"Incarnation" Doesn’t Mean Bacon and Sausage

Read on a blog (http://doroteos2.wordpress.com/2011/12/05/occupy-christmas/) last week: — “At my favorite coffee shop I overheard some of the regulars talking about the holiday season.  Here is the gist of what two of the older gentlemen in the group were saying.  “Christmas would be fine if the Christians would just butt out.  Forcing their beliefs on everyone else makes Christmas unpleasant and irritating.  No one really believes in all that stuff anymore anyway, and Christmas is really about music and food and presents and decorations, and imposing a religious theme on it ruins everything.”  

Say WHAT?!  The Christians should “butt out” of Christmas?

Wait a sec? Isn’t Christmas about Christ?  And aren’t Christians about Christ? So wouldn’t that make Christmas a Christian event that is all about Christ?

Of course it is.

So why does it feel like the Christians have lost Christmas? Why do we have a nagging suspicion that we have indeed lost one of the most precious holy days of our entire year?  Why doesn’t it feel all that HOLY, this thing we are doing?  

Let’s be clear, Christmas is ours.  We started it.  

• Well, yeah, we did steal the winter festival from harmless Pagans to put Christmas in the bleak midwinter, but that was a long time ago.  

• Yes, we have allowed a fat toyman to divert attention from Jesus; (I’ve been fantasizing this week about all the children from the church waking up and being more thrilled, delighted, ecstatic that Jesus was born than that Santa had visited.  And that the parents are more hopeful that their kids will think God is awesome than that Santa scored a win!)
• yes, we have sold out our commitment, our call, to justice, equality, grace, peace, hope and joy to keep the focus on cookies, candy, talking reindeer and snowmen, lavishly decorated trees and regifting, but hey, in our heart of hearts we know it’s all about Jesus. It’s all for Jesus. Everything we do this time of year is to honor Jesus.

WE get that this is about Jesus!  Don’t we love little figurines of Santa kneeling at the side of the manger? That proves we understand that Jesus is the Reason for the Season, right?  That means Santa is bowing in submission to the Lord of the universe.  Now back to work, Santa. You’ve got presents to deliver, reindeer to fly, elves to oversee if we’re gonna have any fun this year.

And...we have generously given to charities: a pair of mittens and a scarf, a toy, diapers, a used coat, some food, cash to our Christmas missions.  That shows how much Christmas is about Jesus.  Jesus is the Reason for the Season!   We have cared for the poor, so let’s get back to wrapping up that XBOX and iPhone!

And we’ve donated a can of food, a box of pasta.  That makes Jesus happy.

We’ve cared for the lonely and the least, so pass the eggnog, Uncle Bob. I love the sweet potato casserole, Aunt Marilyn. Spending time with our families show how much we love Jesus, right?

We have a star on our Christmas tree (or an angel). We have a nativity scene displayed in our homes. We’ve hung a nail next to the tree trunk. We’ve reminded ourselves that Santa started out as a Christian doing good and helping the poor, so he loved Jesus, too.  

We’ve stamped Jesus on everything, so how can people be confused about the meaning, the power of Christmas?

I'm afraid stamping Jesus on everything just isn't enough.

A few years ago I started noticing nativity sets with snowman families or marshmallow Mary with mini marshmallow Jesus.  Jesus with a carrot nose?  I had a gut reaction of not liking them.  Then this year a friend shared a website that collects the worst nativities.

http://whyismarko.com/2011/27-worst-nativity-sets-the-annual-growing-list/



We’ve taken




As I looked at the pictures, I was speechless. Kitty cat Jesus? Puppy Angels?  Bacon and Sausage Jesus?  

Ick.  Incarnation means “in the flesh”, like chili con CARNE means chili with meat.  But bacon and sausage Jesus?  Jesus come to earth in pig meat?  

But it wasn’t just the worst nativity sets that got me>>> I was positive most people of faith would feel the same way.  So what really stopped me in my tracks was when a young adult who attends a Christian church said, “I don’t see what all the fuss is about...some of them are cute.”

And with that: I knew that Christians had lost Christmas.

When it is ok for Jesus to be portrayed as a baby mer-creature and cuteness is enough to warm our hearts, we’ve lost Christmas.  Jesus isn’t cute. We aren’t waiting for a baby. We are waiting for GOD. 

Mary was waiting for God.  The magnificat is not about her joy in being pregnant and her hope of a healthy baby.  The magnificat is about her acknowledment that God is coming to turn the world right.  Her people were waiting for God.  And when Jesus, God With Us, the Great I Am, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, came to her and said, now’s the time for me to come to you, she said “yes. I will participate in what you are doing God. Yes, I will do my part. Yes, I will serve in any way that is asked of me.”

Mary wasn’t waiting for cute. She was waiting for God to restore creation, to set the world right.
Her soul magnified, gave glory to God, because God was moving in the world and she was moving with God.  

Luke 1:39-56

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

What are we waiting for?  Are we waiting for cute? Or are we waiting for God?  Are we standing ready to say YES to what God wants to do in the world?

Let me review our Advent preparation:

1.  The world is a mess. And we’ve participated in messing it up. We’ve been selfish, we’ve been mean, we’ve polluted our earth, we’ve consumed more than our fair share, we’ve broken promises, we’ve shattered hearts, we’ve lied. I don’t need to elaborate...you know what I mean.  Point being: We need God.  Right now. Right here.
2.  This is not a new problem. It is the problem the people of the Old Testament faced. It is the problem the people in 1st Century Palestine were facing.  It is the problem of the dark ages, the the rennaisance, the reformation, the enlightenment, the industrial age , the age of world wars and now the information age.  To review: the world is a mess and we are participating in messing it up. We sense there must be a better way.  We need God.  
3.  God promised to come to us.  God’s promise to come to us is always and everywhere available.
4.  Jesus is the answer to that promise.  

The world is a mess, we have been a mess, may currently be a mess and God has come to save the world. And to save us.  I love that the word salvation comes from the root word “to heal.”  God comes to heal us and our world.  To restore justice.  To set our lives right. To shine light on every dark path. To open the door to the life we have been created for.  To let us hear his voice.  To care for us. To receive the offering of our hearts and lives. God has come in weakness as a human baby and in power as the One who spoke all things into being, as

Can you capture THAT with marshmallows?  Or mice?



This week I heard a woman make an utterly simple, utterly earth-shaking confession of faith.  In the midst of her life’s pain, fear and difficulty she said this, simply and powerfully:  “I gave my life over to God a long time ago.  My whole life is in God’s hands."  Her words echo Mary's: I surrender, I will trust God that the future I am going into will be in partnership with God.

She’ll probably wrap presents to put under the Christmas tree.  I’m guessing she’ll unwrap a gift or two.  I’m sure there will be a feast at her home.  

But it is her everyday statement of faith that reveals Christmas at its best: hope in the face of despair, victory in the face of death, fearlessness when fear might overwhelm...that is God with Us. That’s what Christmas is...God WITH us.

There’s not a new TV or necklace or sweater or toy out there that can touch that.

Maybe we have lost Christmas to the culture...that’s highly likely, in fact.

Maybe we should just let loose of stamping Jesus on this cultural Christmas we’ve created.

Maybe we should stop getting excited when Wal-Mart clerks say “merry Christmas.” instead of “Happy Holidays.”  

Maybe we have lost the religious center of our cultural Christmas.  But we haven’t lost the message of Christmas which is at the heart of who we are every day.  God has come to us and we’ve said YES.  We will participate in the healing. We will catch the vision of a world in which each person is known and cared for as a loved member of the family of God. We will participate with God in doing justice and loving mercy.

I’m delighted that we had a great response to our Christmas giving requests.  I’m thrilled that we are collecting money for a donation to the Central Illinois Food Bank and Kumler Outreach ministries right now.  Christmas does unleash a unique outpouring of generosity and you are a uniquely generous congregation.

But long after the tinsel is picked up and the tree is put away. Long after the last piece of Christmas fudge has melted in our mouths. Long after the family has made their way home...you are still the people who say yes.  

In January you will still be GOD WITH US to the people sleeping in the overflow shelter.  In February you will still be tutoring the Compass children.  In March you will be staying in love with God, walking humbly with your God as you grow your prayer life in Lent.  In April you will celebrate the triumph of Jesus over death. In May you will be raising funds to send a youth mission team into service. In June you will still be holding worship services to praise God. In July you will invite little children into this church for Vacation Bible School to learn the stories of Jesus and in meeting Jesus, they will meet God and in meeting God they will be changed...they may say yes to the Kingdom, too!  In August you will still be giving generously to the Imagine No Malaria campaign.  In September you will send school supplies to students in need. In October you will walk and raise money for CROP. In November you will give thanks to the God who has walked with you every day...giving you strength and courage. And in December you will walk the tightrope between cutural Christmas and deep devotion to the God who asks us to welcome him into our hearts as we join with him to heal the world.

The joy we celebrate everyday as followers of Jesus Christ...there’s not a bow big enough or a tree bright enough or a holiday glitzy enough to dim the power of God With Us!

Merry Christmas!

What Goes Around Comes Around? (Sermon at Douglas Avenue UMC, September 25, 2011)

Every episode of My Name is Earl starts with this:

You know the kind of guy who does nothing but bad things and then wonders why his life sucks? Well, that was me. Every time something good happened to me, something bad was always waiting round the corner: Karma. That’s when I realized that I had to change, so I made a list of everything bad I’ve ever done and one by one I’m gonna make up for all my mistakes. I’m just trying to be a better person. My Name is Earl.

Earl and His Girl, Karma...

Karma is an eastern concept.  It’s not part of our religious language or tradition, but it is certainly not a foreign concept to us.  We have similar sayings and similar understanding:

• What goes around, comes around
• Cause and effect.
• Reap what you sow.
• Live by the sword, die by the sword.
• You can dish it out, but you can’t take it.
• Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.
• Do to others, what you want them to do to you.

Karma is a concept expressed in Hindu, Buddhism and Jainism.

Karma paints a picture of a universe that is waiting to give back to you what you dish out.

I was a nurse’s aid in a nursing home during high school.  some of the old people were really nice...no surprise...we liked being around them, it was easy to respond to their requests.  They got better care because they were more pleasant to be around.  But some people were really crabby.  Mean, even.  We couldn’t do anything right or fast enough.  Perhaps you’re thinking: well, they were probably in greater pain, they were more afraid, etc. And perhaps that is true to a small extent.  The fact of the matter is that regardless of the health or situtation, some people are nicer than others.  One of the nurses said: If you are a nice, respectful appreciative person at 20, you’ll be the same way at 80.  If you are a cranky, demanding unhappy person at 20, you’ll be that way at 80.  For my whole life I’ve attempted to cultivate being the former rather than the latter because at the end of the day...when I’m in the nursing home, I hope the nurses’ aids will bring me a glass of water, help me to the bathroom, talk to me for a few minutes.  I want good things to come my way, so I better put good things into the world. That’s an elementary idea of Karma.  

MY MOTIVATION: ME!!. I want to be treated well as an old person and since the universe is watching, I better put kindness to old people out in the world.

Our Bible passage this morning sounds like it is along the lines of karma, or the golden rule...yet it starts in a different place.  I think the starting point is important.  

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.  

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 

But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

First of all, MAKE NOTE: this is a Kingdom of God parable.  The story Jesus is going to tell should inform our imagination about what it is God is up to.  Jesus begins his ministry with these words in found in Mark: “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”  (Mark 1:14) The first thing out of his mouth?  THE KINGDOM OF GOD!

“Kingdom of God” : do the words of Jesus matter?

If they do, then we need to be clear that Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven - the phrase is used interchangeably.)  If Jesus thought teaching about the Kingdom of God was his main purpose, shouldn’t we pay attention to the idea? Shouldn’t we participate in ushering the Kingdom of God in? Shouldn’t we be co-workers with Jesus in bringing this Kingdom about?

What is the picture painted by Jesus today?  How shall we form an image of what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like?  

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a King who forgives a servant’s debts.

Let me ask you some obvious things:

What did the King do?  read his bank statement, decided to get his books in order, called in one of the guys who owed him money.  

What did the servant do?  begged for mercy.  Received mercy.  WAS UNCHANGED IN HIS HEART.  Went about doing what is fair and just: asking for repayment. punished those who owed.

Karma starts with ME and asks the question:  what do I want?  My behavior follows from the answer to that question.

Our faith tradition, Christianity, starts in a different place.  We do believe in a deity, God, the great I AM. Our Bible’s first four words: in the beginning, God.  

Our faith starts with God.  Our first questions are: Who is God? What does God want?  As a Christian, my behavior follows from the answer to that question.  Jesus is using this parable to tell us something about who God is. How God is.  I say this frequently: a theology that starts with who humans is off on the wrong foot.  Our theology starts with who God is and then how we should be in light of WHO GOD IS.

Who is God? In this story today?  God is the one who bestows UNDESERVED, RADICAL FORGIVENESS. NOT FAIRNESS. NOT JUSTICE. FORGIVENESS.

What does God want?  Well, in this story our response couldn’t be clearer:  God wants us to be as merciful, as forgiving as God is.  And if we are not: God will treat us as we have treated others.  (a different spin to “do unto others, right?)  

“Do unto others as you would have God do to you.”

Luke 6:37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

You want God to bring peace, while you wage war? Forget it.
    peace at home? peace at work? peace in the world?
You want God to provide plenty, while you allow scarcity.  Forget it.
You want God to heal you,  while you engage in dis-ease?  Forget it.

God forgives.  You want God to forgive you a million times?  Go and forgive a million times.  
God provides.  You want God to provide for you?  Go and provide for others.
God is Mighty. You want God to be your strength?  Be someone else’s strength.
God is love.  You want God to love you, while you harbor hatred? forget it.

For the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
Do unto others as you would have God do to you.


I love origami. I love the colorful paper and I love the beauty that emerges from the folds. And I love the peace cranes that so many of you have seen or folded yourselves.



The story of the peace cranes and Sadako Sasaki:  Sadako Sasaki was two when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  She lived.  When she was 12 she caught a cold.  Along with the cold came a stiff neck. When the cold cleared up, the stiff neck did not.  Her face started to look swollen and it wasn’t long until she was diagnosed with leukemia, a result of the bomb’s radiation.  During the course of her illness, a friend came in to visit, cut a gold square and folded it into an origami crane.  According to an ancient Japanese story, if you folded 1000 paper cranes, the gods would grant you your wish.

Sadako wanted to live and set about folding 1000 cranes.  The story has two different endings.  In one, she finishes the 1000 cranes and goes on to make more.  In the other she folds 644 and her friends finish the 1000 after her death.

"After her death, Sadako's friends and schoolmates published a collection of letters in order to raise funds to build a memorial to her and all of the children who had died from the effects of the atomic bomb. In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial, also called the Genbaku Dome. At the foot of the statue is a plaque that reads:

"This is our cry. This is our prayer. Peace on Earth."

There is also a statue of her in the Seattle Peace Park. Sadako has become a leading symbol of the impact of nuclear war. Sadako is also a heroine for many girls in Japan. Her story is told in some Japanese schools on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. Dedicated to her, people all over Japan celebrate August 6 as the annual peace day."  (from Wikipedia)




Paper cranes have become a symbol for peace.  And peace cannot come unless we learn and practice forgiveness.  Radical, difficult, messy forgiveness.  

My grandmother hated the Germans and the Japanese people because of the war they had waged and the pain they had inflicted.  And perhaps she had every right to.  Perhaps we have every right to hate the people who hurt us. Or to harbor grudges against those who cause us pain. Or to live our lives in anger because of the many people who have done us wrong.

Forgiveness isn’t because we don’t have the right to be angry and desire vengeance.  Forgiveness is because in spite of our right to hatred, we choose to be like God is to us: merciful.

Do the words of Jesus matter?  Are we going to take them seriously?  Are we going to be the people who help bring the kingdom of God to reign.... or not?

"The matter is quite simple. The bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament."
— Søren Kierkegaard       

If you would like to read more remarkable stories of forgiveness I recommend the website, The Forgiveness Project.

http://theforgivenessproject.com/stories/


Prayer:  Go forth into the world in peace; Be of good courage; Hold fast to that which is good. Render to no one evil for evil. Strengthen the faint hearted. Support the weak. Help the afflicted. Honor everyone. Love and serve the Lord.

"With-Sympathy" (Sermon at DAUMC, 9-11-2011)

Rev. James Forbes once said, "If I don't preach, I won't be well." Luckily, he has always had the opportunity to preach. From 1976-1989, Forbes taught preaching at Union Theological Seminary. In 1989 he was the first African-American to be appointed as Senior Minister of the Riverside Church in Harlem and spent 18 years serving the interdenominational, interracial and international congregation. While at Riverside, be brought the church to play a role in redeveloping the neighborhood and hosted prominent guests, such as the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela. The sermons he delivered from the pulpit were often the cause of controversy, and certainly never boring.

This story is from his Chatauqua speech in October 2009

Compassion. What does it look like?  Come with me to 915 S. Bloodworth Street in Raleigh NC where I grew up. If you come in you will see us, evening time, at table set for 10 but not always all seats filled. At the point when dinner is ready to be served, since mom had 8 kids, sometimes she said she couldn’t tell who was who and where they were, before we could eat she would ask, are all the children in? And if someone happened to be missing we had would have to, we say “fix a plate” and put it in the oven, then we could say grace and we could eat.

Also, while we were at the table, there was a ritual in our family. When something significant had happened for any one of us, whether mom had just been elected president of the PTA or whether dad had gotten an assignment at the college of our denomination or whether someone had won the jabberwockey contest for talent, the ritual at the family was once the announcement is made we must take 5, 10 minutes to do what we call “make over” that person, that is to make a fuss over the one who had been honored in some way for when one is honored, all are honored.

Also, we had to make a report on our extended visited members, that is, extended members of the family, sick and elderly, shut in.  My task was at least once a week to visit Mother Lassiter who lived on East Street, Mother Williamson who lived on Bledsoe Avenue, Mother Williams who lived on Oberlin Road

Why? Because they were old and infirm and we needed to go by to see if they needed anything, for mom said, to be family is to care and share and to look out for one another. They are our family. And of course, sometimes there was a bonus for going.  They would offer sweets or money.  Mom said, “If they ask you what it costs to either go shopping for them, you must always say nothing, and if they insist, say whatever you mind to give me.  This was the nature of being at that table. In fact she indicated that if we would do that, not only would we have the joy of receiveingthe gratitude from the members of the extended family, but she said, even God will smile and when God smiles there is peace and justice and joy.  

So at the table at 915 I learned something about compassion.  Of course, it was a minister’s family, so you had to add God into it.  And so I came to think that Momma Eternal, Momma Eternal, is always wondering “Are all the children in?”  And if we have been faithful in caring and sharing, we had the sense that justice and peace would have a chance in the world.

Rev. Forbes learned at the dinner table what it meant to have compassion. He spent his ministry living out the compassion he learned as a boy around the dinner table.

Chief Seattle said, "We did not spin the web of life. We're all strands in it. And whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves." Now that's compassion.”

What is compassion?

That is how Rev. James Forbes began his talk.  What is compassion?

The word is used sometimes interchangeably with PITY.  But it is different than pity, is it not?

Pity has the sense of  feeling sorry for someone.  But compassion isn’t feeling sorry FOR someone. It is feeling WITH someone.  Quite literally that is what compassion means.


In our Scripture reading, Paul is repeating what Jesus taught: Love your neighbor as yourself.  And Jesus is repeating what he learned from his sacred text: Leviticus.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  That was written probably 1400 years Before Jesus.

In fact, that phrase comes as the answer to a hot-shot lawyer’s question: What must I do to inherit eternal life?  Jesus says: What do you read in the law?  The Lawyer: Love God, Love Neighbor.  Jesus: “That’s right.”  Lawyer: “Who is my neighbor?”  Jesus: Good Samaritan story.  conclusion: Which of these three was a neighbor?  

It is interesting to me that the way Jesus describes “the neighbor” isn’t to point out who we should help.  The neighbor is not the person who receives love, it is the person who shows love.

The one who looked upon a fellow human who was suffering, felt the pain of The Other’s suffering: that one showed compassion.

A year or so ago I read and signed the Charter for Compassion.  I read it and signed it because it made sense to me, but I didn’t follow up with it.  Was it some quack, internet thing?  I didn’t know...but I have perked up when I see it mentioned or when someone refers to it.  So I was intrigued when I received an invitation to commemorate 9-11 with a service of compassion.  Other faith communities in our area are doing the same thing.   The invitation came from the Prairieland Compassion Network, local Springfield citizens who have organized a number of “compassion” events.   They have called it “September Days of Compassion.”  The Sangamon County Habitat for Humanity youth build will kick off on the 15th.  Mahatma Ghandi’s grandson, Rajmohan Ghandi, continues his grandfather’s work toward peace and compassion by speaking at Laurel UMC next Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.  At the heart of the Prairieland Compassion Network’s motivation is the Charter for Compassion.

So where does this Charter come from?

[from Wikipedia: Karen Armstrong Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (born 14 November 1944), is a British author and commentator who is the author of twelve books on comparative religion. A former Roman Catholic nun, she went from a conservative to a more liberal and mystical faith. Armstrong first rose to prominence in 1993 with her book, A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, an international best seller that is now required reading in many theology courses. Her work focuses on commonalities of the major religions, such as the importance, in many, of compassion or "The Golden Rule".

Armstrong received the $100,000 TED Prize in February 2008. She used that occasion to call for the creation of a Charter for Compassion, which was unveiled the following year.]

THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION

(is also in the bulletin as an insert, there is a video of many cultures reading it.

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

At the beginning of this charter it says this: The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves.

Our Scripture passage for today says “Love your neighbor.”  That’s difficult.  But it isn’t as hard as something else Jesus said;  Jesus also said Love your Enemy.  And after he said Love your enemy he said this:  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Jesus said that.  We call it the Golden Rule.  It is at the heart of our religious tradition.

Jesus said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  

Here’s how a great rabbi, Hillel, a contemporary of Jesus said it:
A pagan came to Hillel and offered to convert to Judaism if the rabbi could recite the whole of Jewish teaching while he stood on one leg. Hillel stood on one leg and said, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and study it."

Interestingly enough: 500 years before Jesus Confucious said it this way: “Do NOT do to others what you do NOT what done to you.”

In the abstract, we all acknowledge that Compassion is central to what Jesus taught and what we believe.  But what do we do with that in reality?  How are we supposed to love our enemy?

That is where it gets difficult. How do we train ourselves to do this?

I look to our heroes for how we are to live with compassion.

Of course, Mother Theresa who felt the pain and indignity of dying alone in the gutters of Calcutta and was moved to action.  She provided a clean and loving place for the poor of India to die.

Martin Luther King, Jr.: who felt the pain and indignity of living as an African American man and resolved to bring change to his nation: non-violently.  Of course the price he paid was his life.

But today: I am looking at heroes closer to home and nearer in time.

I look at the compassion of the first responders on 9/11 and am amazed.  I’ve read many, many stories this week of people whose lives were affected by 9/11. The babies who never met their fathers, the brides who never made it down the aisle because their men died in 9/11.  

Those men, the firefighters and police and ordinary citizens who walked toward the twin towers when everyone else was running away.  One story I heard was about Jay Jonas. He was the captain of a group of firefighters who went up a stairwell to look for people to save.  Tell story of Jay Jonas (heard on NPR).

Firefighters are hard-wired to save and to assist.  To help the other even at the risk of self.  Compassion...to feel with someone else’s fear and pain and to reach in.  It isn’t natural.  It isn’t natural to move toward danger. It isn’t natural to love our enemies. It isn’t natural to show compassion.  

It is natural to be self-centered. It is natural so seek revenge. It is natural to hate enemies.

But firefighters and other first responders routinely do the unnatural.  Their training helps them overcome their natural tendencies.  

Reading the Bible and going to worship is supposed to help us overcome our natural tendencies toward self, toward selfishness, toward self-obsession.  Our baptism is a death of self and the birth of a new creature...a person of compassion.  With Sympathy.  With Empathy. And we are somewhat successful.  

But maybe, if we really want to master putting the Other first,  instead of Bible study we should go to firefighter training.  

Perhaps then we will have the courage to go into the places, the life conditions, the pain from which other people flee.