May 11, 2021
Hello church family and friends near and far!
As I sit today in the chemo chair, I am thinking of all of you and our ministry together. I pray that, wherever you are and whatever life is bringing you, that you know yourself surrounded by the love and power of God. I pray that the Holy Spirit is giving you all kinds of things to see, and hear, and touch, and taste, and do, and know that bring you peace, hope, and joy.
In the course of preparing my sermon for last week, I ran across the story of a woman named Karen Armstrong, a former Catholic nun and academic who speaks and writes about the importance of compassion. She is deeply respected around the world, has spoken in several countries including three times at the White House, and has written several books on compassion and comparative religion. I found her when I stumbled across an initiative she started in 2008, called the Charter of Compassion.
I didn’t get to include her story, or the Charter, in my sermon on Sunday. But it is she who reminded me of the story of Hillel, the famous Torah scholar who lived about 100 years before Jesus, who (as the story goes) was once approached by a nonbeliever who said, “I will convert to your religion if you can recite the entirety of its teachings while standing on one leg.” Hillel stood on one leg and said, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. All else is commentary. Go and study it.” (Incidentally, the apostle Paul was a student of Gamaliel, Hillel’s grandson. Gamaliel is mentioned in Acts 5 at the Council of Jerusalem, and is the one who convinces the Sanhedrin to stop persecuting Peter and Paul and the rest, saying that they might well be opposing God himself!) Hillel and other rabbis in the Mishna affirmed that compassion is the heart of God, and the heart of the law, and that if in our study of scripture we do not find grace and compassion, then our study is incomplete and our interpretation is wrong.
The Charter of Compassion evolved and expanded a lot after Karen Armstrong proposed it in 2008. From it’s beginnings in Seattle, people from over 100 countries participated in writing it, and it has now been signed by over 2 million people around the world, including the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Queen Noor of Jordan. From the Charter, community action groups have emerged around the world to foster the value of compassion, as part of an initiative called the Campaign for Compassionate Community. It sounds incredible, and includes a 4 step “toolbox” that teaches how to…well, how to change the world starting with your own neighborhood. If you’d like to read more about it, like I plan to do, we can start with their website: charterforcompassion.org. If you look, tell me what you think. Who knows, maybe it will inspire us with new ways to share the Gospel right here in Fallon, or wherever we are.
Worship Any and Everywhere!
Listening to God’s Whispers
This week, worship will be led by Ron Evans, who will share a wonderful message about the quiet but powerful ways God shows up in our life and gives us his love and guidance. Join us, and bring a friend!
After worship, we will share in-person coffee and fellowship! After more than a year of Covid restrictions it will be good to enjoy each other’s company in person once again. We are so thankful that almost all of us have received our vaccinations, to make this possible! As we continue to observe Covid protocols, we will have masked and gloved servers to give you your refreshments, and we encourage everyone to keep as much distance as makes you feel most comfortable. The rules are a bit vague right now, so let’s grant each other an extra measure of grace and kindness as we navigate it all.
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