A Compassionate Church

A few years ago when I first started out as a teacher I remember turning up to open evening for prospective parents. The RE teacher was asking people to write on a post it note what is the meaning of life? Being new to the school I felt challenged as what to write, and also wondered how to fit the gospel onto one post it note. I didn’t want to sound like the wacky Christian but knew I had to somehow represent the Christian message. After much deliberation I decided to just put, ‘to make a positive difference to those around me’. I went away a bit disappointed in myself wondering if I should have said something clearer, that mentioned God or Jesus. At the end of the evening I went back to the RE department to see what others had put. Comments included ‘to be the best that I can be’, ‘to be a nice person’, ‘to achieve as much as I can’. In many ways excellent aims, but can you see what they all have in common?... They are all about “self”! The best that “I” can be. For “me” to be a nice person. Putting a love for other people first changes our focus. The RE teacher commented to me how he noticed my comment was different and how it put other people first, and how he quite liked that.

This morning I'm going to talk about what it means to be a compassionate church. Compassion is described as the deep awareness of the suffering of another, coupled with the wish to relieve it. What I hope to share with you is the journey God has taken me on in understanding his calling on our lives to love others. I would like to invite you to join me on that journey, exploring how God has put a call to compassion not just on my life but on all our lives, and why it is such an important part of life here in the Vineyard.

In an interview in The Daily Telegraph a reporter said to Archbishop Justin Welby:
“The Church, I say, is good at talking, but not at actually doing things to improve the social order.
“RUBBISH!” shouts the Archbishop, genially. “It is one of the most powerful forces of social cohesion. Did you know that each month all the Churches – roughly half of the numbers being Anglican – contribute 23 million hours of voluntary work, outside what they do in church? And it’s growing. There are now between one and half thousand and two thousand food banks in which the Church is involved. Ten years ago, there were none. There are vicars living in every impoverished area in the country. This springs out of genuine spirituality. We’re not just Rotary with a pointy roof.”

What a fantastic response. I particularly like the last two sentences, "This springs out of genuine spirituality. We’re not just Rotary with a pointy roof".

Recently Justin Welby has taken a stand against high interest rate loans for example, and also spoken strongly, that the church has a key part to play in bringing social justice. Both the Church of England and the Catholic Church are now led by leaders who are passionate about establishing a Church that society needs. Through acts of compassion, the church has a huge part to play in a society where the needs seem to get bigger and bigger. I believe there is a great hope and an exciting future for the church, especially in the UK, especially in Leeds and in Headingley and for the life of Leeds Vineyard.

Looking back at the Archbishop's response to the journalist I believe he is talking about compassion. A compassion that develops out of a place of ‘genuine spirituality’, a closeness to God and his calling on our lives. I love how through our reach out activities and the work of The Vine we can change the face of the church to be one where people do not see rules and religious acts but a church full of love and compassion to those it serves. This is the church I believe, that people want to see. Perhaps a church that my friend the RE teacher would like to see.

Last week David spoke about what it looks like to be a worshipping church and how we honour God with our whole lives. Alongside worship, compassion forms a key part of how we as the Vineyard want to live our lives. Here at Leeds Vineyard our calling is summarised as Love God, Love People and Love in Action. Last week as we explored Worship we covered Love God. The act of feeling and being compassionate falls under the last two parts of our mission, to love people and to put love into action. Scripture teaches us that these two acts, Worship and Compassion are deeply entwined.

In Isaiah 58 we see the Israelites being given a strict telling off, that their fasting was merely a ritualistic and insincere act as they ignored the needy around them. In verses 6-9 it describes the importance of fasting as an act of worship being closely entwined with compassion.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I."

Fasting is a process that brings us closer to God through repentance and humbling ourselves. As we fast we enter into closeness with God. However what we are taught here, is that if that process is purely ritualistic then we are disconnecting ourselves from God’s heart for the poor. God is calling us to both worship him whole heartedly and to love others as a result of that worship.

In the New Testament we see Jesus come up against the Pharisees and challenge the way they live their lives, because they have little compassion for those around them. In the book of James (Jesus’ brother) we see him encouraging the early church that genuine faith finds expression in action and compassion. It is clear that this relationship of our inward worship and outward expression of faith through compassion underpins how honour God with our lives. When asked which is the most important commandment, Jesus simply replied “to love God (worship) and to love your neighbour (compassion).”

Over the summer I have been reading Tim Keller’s book “Generous Justice”, he explores this relationship of compassion and worship further. He talks about the relationship of doing acts of justice and being justified in God. Doing justice or compassionate acts is the outward expression of God’s grace in us. As we accept God into our lives we not only receive forgiveness but his righteousness is put on us.

Romans 3:22 says,

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, (rich or poor, young or old, male or female) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”.

Lets read that again... Righteousness is given to all who believe! We don’t need to earn it, or even ask for it, it is given, we have it.

Tim Keller describes it as this: “If a person has grasped the meaning of God's grace in his heart, he will do justice. If he doesn't live justly, then he may say with his lips that he is grateful for God's grace, but in his heart he is far from him. If he doesn't care about the poor, it reveals that at best he doesn't understand the grace he has experienced, and at worst he has not really encountered the saving mercy of God. Grace should make you just.”

In essence, when we get it right with God, he fills our hearts with compassion for the poor and broken. Being compassionate is part of God’s very being . in Exodus 34:6 it describes God as, “The Lord , The Lord, the compassionate and gracious God”. As we received grace we receive compassion.

I absolutely love this about Christianity that to receive God’s grace all we need is faith (as it says in Ephesians 2 – through faith and not by works). However, by having that faith, God pours out his compassion and righteousness on us to go and carry out works of justice. Every other religion pushes people towards carrying out works to receive salvation. Living their lives in a certain way. Yet Christianity spins it on its head, and that God will work though us as we receive his compassion.

The act of compassion is a careful balance between doing acts of justice and being justified by God. It’s the careful balance of our inward worship and the outward reflection of God’s righteousness in us. I believe that this is the ‘genuine spirituality’ that the Archbishop talked about. If we are in a good place with God, compassion and doing justice will be visible in how we live our lives. Incidentally it is not that surprising therefore that God often fills us with his compassion as we worship him.

As we look at the life of Jesus we can see what compassion actually looks and feels like. As we study the gospels it is clear that compassion is not just a feeling but a verb that requires action. Many times we see Jesus being filled with compassion and then reaching out to people around him.

Here are some examples when Jesus was full of compassion and he...

Healed the sick – Matt 14:14 and again in Matt 20:34 to the blind men
Fed the hungry – Matt 15:32-39, Gentiles too, he didn’t just feel sorry for them. These were the real down and outs of society the people Jesus wasn’t meant to associate with and care for
Taught them – Mark 6:34, when crowds were confused and then he...
Brought hope to crowds – Matt 9:36, his heart was broken for them – Message version

Time and time again we see Jesus being filled with compassion and acting straight away. I don’t know if you ever watch things like Comic Relief or Children in Need. But it’s not surprising that straight after they have shown a video of the great need, Lenny Henry is always there urging us to act now. Why? Because the compassion requires an action and it’s very easy to get busy doing other things and letting the feelings pass. I do not believe the God wants us to just feel sorry for people, he is calling us to love people, through doing acts of compassion and justice. It is an active feeling.

As I was preparing this I felt God gave me the phrase ‘Compassion fuelled Passions’. What I feel God was saying to me, is that compassion will take different forms for different people based on their passions, and that Compassion should be central to all we do. This is dramatically different from the world view of putting your own personal goals as your main motivation for what you doing.

When we think back to the story I shared at the beginning about RE Teacher, I feel encouraged that compassion can be a natural expression in how we live our lives. The RE teacher isn’t a Christian yet, but through God’s compassion being evident in how I go about my work, he is starting to see the Gospel come to life in a practical way. Alison Flowers describes this as the “otherliness” of being a follower of Christ. I didn’t write anything special on that post it note, and I expect most people in here would have written something similar, probably better. However, being filled with compassion changes not only how we feel but how we act and are seen by others.

Whatever our jobs or roles in life, if we put compassion for our colleagues, clients, suppliers, neighbours, friends and family central to what we do, I think we will see great things happen. In other words for our dreams to be achieved in their full to God’s plan then they should be fuelled by compassion. Just as our worship incorporates our whole lives as we looked at last week, so will compassion.

About two years ago we did a series on Micah 6:8 and what it means to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly. I haven’t got time to explore each of them this morning, but I recommend you find them on the website and have a look. It gives more details about how to go about our daily lives in a compassionate way. One way would be to reach out to your immediate neighbours. Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon’s book called ‘The Art of Neighbouring’ is a good place to start thinking about how we can take the great commandment literally and how to reach out to our literal neighbours.

As I wrap things up I would like to share my experiences of being filled with compassion. There are times when God fills us with an even greater amount of compassion to undertake a certain task or project. For example if you go on a mission trip, God will fill you with compassion specifically for that trip and the people you will go and serve. I remember being in Berlin in 2008 with many of you here, and having an increased feeling of compassion as we reached out and ministered to the people we met.

Headingley Buildings

A few months back Ben shared how he had been called to go and win Headingley, to do this he has been filled with compassion specific to the people of Headingley. Personally I have always loved Headingley, as a massive Cricket and Rugby fan, I like to spend as much time there as possible. Ever since David and Alison first mentioned Headingley, God has been speaking to me about my personal role as we move there. As Ben spoke on that Sunday morning it all came to a head and God filled me with the compassion needed to help Ben/God win Headingley. That morning, all I could do was weep, as God broke me and spoke to me about the people we were going to reach out to in Headingley, I was filled with his compassion. In the same way Jesus looked at the crowds and his heart broke, my heart was breaking for the people in Headingley. I am so excited about moving to Headingley, it gives us as a church an opportunity to have a shop front. People will walk by and notice, as they see a church that Loves God, Loves People and put’s Love into Action.

For each of us I am sure this compassion stuff will look very different. If you are like me, then you might be challenged as to how I act in a compassionate way with those I work with. It may be that God is calling you to love particular groups of people in Headingley. Perhaps the elderly or even students. Maybe you are called to other countries to serve as a missionary. It could be that God is breaking your heart for the new person that walks through the doors on a Sunday morning, or for the Big Issue seller or the person walking by our healing stand in the market. Possibly God is calling you to restore that family relationship through compassion and grace. Whatever God is saying to us, let’s live our lives full of compassion, full of love and full of the same grace God has given us.

To summarise:

Compassion is the outward expression of God’s grace in us
It is the active feeling of loving others as God loves us
As we worship God, we are often filled with compassion
God is calling us to go about our passions that are fuelled with compassion, living our daily lives, acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly
As we move to Headingley, our compassionate actions will be what changes society and reaches the lost, broken and needy.

Pete Sammons, 14/09/2013