While my mom was growing up, and even for many of her adult years, she wasn’t able to express who she was, or live out her true identity. The person she knew herself to be was not accepted by society, so she kept who she was hidden.
It wasn’t until late adulthood that she felt free to start living her true, authentic self, but even then, she remained guarded and cautious when it came to expressing herself. Sometimes, she even found it hard to openly communicate with people she loved.
Sometimes this was frustrating to me and my sisters. “Have you heard from mom lately?” “No. You?” “No. I left her a phone message but she hasn’t returned it.”
Yet, somehow, we knew her thoughts were with us. We knew she loved us. We knew she was proud of us.
And when she died, I found a journal that she kept when I was in preschool, in which she wrote about her amazement at me, her first-born; how I was growing, how I was already learning to be independent, even at that young age, and how difficult it was for her, my mother, to see me grow, to see me already becoming less dependent on her as I became able to do more and more things by myself. It’s what she wanted, to teach me and my sisters how to be independent, to be self-sufficient, yet how hard that was for her, to realize that, in some ways, we would need her less and less.
After she died, some of her closest friends spoke to me and my sisters. They knew how mom was; they knew she struggled to communicate. So they felt compelled to reassure us what we already knew: that mom did indeed love us, and that she was proud of us; and proud of her grandchildren as well, that she took great joy in telling her friends what Ethan and Tristan and their cousins were up to.
And throughout my life, I learned that moms, like everyone else, have their own issues and their own struggles. In fact, maybe moms have even more issues and struggles, because so much of their lives is focused on their children, and putting their families first.
It’s heroic, really, what moms do. And single moms - I am so in awe of the love and the effort put forth by so many single moms.
And some of what our mothers struggle with, we don’t know. At least, not while we are children. And maybe some of it, we’ll never know. They keep those burdens to themselves, as they help us grow and mature.
And yeah, some moms have a hard time with that. There are always exceptions. Some moms find the personal struggles they face to be overwhelming. Some just aren’t able to do it. And all moms make mistakes.
But the love and the compassion most moms have for their children is the greatest of all loves.
In the Hebrew Bible, the word for compassion is rechemet, and it actually refers to the type of love a mother has for her children. It comes from the word rechem, which literally means, “womb.” So, compassion (in the Bible) is the type of love that a mother has for a child who emerged from her own womb.
It is the type of love that always wants to make sure you are well-fed, and never hungry.
It’s the type of love that will tell you to go to bed when you’re tired.
It’s the type of love that takes care of you when you are sick.
It’s the type of love that longs to visit you and see you and check up on you no matter where you are - even if you are thrown in prison for something you did or didn’t do.
It’s the type of love that pushes you to be independent and self-sufficient, even though that pushes you farther away from her, because then you are able to provide for yourself, and never be out on the street without a roof over your head, even when your mother is no longer around.
It is the most amazing and wonderful kind of love.
Imagine how the world can be if there was more of that kind of love. Imagine how transformed the world would be, how different it would be, how infinitely better it would be, if we could learn to share that kind of love, that kind of compassion, not just between mothers and their children, but between all the people of the world?
Imagine a world with more compassion.
That’s the invitation that our General Minister and President, Terri Hord Owens, has extended to us: to use our imaginations, and dream of a world with more compassion, and also a world with more community, a world with more hope, a world with more justice, a world with more beauty, and a world with more resurrection.
So that’s what we’re going to do for the next six weeks: we’re going to imagine a world with more. We’re going to join with other Disciples congregations in imagining a world with more, although different congregations will be imagining in different ways and at different times. But together, we will imagine more compassion, more community, more hope, more justice, more beauty, and more resurrection; and we will ponder how different the world can be when we do.
In her 2022 State of the Church address Rev. Hord Owens shared, “God's imagination is so limitless that we are called to continually move the stake. We can't think of anything beyond what God can accomplish…. If we don't believe that God can do exceedingly and abundantly as Ephesians tells us, all that we can ask or think, we might as well hang it up right now…”
God’s love is limitless, God’s compassion is limitless, and we are all capable of showing this kind of love and compassion in our lives. We are all called to show this kind of compassion. The kind that feeds the hungry, gives water to the thirsty, welcomes the stranger, clothes the naked, takes care of the sick, and visits those in prison.
We’re all capable of showing this kind of compassion, and we’re all called to show this kind of compassion.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of this kind of compassion in our world today. The poor are not being taken care of. The hungry are not getting fed. The thirsty are not being given something to drink. Strangers are finding no welcome. The sick are being denied the care they need.
Yet showing this kind of compassion is what Jesus commands us to do. Showing this kind of compassion, not just to our own children, but to our neighbor, is what Jesus commands us to do. Showing this kind of compassion, even to our enemies, is what Jesus commands us to do.
And those who most need this kind of compassion shown to them are the least of these.
Yet we have politicians who continually deny the least of these any sort of care or compassion. And some might say, “well, it’s not the government’s job, it's the job of individuals and churches.”
But look again at the scripture: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”
The judgment here is upon the nations. The judgment is favorable for those nations which care for the poor, show compassion for the poor; but the judgment is not favorable for those nations which neglect the poor, which do not care for the poor or show compassion for the poor.
And our leaders in government have neglected the poor. They have passed tax cuts for the wealthy, and raised taxes on the poor. They have made it harder in many places for poor people and people of color to vote. They have made it so that too many poor people can’t afford the health care they need. They refuse to act on climate change, and climate change brings greater suffering to those already living on the margins.
And as William Barber frequently points out, they won’t even allow poverty or the poor to be a topic brought up during debates for office. Neither the democrats nor the republicans are willing to talk about the growing number of people living in poverty in America.
Yet, 700 people die from poverty in the country each day. That’s 250,000 people a year, dying from poverty and causes related to poverty.
The rates at which poor people died from COVID far outpaced the rates at which wealthy people died.
Most of the COVID relief money sent out by our government went to corporations, not to those who need it the most.
The possible overturning of Roe v. Wade will disproportionately affect poor women, and make their life infinitely harder, especially since they can’t afford health care and get little or no parental leave.
All this has led NPR this week to talk increasingly about how we live in a country of minority rule. Because voting rights are being stripped away, and because of gerrymandering, and because of how we elect our president, a minority of people who have a disproportionate amount of power and wealth are making policies that the majority of people - including most of those living in poverty - don’t want.
And those billionaires have doubled and tripled their wealth in recent years - and paid very little taxes on that wealth. And corporations - grocery store corporations and online shopping corporations and energy corporations - are making record profits, yet at the same time say they have to raise prices because of inflation.
But they’re not raising prices because of inflation. They’re already making record profits! And they’re not raising prices because of the wages they pay - very few pay a living wage. They’re raising prices because of greed.
And the suffering of the poor increases.
And yet, even though their wealth is skyrocketing, and their profits are skyrocketing, and they’re raising their prices…, they refuse to increase the minimum wage, or allow our government to increase the minimum wage.
It’s sick. It’s immoral. And goes against everything taught by Jesus. And it goes against everything taught by the prophets. And it goes against everything taught in the books of Moses.
Because from beginning to end, the Bible is full of verses about how we are to treat the poor and the least of these. Over 2,000 verses in scripture talk about how we are to treat the poor. It’s the most talked about topic in scripture.
It’s not the most preached-about topic; but it should be. Because it is the most talked about topic in scripture.
We ignore these verses at our peril. Because when we ignore them, judgment is upon us.
But imagine…
Imagine a world with more compassion…
Imagine a world with more caring…
The thing is: we can do this! We can create a society in which the poor are lifted up; a society in which the least of these are cared for; a society where compassion flows in abundance.
It’s not that hard to do!
But we have to have the will.
We have to have the desire.
We have to align our hearts with the heart of Christ, and do what he taught us and commanded us to do.
Imagine…
You know how we at Bixby Knolls Christian Church help Christian Outreach in Action feed the hungry? Imagine more of that.
You know how we welcome people who have been made to feel unwelcome simply because of who they are - people like my mom? Imagine more of that.
You know how we provide a home for the International Karate Federation of Long Beach, and Jewel Box Children’s Theater Company - two organizations working to improve the lives of children, and making their programs accessible to all children from all income levels? Imagine more of that.
You know how Meals on Wheels, which operates out of our church building, works to make sure that no one, and especially no senior, and no veteran, goes hungry? Imagine more of that.
And you know how our Disciples Week of Compassion ministry participates in relief work locally and around the world, helping those affected by disaster? Imagine more of that.
And you know how another of our church’s ministries - the National Benevolent Association - provides programs and social services to those who need them? Imagine more of that.
And you know how the Poor People’s Campaign, led by William Barber and Liz Theoharis, is working to bring the issues of poverty and justice to the attention of politicians so they can ignore it no longer? Imagine more of that.
One of the best things we can do as Christians is to imagine…. To imagine a world with more compassion.
And then we can pray, and ask God to show us ways we can be more compassionate.
And then we can act. We can act with compassion - especially for the least of these.
And then the Son of Man will say to us: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me…. Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
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