Where does Compassion enter your life?
We all have a really scary movie playing in the theater of our minds. An unredeemed imagination which unmonitored will take us into all kinds of darkness and despair.
Fear is defined as an anxious feeling, caused by our anticipation of some imagined event or experience.
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Psychology tells us there are 5 basic fears:
1. Extinction. Fear of death.
2. Mutilation or loss of bodily structure, losing the integrity of our body, mind, natural function. Fear of bugs, spiders & generally creepy things.
3. Loss of autonomy: fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, entrapped, imprisoned, smothered, or controlled.
4. Separation: fear of abandonment, rejection, loss of connectedness, someone giving us the 'silent treatment.'
5. Ego-death: the Fear of humiliation, shame, or any mechanism of profound self-disapproval.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/brainsnacks/201203/the-only-five-basic-fears-we-all-live
Over this message series we will briefly touch on each Psychology’s top five as a point of awareness because awareness is the first step in solving the problem. Fear is a problem because it keeps us from what God has created us for. Last week, we briefly touched on the fear of humiliation, shame and disapproval. I purposed that the fear of being ashamed or embarrassed should never stand in the way of what God has called you too because as a people of God we will always be in conflict with the world. This week we continue our scary movie by talking about our basic fear of separation which includes abandonment, rejection and loss of connectedness. We all experience this in different ways. The blue collar worker experiences this when the plant picks up, moves and cancels the social contract of working hard means the company will take care of you. The newly divorced experience this in the demands of raising children alone, never getting a break and wondering where all their friends have gone. The empty nester experience it, when the person they realize the person they have been cohabitating with for the past 25 years is more of a stranger than a soul mate. The elderly experiences it when the spouse of 30, 40 or 50 years passes away.
This last one reminds me of the plot from the Gran Torino. This is not a family friendly movie.
The main character, Walt Kowalski played by Clint Eastwood, is angry for a lot of reasons. He is having to deal with a world that has dramatically changed and he’s alone, afraid and dying. Yes. His bravado is there but he is living in fear. It is only through a strange twist of events and his relationship with a couple of teenagers in the neighborhood that he eventually lowers his guard enough to experience the power of connection to overcome the fear he once lived in alone.
It reminds me of a story from the book of Daniel. Have you been reading Daniel? As you recall, last week I challenged everyone to read just three chapters of Daniel each week for the length of the series. In chapter six, we find Daniel 60 years after he was first put into service for the King Nebuchadnezzar. The king is dead and the King’s son has been overthrown and Darius is in charge. Daniel has once again been made known to the king because of his ability to do what is right, connect with God and explain the supernatural. However, this power comes with the price of jealousy and so once again, Daniel is forced to choose his faith or his loyalty to a king. Of course, he chooses his faith by bowing to the one true God instead of an idol made by man. This time it results in overnight stay at the lion’s den. Literally, he was thrown into the Lion’s den and if he survived, he would be freed. Listen to the text from Daniel 6:17-20. (read it)
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that Daniel’s situation might not be changed. Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. 20 When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?”
Darius had come to know the one true God through a relationship with Daniel. It’s a similar scene to last week’s barbecue story from Chapter three but in this instance, Darius is the one catching the vision of God’s ability. It is also the story of how the fear of abandonment is overcome through the power of both relationships and compassion.
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Brene’ Brown in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection, states “compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded. It’s a relationship of equals. Compassion only begins when we recognize our shared humanity.” (p.16)
Compassion is the action of relationship which connects us to one another and is so doing releases the power of relationship to conquer fear including fear of abandonment.
Compassionate Relationships change us. Relationships help us to connect with God. Relationships lower our fear by helping us to see the whole picture.
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It reminds me of a moment in Christ’s life. It’s detailed in one sentence in Matthew 14:14.
“When Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and he was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick.”
Jesus had compassion on them. The Greek word here, Splagchnos means a feeling the comes from ones bowels or intestine and the term used here for compassion. It’s regarded as the seat for deep emotion like anger and love. "I feel compelled in my gut." It is a feeling that spurns us to action. We sense this when someone we know is in distress. We want to help.
Have you noticed that you feel better when you can help someone? God mandated caring for widows, the orphans and the alien among us. It is an eye-opening and powerful experience to care for someone who is truly powerless. Care, compassion, sitting with someone in their darkest hour, holding someone's hand, an encouraging word or an 'all in' attitude changes the world. Loneliness is cured by moving beyond our selfish desires and reaching out to others.
I have a confession to make. When I was asked to go on my first mission trip to help the less fortunate, I went with arrogance but after three weeks, came back with love. That trip changed me forever. It wasn’t until recently I realized how much. We didn’t stay near them; we walked with them in their pain. We didn’t just teach the bible, we learned it together. We didn’t just have a pleasant conversation, we planned for a future. We didn’t just feed the poor. We ate together. I’ve also realized since then that this same strategy applies in our community when we go on mission to Hessed or serve the community or hold an event for the neighbors.
Job loss, single parenthood, divorce, disconnection and even death are minimized when we have the power unleashed in and through compassionate relationships.
I believe it’s the reason God became man. He knew us. He loved us. He felt for us. He measured the cost and he agreed we were worth it. He asked nothing in return. He only asks we live for his will. Compassion is our partnership with God for our fellow man. It is action on the bridge of courage that brings us closer to one another, ends the fear of abandonment and frees us to move closer to God.
Let’s pray!
www.communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info/
