St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, January 8, 2006

Loving Your Neighbour: Beyond Compassion Fatigue

James 2:14-18 Luke 10:25-37

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Last January I decided to change the pace a little and spent the month preaching on the challenging subject of forgiveness. It isn’t the first time I have chosen to digress from the lectionary passages to speak on a particular subject or theme. January is a rather dreary month and I like the challenge of doing something a bit different!

I decided to do something similar this year, but what direction to go? I have also preached in the past on prayer and other spiritual disciplines which strengthen the inner person.

This time around it is the year-end lists which pop up everywhere in the media that have inspired me to look outward. In late December and early January we get the critics lists of best and worst movies and books and CD’s and television programs. There are the lists of prominent figures who have died in the past year and the world’s richest people and the greatest news-makers.

What if we choose to take the four Sundays remaining in this month to look at some of the significant world events from this past year which invite our response as the Christian community? It isn’t difficult to come up with a list much longer than four issues. Some that come to mind is the debate over what is called intelligent design, end-of-life issues, global climate change, gay marriage, and native justice.

One of the most important and the one I have chosen to begin this series is our compassionate response, as Christians, to global neighbours in need. Jesus asked us to love our neighbours as ourselves, but what does that mean in the twenty first century?

A year ago at this time we were all listening with morbid fascination to the reports from South East Asia and the countries affected by the tsunami, the wall of water which swept across the Indian ocean destroying everything in its path as it reached landfall in a number of countries. Essentially, Planet Earth coughed and suddenly nearly a quarter of a million people were dead and millions more were homeless.

It was gratifying that once we overcame the shock and disbelief at the extent of destruction we responded with unprecedented generosity. Western nations pledged billions of dollars worth of reconstruction aid and individuals dug deep into their own pockets to help those who were supposedly fortunate to be alive but had lost virtually everything. We saw heart-warming stories of young children emptying their piggy banks and raising funds in school classrooms. We responded as though these suffering people were and are our neighbours.

Both of our scripture passages this morning call us to care for those who need us in times of trouble. I could make it sound more complicated, but isn’t this what it amounts to?

Our gospel lesson today has Jesus in conversation with a lawyer who asks “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus has him answer his own question saying that you must love God with all your being and your neighbour as yourself.

And Luke is the only one of the gospel writers to continue this exchange with the question “And who is my neighbour?” Jesus answers as he often does with a story, a parable about a man who is beaten as he travels along a road and is left for dead. It happens that two religious leaders come by the injured man but they choose to steam on by rather than stop and help.

Jesus tells his audience that a third traveller, a Samaritan, stops and assists the man. Of course he can’t call 911 on his cell phone. He personally finds medical care and accommodation for the badly injured stranger and pays for it out of his own pocket. We are so familiar with the notion of the “good Samaritan” that the phrase is part of our vocabulary and some jurisdictions actually have Good Samaritan laws, making it illegal to pass by those in distress. Just to remind you, the region of Samaria was in the midst of ancient Israel and the Samaritans worshipped in a way that could be considered a variant of Judaism. But Jews considered them to be virtually another race, so they would probably have been jolted by what Jesus said.

Once Jesus unfolds this story he turns the table on the questioner with his own question “which of these three do you think was a neighbour . . . ?” The answer is obvious to everyone, so then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise”

Are we good global neighbours? Are we willing to slow down enough to see and hear those who are in need and show compassion? Our response to those who were affected by the tsunami suggests that we are, although what happened through the rest of 2005 makes this less than an emphatic yes. When a hurricane swept across Central America we were asked to dig deep once again but the response was much slower. At almost the same time an earthquake devastated Pakistan and Kashmir and more than one hundred thousand people died and many more were left homeless as a harsh winter approached. Aid agencies and leaders in those countries have wondered why the outpouring of support for tsunami victims did not extend

The term “compassion fatigue” was used often, intimating that we were numbed by the extent of the disasters and their consequences around the world. I had heard it used before but never to the same extent. One of the simplest definitions of compassion that I could find is “Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.” The suggestion is that we grew weary of hearing about the suffering of others and didn’t want to respond anymore.

It is an interesting suggestion because it seems that we don’t seem to get tired of all the benefits of a global economy. While I drive a North American vehicle, I could purchase one made in Asia which would be excellent value for dollar. I buy my outdoors equipment and clothing from a Canadian co-op which “out-sources” which means they have it made in China in order to be competitive and give me a good price. Over Christmas my wife, Ruth, came home with a bag of cherries, my favorite fruit. This treat came all the way from Chile and the little gems were remarkably fresh and palatable. I don’t think I will ever tire of all these advantages.

Perhaps compassion fatigue is a convenient way of saying that I don’t want to be my neighbour’s keeper. The words “compassion fatigue” may show up in media reports in the twenty first century, but they are nowhere to be found in the scriptures of the first century.

In Christ there is no compassion fatigue. Christ is the well of living water from which we can draw again and again to revive us and give us the strength to respond with hope and love.

Actually, we can hope that in this world where communication is instantaneous and we can be so well informed about global issues that we will open our eyes and ears rather than shut them. You may have noticed that two of the bestselling books in recent years are titled the Purpose Driven Church and the Purpose Driven Life. The author is an evangelical pastor in the United States named Rick Warren who has a congregation which is 16,000 strong.

It is refreshing to learn that Warren’s success has not gone to his head, nor to extravagant living. He has felt strongly that he should not keep the royalties from his books which in one quarter totalled nine million dollars. Instead he has diverted much of this wealth to the poor in other parts of the world. Warren has set up three foundations in Africa which are providing support to children living with AIDS. He is supporting the Make Poverty History movement as well.

His comment is that the Protestant Reformation of five hundred years ago was about creeds, what we say about our faith. He is convinced that we need a new reformation which is based on deeds and to that end he has travelled to Africa and worked to find out what must be done. One of the grim realities that Warren would have witnessed is the thousands of households in African nations which are “child-led.” That is the term which has been coined to describe families where the head of the household is as young as eight years old because every single adult in the extended family has died of AIDS.

You and I don’t have millions of dollars to dispose of and we aren’t able to fly to the far reaches of the world to witness the plight of others. Often we feel that we have to be careful to make ends meet, let alone be lavish in our support of charitable organizations. So we have to choose other ways of being compassionate as Christians.

Over the years I have heard people suggest time and time again that charity begins at home. I couldn’t agree more. Charity as a form of loving response should begin in our own backyard, and then extend outward in widening circles of compassion in Christ’s name.

My encouragement to all of you is to find some way of being a good neighbour beyond the borders of this country during 2006. The opportunities have probably never been so wide-reaching and varied as they are today.

This past year my wife Ruth and I did respond to several of the global calls for assistance, although not all. We realized that we wanted to do more than send money in response to disasters, so we looked around and eventually bought a bond in an organization called Oikocredit, which makes loans to those who are starting up small businesses in developing countries and can’t get credit from banks. Oikocredit is a Christian outfit, but there are a number of microcredit organizations which have been remarkably successful in helping people become self-sufficient. And there is a very high rate or repayment of these loans, so we are reasonably sure that the money we gave will be reinvested in other businesses.

We really don’t have any idea of whether the recipients of these loans are Hindu or Christian or Muslim. We don’t know if the colour of their skin is “red or yellow, black or white,” but is we believe Jesus’ parable they must be “precious in God’s sight.”

I tell you this not because we are a particularly good example of compassion – I know that many of you do far more in reaching out to those in need around the world. It is simply a reminder that in the face of what can seem to be overwhelming challenges we can choose to listen to Jesus, one step at a time. We can’t as individuals change the circumstances for a billion people living in poverty but we may be able to make a difference for one individual who is our brother or sister.

In 2006 we can go beyond compassion fatigue to lift up a neighbour. Each one of us can hear Jesus say “Go and do likewise.”