The Italian poet Dante is well known for his descriptions of the afterlife. His writings are of course metaphorical. They were never meant to be taken literally. But through his symbolism Dante often exposed his readers to profound truth. For example, he made ice and not fire represent the lowest pit of hell. And in doing so he is true to the Bible, for in the Scriptures it is coldness of heart, not hate, which is the opposite of love. Apathy, not caring, losing all passion constitute the opposite of love. Hildegarde of Bingen warns that those who lose their juiciness, their wetness, their greening power fall into a dryness of carelessness.
Sermons focusing on creation-centered spirituality must emphasize the connections we have with the natural world, with each other, and with the God who creates this world and whose Spirit permeates every part of creation. The person who is whole is aware of and participates in the wholeness of creation. Such people are alive to the pulsations of this universe. They are acutely aware of joy and suffering, of the beauty and the ugliness of life. They are alive because they are rooted in the Source of life and share in the dance of life. They know they belong, and they know that every other part of creation belongs. And they rejoice in their participation in this grand symphony of love and life. They trust the Source of life, and they sense that the Source of life trusts them. They embrace freedom, creativity, love, and responsibility as children of God.
But the sad news is that far too many people do not know or experience this way of life. They are not able to see, feel, and appreciate the connections which point to the wholeness of creation. They do not know that life is a web and they are but a single strand in that mysterious, awesome, and fragile web. In other words, they do not know compassion. Compassion literally means to suffer with–to feel with–to share with–to experience the depths at which we are connected in the heart of God.
Compassion is the surest sign that we are healing participants in God’s glorious creation. And where there is no compassion, there is a lack of connectedness. Those lacking compassion do not see the threads of love emanating from God’s heart and weaving wondrous patterns throughout this creation. Injustice has its roots in this lack of connectedness. And injustice is not a trivial matter. It can build ovens for genocide; it can wear white robes and terrorize innocent people; it can create systems whereby a few live lavishly while billions teeter on the brink of starvation. All this is possible because we lack compassion. And we lack compassion because we are not aware of the connections which bind us to God’s heart and to each other.
So, the antidote for injustice–the cure for a cold heart–the remedy for apathy is the development of compassion, a cultivation of the ways in which we are connected to God, to each other, and to every part of this universe. Matthew Fox says that there are two components to compassion: play and justice. People who are aware of the connections they enjoy and share with all other parts of creation will be truly alive. They will celebrate sensuality and earthiness, passion and compassion. They will know how to simply be. They will have an enormous capacity to laugh, to let go, to be young regardless of their chronological age. Compassionate people know how to play. Play comes naturally for them. They realize that play is not the waste of time selfish and lifeless people assume it is. They are aware that play can heal–that play can save—and that play is an essential ingredient in the creativity which allows for authentic transformation. The person who cannot play is invariably the person who has never become aware of the wonderful connections he or she has with this world and with God. And the person who cannot play is a stranger to compassion, for compassion is not a matter of feeling sorry for another. Compassion is a matter of being so much in love with life and so much aware of life that everyone and everything is included in one’s vision of health, wholeness, and joy. The person who knows how to play understands those words of Mechtild of Magdeburg when she represents God saying, “I, God, am your playmate! I will lead the child in you in wonderful ways for I have chosen you.” If we are compassionate, we will celebrate. We will become joyfully intoxicated with life, with God, and with the wonders around us. We will join Jesus in understanding God’s Kindom as party time–as a wedding banquet–as a time to dance, sing, feast, share, and celebrate the goodness of God. We will taste and see that the Lord is good.
But compassionate people who know how to celebrate will not stop there. Indeed, they cannot stop there. Their awareness of the connections they share with every other part of creation will not allow them to remain indifferent to the plight of others. Meister Eckhart, the greatest advocate of creation-centered spirituality, said, “Compassion means justice. The person who understands what I have to say about justice understands everything I have to say. ” The New Testament makes the connection between justice and compassion very plain. The verb used so often in the Gospels for Jesus’ compassion literally means “his bowels turned over.” Jesus was in touch with his guts, his feelings, his passion as he looked out over the poor and oppressed, the lepers and the outcasts, the physically and mentally challenged and the anxious. And he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (The year of the Lord’s favor is a reference to Jubilee, that radical time when justice transforms the lives of everyone.)
Jesus came to inaugurate a new creation–a world ordered by the justice and righteousness, the joy and peace, the love and compassion of God. And he called his followers to join him in transforming this world according to the will and dreams of God. And for his efforts he was rewarded with death on a cross. Mennonite biblical scholar John Yoder says that “the cross represents the punishment of a man who threatened society by creating a new kind of community leading a radically new kind of life.” And let us not forget that Jesus said, “Take up your cross daily and follow me.” In other words, continue my witness to the new creation God is bringing.
But of course, the cross could not stop Jesus. God raised him from the dead and now unlimited by time or space, the Spirit of Christ permeates every part of this creation. We live in a perpetual Pentecost. There is no person or creature that is not connected to Christ. He understands them from the inside out. He calls them to celebrate with him–to play with him at the dawn of God’s new creation. He suffers with them in all their pain and confusion, all their oppression and foolishness. And he seeks their liberation as a part of the Jubilee dreamed by God. And he says to us as he said to those by the sea two millennia ago, “Follow me.”
COMMUNION
“This do in remembrance of me.” In the Gospels the Passover was the background for the Last Supper. In the Passover the Jews were to remember their deliverance from Egypt and to experience afresh the salvation of their God. The Hebrew word for remember is zakar. Zakar never means just remembering. It also means to reenact. When Jesus is telling us to remember, he is telling us to reenact the compassion of his life–that celebration and justice which alone leads to healing and salvation. So, as we eat from this bread and drink from this cup, let us truly remember.
COMMISSION
“God was in Christ reconciling the world unto the divine self” “For God so loved the world that God gave.” In Christ we experience all the connections within this universe. All things are in God, and God is in all things. Let us go now to share in the compassion of God as we celebrate the goodness of this earth and the wonders of creation and as we seek God’s jubilee of peace and justice for all creatures, great and small..
BENEDICTION
Go forth with joy in your hearts.
Let God be your eternal playmate as you frolic and play in this beautiful garden.
Let Christ be your companion as you join him in bearing witness to God’s new creation.
And may the Holy spirit reveal to your spirit all the connections which bind this world to God’s heart as you seek first God’s reign and its righteousness. Amen.
Matthew 9:35-38
35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
