Today, we continue our worship series that invites us to consider the qualities that will help us navigate the divisions we are experiencing in our world. This week, we consider compassion. Why do we need this quality more than ever now? Because we are complex beings living in a complex world. We sometimes deal with conflict within us in addition to the conflict between us. Research tells us that because we humans are desperate for a sense of cohesion and belonging in these confusing times, we are hanging onto ideological generalities instead of treating ourselves and each other with the compassion required to alleviate despair. Compassion grows when we are able to know ourselves and one another on a deeper level and act out of understanding.
Christ has broken down the wall.
Christ has broken down the wall.
Let us join our hearts as one,
Christ has broken down the wall.
The act of simply coming together is “revolutionary,” which in its earliest form meant “finding a course around a central point.” We gather around the Light of Christ as the center and guiding light of our lives. This becomes our point of reference for our relationships and our love in the world. This is our “compassion revolution.” Let us pray:
Reconciling God,
we ask you to help us open to compassion, for we are a divided world,
and the conflict is waging even within us in this moment.
Empower us, and invite us to “do unto ourselves and others”
in ways that build up your kin-dom on earth as it is in heaven.
We pray this in the name of Jesus, the Center That Holds,
and in the power of the Spirit who transforms.
Amen.
Weekly Scripture – Isaiah 11:104a,5-9
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