith focused on bringing into being a new world

The Kingdom of God

But what we see today

Is a faith that is insular

Even selfish

With this faith the focus is on “me”

It is on my salvation

And on God blessing me

And my “tribe”  (my nation, my party, my church)

It is about my righteousness

My place of privilege

My place “inside the circle”

Where this kind of faith is promoted

And it is promoted in many, many churches

(it is to the church’s advantage to make people feel they are

 Safer, strong, more loved, more righteous, better, because they are part of that church)

There is a certain kind of arrogance

A certain kind of smugness

We are God’s people

We are saved

We are the righteous

And those outside are circle?

Well they are not

They are not loved by God

They are not saved (poor things)

They are not righteous

So this dichotomy emerges

In versus out

Saved versus doomed

Righteous versus sinful

Loved versus hated

It is not that faith cannot be about comfort

Or joy, or hope

Or blessing

But Biblical faith is a far riskier thing

A far more costly thing

And it is something that does not pull people out of the world

But drives people

Eyes wide open

Into the world

Fully aware that they are a motley crew,

Fully aware that they are not

Better

Fully aware that they are just people

Who because they are awake to God

Are called to follow the promptings of the Spirit

Wherever those promptings lead them

And be

In the midst of the mess that is this world

people who are open

And vulnerable

And generous, and caring

And welcoming

Our faith is not about us

It is about us in the world

Connected, feeling, acting in love

By faith