In the musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Lucy fills her younger brother’s head with little-known facts (aka stuff she made up). Bugs make the grass grow, snow comes up from the ground. An increasingly distraught Charle Brown finally shouts, “I can’t stand idly by!” and challenges her assertions.
I find myself at a “Can’t Stand Idly By” moment. Recently, there’s been a push to proclaim empathy as unbiblical and, hence, unchristian. There’s even a book on the topic! So here I am: a Christian doing my Charlie Brown best.
We Christians come in more flavors than Baskin Robbins ice cream. Some love smells and bells; for others, simplicity in worship is the key. Some baptize by sprinkling; others dunk. Some keep a vow of silence, while others speak in tongues. But what we all have in common is Jesus: his life, ministry, and teachings.
Jesus said, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus noticed his listeners were hungry and He fed them. Jesus wept with two friends, sharing their grief even as he prepared to reverse their brother’s death. He healed those sick in body and mind, (sometimes on the Sabbath, to the disgust of religious leaders more interested in feeling superior than in feeling compassionate). When dying on the cross, Jesus offered hope to a fellow death-row inmate. And, on His resurrection, Jesus conversed with a guilt-ridden Peter: understanding both the man’s weakness and his potential, and guided Peter into becoming the leader we read about in Acts and in the Epistles.
Empathy is deeply Christian, because Jesus practiced empathy every day of His ministry. So these folks proclaiming an anti-empathy faith need to call themselves something other than Christian. Because their goal is to give us permission to care about nothing but ourselves. To close our hearts to the stranger, the poor, the sick, the prisoner—all whom Jesus embraced as family: “…just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me (Matthew 25:40).”
If you are a Christian, join me in debunking this assault on our faith. If you are not a Christian, please know that of all the flavors of Christianity that exist, this one is not even on the menu.
What are your thoughts on empathy and faith?
Tag Archives: Neighbor
April 2011 Soul and Solace
Getting Hit
Thanks to the ingenuity of a neighbor, at this time of the year our community receives “hits” from the Mafia Bunny. A few volunteers begin the “hits” by filling baskets with goodies and, when no one is looking, depositing them on the doorsteps of unsuspecting neighbors. Those neighbors tie yellow ribbons on their doors to signify that they’ve been hit, then refill the baskets with goodies of their choice, and “hit” other unsuspecting neighbors.
Two years ago, Easter was a hard season in our home: unemployment, illness, and broken hopes had pretty thoroughly vanquished us. We awoke one morning, opened our door, and found ourselves “hit.” I watched my husband’s eyes light up and I felt a resonant light in my own. That basket was much more than the trinkets nestled inside its cellophane grass. For us, it was a basket full of hope.
What if, as our spiritual practice this month, we “hit” some unsuspecting persons with gifts of hope? It could be a handmade card or some home-baked bread, or a bottle of water for a guy standing in the heat. And if we can do it on the sly—get away with our “hit” unseen and unsuspected—so much the better!
Have you experienced being “hit by hope?” We’d love to hear about it!