Dear Ones, 

When I reflect on this month’s theme, cultivating compassion, the first thing I think of is emotional connection and empathetic feeling – having and sharing empathy.  “Feeling with” people can be relatively easy to do, especially when they are like-minded or like-hearted, or the victim of something that is in opposition to our values.  It can be harder to do with others with whom we disagree on fundamental human rights, or who have harmed us or others.  Cultivating empathy is a life-long practice of opening our hearts to the humanity of others.

This can be challenging in and of itself.  But then I think about the Charter for Compassion, which says “True compassion is to engage in the suffering of others,” and I start to wonder – how do I engage in the suffering of others?  Is it enough to share empathy?  Or am I called to do something about their suffering?  If you know me at all, you know the answer to this for me – compassion most certainly means doing something about it.  This calls me to offer reflections in my musings or on Sunday mornings that might feel a little uncomfortable for some, especially for those who think of justice work as something separate from spirituality.  At the same time, our congregation’s founders named us after James Reeb because of his life and his legacy – a man whose compassion called him into a deep justice ministry, all the way to being killed in Selma for answering Dr. King’s call for help.  I look forward to exploring these and other challenges with you this month!

In faith and love, Karen