Luke 7:13 When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”
The first half of this week I made my way to Lansing Michigan for my first clergy retreat with Church of Christ (Disciples of Christ) colleagues. Though it felt strange to be a complete stranger to everyone in the room, I was warmly welcomed and gained many new friends.
For 2 days we considered the power of stories, narratives. We told our own and listened to others, and considered with the help of a prodding presenter the unique opportunity and challenge of following Jesus into the seething pain of our world.
We were left to reflect on and consider that to walk with Jesus into the world means that we take the narrative of others as more primary than our own, especially the narrative of those who are suffering injustice. The basis for this is self-displacement of Jesus, who is constantly moved with compassion for those who are hurting and makes their pain his own. Ultimately, of course, he offers up his own suffering and death so that we might have new life. Talk about the narrative of the other!
The idea we were wrestling with is how we are called as followers of Christ to embrace by our own volition the forming narrative of those suffering around us. To say, for instance, to our African American sisters and brothers, “Your pain is now my pain”, and to then act in ways to seek justice and healing for the atrocities that black people have experienced in our own country’s history even to this present day. It is not simply to be concerned, or to care, but to listen to, learn about, and one actually come to accept the narrative of another as my own, and therefore, to work for justice and the healing of the human family. The hope is that in taking this step we can break the cycle of perpetuating injustice.
As we know, the word compassion means to “suffer with”. The first part of this involves acknowledging my own complicity, mostly in the privileges I have which have been gained through the suffering of others. the second part is identifying with, suffering with those whose narrative is one of experiencing all kinds of injustice. Here the words of Paul say it best:
“If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, and sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete….Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the very form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in human likeness. and being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death–even death on a cross.” (Phil 2)
Our lives have been redeemed by this action of Jesus, who embraced our human narrative in all its brokenness and pain. This now is our work as those walking out into the world with the mind of Christ.
God bless us one and all as we seek to follow Christ!
Peter Hawkinson
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