"By listening to the voices of the oppressed and persecuted we are transformed."
--Pete Rollins
Just as what we do for the least of these we do for Jesus, so it is with listening. This includes the felon, the atheist, the homeless, even the terrorist. It doesn't mean being foolish, though there is precedent for the virtue of the holy fool.
At the very least it means acknowledging that they have a story, and that letting yourself be affected by their story is the beginning of compassion.
And yes, compassion is dangerous. The more real the other becomes to you, the more difficult it is to justify a salary thousands of times larger than theirs. The harder it is to make abstract arguments about the deterrence of punishment, capitol or penal. When your son or daughter, who you loved well, nevertheless come out as gay, the easy presumptions about the causes of same sex attraction are no longer easy.
These stories are meant to transform us through solidarity. Transformation is about proximity not strategy or will power. If you want to be re-made into the image of Christ, quit working at it like Rocky Balboa, it's not a matter of strength or an indomitable spirit. One can hear Jesus say, "you do not know what spirit you are from." The spirit that Rocky glorifies is American exceptionalism not the Spirit of the incarnate God who "learned by the things that he suffered" while living with and for the least, the last, and the lost.
Listening to the story of your enemy is just as dangerous as you think it is, it's meant to be. It with take away all your defenses and justifications for the advantageous status quo. In the end, if you let it, these stories will make brothers and sisters out of the entire world.
--Pete Rollins
Just as what we do for the least of these we do for Jesus, so it is with listening. This includes the felon, the atheist, the homeless, even the terrorist. It doesn't mean being foolish, though there is precedent for the virtue of the holy fool.
At the very least it means acknowledging that they have a story, and that letting yourself be affected by their story is the beginning of compassion.
And yes, compassion is dangerous. The more real the other becomes to you, the more difficult it is to justify a salary thousands of times larger than theirs. The harder it is to make abstract arguments about the deterrence of punishment, capitol or penal. When your son or daughter, who you loved well, nevertheless come out as gay, the easy presumptions about the causes of same sex attraction are no longer easy.
These stories are meant to transform us through solidarity. Transformation is about proximity not strategy or will power. If you want to be re-made into the image of Christ, quit working at it like Rocky Balboa, it's not a matter of strength or an indomitable spirit. One can hear Jesus say, "you do not know what spirit you are from." The spirit that Rocky glorifies is American exceptionalism not the Spirit of the incarnate God who "learned by the things that he suffered" while living with and for the least, the last, and the lost.
Listening to the story of your enemy is just as dangerous as you think it is, it's meant to be. It with take away all your defenses and justifications for the advantageous status quo. In the end, if you let it, these stories will make brothers and sisters out of the entire world.
