Lenten Journey- Sunday 4- Uncompromising

Things do exist that are worth standing up for without compromise. To me it seems that peace and social justice are such things,
as is Christ himself.
–Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in a letter to his brother

To compromise may be a brave thing to do in the right circumstances. But in others, we better not. The possibility might be that we would compromise our soul. Bonhoeffer was a very intense thinker. He did more mental and theological gymnastics to come to terms with things he felt were right- or wrong. As German culture and the German Church was descending into chaos and then the very center of hell itself under the Nazis, Bonhoeffer was shaken to his core by what was happening to the country he loved, the people he loved- and the church he loved. The quote above was made in a letter to his non-Christian brother when Bonhoeffer was organizing an illegal seminary, unapproved by the German Lutheran establishment. Dietrich was moving into dangerous territory and he knew it. Yet he had to do it.

Whether we agree with all his theological conclusions, or even begin to understand them from this perspective 75 years later, is not important. What is important is the challenge and the witness to what was important, essential, to being a Christian. These three could be in any order and make sense. But I think for Bonhoeffer he would put it this way.

As a professing Christian, he would insist on an

• Uncompromising Christocentrism.

Jesus, to Bonhoeffer, had to be at the center of the faith. But this was not in some narrow “What Would Jesus Do?” kind of idea. It was far more radical than that. In Jesus, God was showing that humanity, which God created, was worth the time and effort to save! The Incarnation was essential to the Christian life in the broadest sense possible. It made no sense without it.

Because of this the second thing for a Christian is

• Uncompromising discipleship.

He, of course wrote the classic book on that, Cost of Discipleship, which in its original German was simply Nachfolge, Following. In it he spoke of cheap versus costly grace. He did not see that we had to “pay” more to get grace- it was free. Rather, having received grace, we become willing to pay any price to follow Christ. We can do all kinds of our own theological gymnastics to try to understand, agree with, or argue with this. The point for me is that when I say I have received grace from the Creator, I have at that moment been called to live a particular kind of life. And then to live that life through everything I do. Easier said than done, but still the call!

The result of this in the Christian’s life is then

• Uncompromising compassion.

One of the first things that caused Bonhoeffer so much pain was the treatment the Jews in Germany were beginning to receive. His social justice interest was formed in the United States where he found the deepest and most profound faith among the African-American Churches in the midst of the deeply rooted racism. When he saw the same things happening to the Jews, he stood up.

His was not a narrow Christianity. He did not limit compassion to those who deserve it or those who were like him. He continued to be a pastoral presence in Tegel Prison- to guards as well as to other prisoners. He refused a cell on a cooler floor knowing that meant someone else would be put in his cell. He understood the dangers of narrow compassion and worked against it. His was not a faith that looked to life after death as the purpose of believing. It was far more important than that. It was about how we live each and every day.

Today is the 4th Sunday in Lent. We are nearing the half-way point of the Lenten journey. So far our themes have been:

• Being open to God’s daily interruptions.
• Trusting the Word of God.
• Taking an honest self-inventory.
• Giving the gift of truly listening to others.

I admit that now, after these three weeks, I must go deeper into the mystery of being a person of spirituality and faith. I must take some greater steps to understand how I am to follow the ways and will of my Higher Power. I must move away from my self-centered human ways and ask some tough questions of my self. They all follow from those three uncompromising stands that Bonhoeffer laid out.

1. Is Jesus Christ the center of my faith if I profess to be a follower of his? I can ask this in numerous ways to fit a broader context. Have I truly turned my will and my life over to the care of God as I understand God? Is the spiritual path truly at the center of who I am? I won’t know the answers to these questions unless I am open to that self-challenge of the honest inventory of my actions that speak louder than words what I truly follow.

2. Am I willing to pay the cost of discipleship? How will I know? In Twelve Step programs they ask it a different way- Are you willing to go to any length to get and stay sober?
This is a tough one to deal with. We won’t know how far we are willing to go until faced with the situations. I have absolutely no idea what I would have done in Bonhoeffer’s situation- and I pray I never have to find out. He himself wasn’t sure most of the time, either. He wrestled constantly with what he was doing and often took a step back when he thought it might harm someone else simply by association.

3. How can I live a life of uncompromising compassion in ways I have not done before? Where and how have I been less than compassionate this past week? Maybe I need to ask that question every night in the upcoming week and be ready to make amends as needed for I am sure there will be times and places every day when that will happen.

This week my daily inventory will need to include these three elements of a personal faith, as well as the awareness that this is not a simple tip of the hat to some theological idea. I have to take a close look at how I live this life.

Earlier this week The Contemplative Monk posted a quote from Dallas Willard that makes a perfect beginning to this week's opportunities to be interrupted by God in our daily lives:

The gospel is less about getting into the Kingdom of Heaven after you die and more about how to live in the Kingdom of Heaven before you die.

A Pleasant Surprise

Last evening I went to my local Barnes and Noble for a few other reasons. I walk in and discover a writer's reading and signing going on. Not paying a whole lot of attention I then hear her talking about her experience with cancer and being a patient at Mayo Clinic. So I stop and listen, intrigued by her presentation and reading.

I then realize the author is Eve Ensler, award winning writer, activist, and speaker, author of The Vagina Monologues. She has a new book just out, In the Body of the World, which was why she was here and reading. Among other things it tells of her discovery of, surgery for, and recovery from cancer.

Wow, was it great!

She talked about her Mayo Clinic doctor (who was in the audience), and while choking up, described how he treated her as an individual, a real person.

She described how a friend gave her a whole new way to see chemotherapy as a friend- a warrior on her side- which changed her entire approach to her treatment.

She brought down the house in laughter and tears as she talked about the worker who, following another surgery, helped her to get back nto functioning.

I was impressed, and grateful that I just happened to walk in at that time. I will be getting the book.

Giving of Oneself

Good Friday. A day of compassion.

Good Friday. A day of sacrifice.

Good Friday. A day of ultimate giving for others.

We don't understand the idea of sacrifice in the same way as they did 2000 years ago. The sacrifice of animals is no longer part of our ritual for forgiveness or to appease a god.

But we do understand sacrifice. We do it regularly. Parents sacrifice every day for their children. They learn to share with the child, give part of their portion so the child can have something. Spouses sacrifice everyday for each other. One will do some things to make it easier for the other- and vice versa- not because we owe it to them, but because we care.

Compassion.

I don't know much about Jesus' sacrifice other than the incredible theology that has developed from it. But it seems to me that Jesus' sacrifice is as simple as that one little word.

Compassion.

Thanks be to God for the love we have been given in Jesus Christ.

Compassion, Love and Goodness

You may call God love,
you may call God goodness.
But the best name for God is compassion.
--Meister Eckhart

Love and compassion. Aren't they the same? What is Meister Eckhart trying to tell us? Does it have to do with more than loving, and more than just goodness?

Such were the initial thoughts I had when seeing that quote.

• Com-passion.
• With-passion. Or better yet
• Passion with....
• And even further- Suffering with others

To have compassion then is to feel someone else's hurts and pains.
It is not to be condescending,  or to look down on them.
It is the depth of sympathy-

• Sym-pathy
• Sym- together
• Pathos- feelings
• To be in a community of feeling, finding direction and hope- 
• together.

We all suffer at one time or another, hence we are all in need of compassion.

And because we all suffer- we also know what others may need in the midst of their suffering.

But God? Compassion? Where is Meister Eckhart going with that.

Of course, God is surely more than just love. Even saying that God is love is more than what we mean by love. Compassion? An ability to suffer with us? A willingness to walk beside us?

Oh, the problem with trying to describe such things with mere words. We think we have it down. We think we can say it- and it is so. But the reality is that if we could reduce such powerful reality into words, it would lose its ability to make a difference in our lives. To come to compassion is more than we can describe.

Sadly, many people wouldn't equate God with compassion- any more than  they do with love. Not that Old Testament image of a God (the meanest one on the block) throwing lightning bolts, and floods, and plagues and the rest of the ways God seemingly made people stop and pay attention.

Compassion? Doesn't sound like it.

But-compassion and sympathy is not "lowering" ourselves to someone else's pains or suffering. Yes, it is to walk with them in the midst of it, but it is also to walk in a way that pulls them up to a higher level. It gets them out of their misery by being able to share it. It doesn't take it away, it shares it, supports it, leads into a different way of dealing with it.

It is walking with them through hell. But we don't stop in the midst of hell. That only lengthens it, makes it worse. We keep walking- and them walking with us- so neither of us gets stuck in the mud and muck of hell.

Now I can begin to see how God can be described as compassion. AA's 2nd Step says

Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

In other words, we begin to believe that there is a way through- and out of- hell, with the help of a power greater than ourselves. Part of that is the compassionate support we can receive from whoever or whatever may be our Higher Power, God.

God is not reaching down to us- but into our hell with us. Just as we are called to do with others. The result is compassion.

Compassion is Strength

Living Into Compassion

Jon Kabat-Zinn is the man behind the increase of awareness and broad development of mindfulness, meditation, and healthy living. Here is his take on how this week's theme of compassion works into the whole picture. Or maybe it's how the bigger picture of meditation and mindfulness leads to increased compassion. It is probably both.

A Week for Compassion

Last week I started a seven-week journey through the daily themes of the Attention and Interpretation Therapy program I am doing this winter/spring. The first week was dedicated to a few posts about gratitude, the daily theme for Mondays. This week I am taking the second theme, compassion.

As last week, simply a quote to set the tone for the week. This one from the spiritually profound Thomas Merton:

The whole idea of

compassion

is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another,
and all involved in one another.

Look around for the interdependence of all things around you today-
and your interdependence on them.

Christmas Eagle

Driving to the Cities on Christmas morning, I saw the unmistakeable silhouette and a patch of white to the west of the highway.

"Eagle!" I called to my wife as he soared at tree-top level to our left.

The white was clear on the head and tail. A majestic bird.

Surprisingly this was the first one I have seen in quite a while. I didn't get as many bike rides on the trails this past summer where I usually get the chance to see one of these birds several times. We also have not had the great view of a small lake like we used to have at an earlier apartment.

I am not superstitious, but I find these sightings of this great bird as positive signs. In some Native cultures, the Bald Eagle is seen as a messenger between the gods and humans. There is also the great quote from Isaiah that

they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

I saw my first Bald Eagle in the wild almost 25 years ago now. I had just gotten sober the autumn before. I was at church camp and looked up to see a Bald Eagle soaring not far from where we were standing. As a symbol of power and strength, I saw that as a message that I have not forgotten.

Thanks to the incredible resurgence of the Bald Eagle population in these past 25 years I have seen many of these majestic birds. I always take them as a sign. Sometimes just a reminder that the strength is real and available to do what I need to do each day. My Higher Power is real and present.

Sometimes it is a reminder of memories or people or situations. That's what happened on Tuesday. A reminder of the theme for the day in the mindfulness course I am involved in- Compassion. The news was still carrying the stories from Newtown, CT; another story from western New York of a killing of firemen; memories of people I know who have died or who, today, are going through difficulties and trials.

Behind all of this, I was reminded by the Christmas morning Eagle, there is a power greater than ourselves who can restore us to sanity. We, too, can soar, spiritually, with wings like eagles. We, too, can find the ways ahead of us by looking with the sharp eye of faith and trust.

Mindfulness is simply to be open to the moment and the signs that are always around us. The signs may mean something different to me than they do to you, but that is because we are each in different places. When I see one of these signs, on Christmas, the Bald Eagle, I can know that there is more to this than meets the eye.