29 July 2012
Ephesians 3:14-21
“More than
we can ask or imagine.” It’s a beautiful promise. It reminds me of the words
from our funeral liturgy: when we are praying for those who grieve, we remind
each other of the promise that “eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor anything
in human imagination envisioned” what God has prepared.
On Friday
the Book Group will start reading The
Compassionate Brain: How Empathy Creates Intelligence by Gerald Huether. I
realized some time ago that the subtitle proposes a thesis which contradicts my
previous assumptions.
“Bleeding
heart liberal” a supposed slur (which I personally consider a badge of honor)
arises from the observation that liberals seem to care about everything… the whales,
the owls, the slugs. Is there no end to their crazy compassion? It’s also
observed that universities produce more liberals than conservatives. So I
assumed that education creates compassion. The more you know, the more you
care. What the author Gerald Huether is suggesting is quite the opposite: that
compassion comes first. Empathy creates intelligence. The more you care, the
more you are motivated to learn.
I realize
now that my own life experience confirms this theory. I’m sure you can think of
examples from your own life. I never thought much about dance, as an art form,
until a daughter whom I love pursed the study of dance. Because I love her, I
learned more about dance than I ever thought there was to know.
Also, I
never thought much about makeup and hair, as you can plainly see, until a
daughter whom I love began to pursue the art of design. And I am again learning
more than I ever imagined there was to know, because of love. Love, compassion,
and empathy create intelligence.
Being
rooted and grounded in love, God is able to accomplish through us more than we
could ever ask or imagine, Paul wrote.
What if the
most important thing to teach children is not in fact their ABCs and 1,2,3s.
What if the real foundation for learning is, in fact, love?
If this is
true, then, how important is our ministry to children in this church? Not just
our ministry to children in our church,
that is, children who show up, I mean our ministry, as a church, to children in
our community. Who is better equipped than the church to provide a foundation
of love, for the children in our community?
And, if
love is the foundation for learning, what is the content of our curriculum? And
what is the goal?
I would
suggest that the goal is that every child be rooted and grounded in love. That
every child know—above and below and around all else—the love of God from
experiencing that love in their families and in this church. I would suggest
that the goal for our ministry with children be that every child have the
empathy that creates wisdom, intelligence, and imagination, for it is thorugh
our imagination especially that God is at work. The world that is coming, the
Realm of God or the Kingdom of God, it is more than all we can ask or imagine.
So let’s imagine more. Let’s imagine better. Let’s imagine a world where
everyone lives in peace and harmony… and leave room for God to do even more.
More than all we can ever ask or imagine. So be it! Amen.
