With a Shepherd's Heart

I love that scene in the Gospels when the crowds follow Jesus and his disciples who had tried to go away for a quiet time. We are told that when Jesus saw the people he felt deep compassion for them for "they were harassed and dejected like sheep without a shepherd."

This beautiful passage gives us a glimpse into the very soul of Jesus.

The Lord looks at our broken world and his heart is deeply moved.

There is no bitterness at our messy and confused lives. 

Instead we find compassion for those who struggle with suffering, loss and pain; patient goodness for those who are searching for love and meaning in all the wrong places; kindness for those living in silent despair, a despair often cloaked by the rush and glitter of today’s life.

Christ’s love does not necessarily mean approval for everything in our lives.  But the experience of his goodness and acceptance gives us the courage and grace to make the journey back. 

He is not waiting till we have got our act together before he love us.

Would that all who struggle and fail and fall might find within the Christian community the lived reality of the Lord's constant compassion!

The Waters of Mercy

Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Polish-born American rabbi, writes beautifully of the spiritual path that is the God-given potential of every person. 

In his book, The Insecurity of Freedom, he speaks of the act of prayer as - not so much a dialogue with the Eternal - but an immersion in the "waters of mercy".

It is certainly true that as our prayer deepens it grows in simplicity. We become less active, more still and receptive to the action of the Spirit of God.

This makes for hard going. We have an innate and strong desire to be in control, even of our relationship with God.  This growth in simplicity in prayer can mean letting go of particular ways of praying that have nourished our souls in the past.

The rabbi writes: "I am not ready to accept the ancient concept of prayer as a dialogue. Who are we to enter a dialogue with God!

The better metaphor would be to describe prayer as an act of immersion, comparable to the ancient Hebrew custom of immersing oneself completely in the waters as a way of self-purification to be done over and over again.

Immersion in the waters! One feels surrounded, touched by the waters, drowned in the waters of mercy."