I’ve Been Meaning to Ask…
God’s love knows no boundaries. Each of us finds a place, our place in God. For a long time, though, the church has struggled with the question about who can be included and who cannot be included. We experience divisions all around us and across our society today. The boundaries are sometimes about race, gender identity, sexual orientation, politics, and age. We know well how to divide people up into different groups. God’s vision changes our orientation though as followers of Jesus. Peter hears, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane” (Acts 10:15b). God envisions creation without such boundaries that exclude and isolate others.
“What do you need?” is a powerful question because it communicates intention and consent. Such an exchange opens up the pathway to further conversation through sharing empathy. Empathy is feeling with someone and not sympathy. Sympathy tries to put a silver lining into the mess and results in creating distance between people. When we remain open, practice empathy, and begin the conversation, we practice the care for others that Jesus taught and God’s radical love is revealed in the midst of the question and the answer.
Conversations that lead to transformation require compassion. Compassion means to feel with. This question acknowledges we all carry hurt and pain in our lives. Such an acknowledgement of another’s pain deepens our understanding and communicates through our asking and listening to others that they are valued. Moving to this position, we are able to share compassion. When we show compassion, we are showing up to say that we care about the relationship and we are showing up with God, because God is present even in the most difficult times.
We all have a story to tell. When we share those stories with one another, the act of sharing connects us despite distance, creates compassionate dialogue, and reminds us that each of us is a child of God. Listening, deep and long, opens space for relationships to grow between us and with God. The stories we share will be messy, beautiful, painful, and hopeful. God is present with us in the midst of all these parts of our stories.
