It sounds simple to say I must love my neighbor as I love myself, but what does that really look like? We have an unfaltering example in Jesus, whose works offered a living reflection of his teachings about the nature of God. The scriptures may be full of unclear translations, contradictory ideas, metaphors that have lost meaning over time, and laws that have lapsed. But Christ’s actions show clearly who God is, and how God loves. In Episode 131, Cynthia and Susan discuss the real challenge of discipleship: following Jesus’ example of compassion. 

Notes & Quotes:
Six Habits of Highly Compassionate People, by Hooria Jazaieri, Greater Good Magazine: Science-based Insights for a Meaningful Life, 4/24/218
Carol F. McKonkie quote, from the Church website
Christ: The Light That Shines in Darkness, by Sharon Eubank, 4/2019
Jewish Advice, 12/31/11, from The Power of Ideas: Words of Faith and Wisdom, by Jonathan Sacks
The Sublime and the Good, from Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature, by Iris Murdoch
Kindness, Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems, by Naomi Shihab Nye
You Are My Hands, by Dieter F. Uchtdorf, 4/2010
Daily Things to Fall In Love With, Maira Kalman, OnBeing podcast, 1/3/2019

“No praise of God is serious, or can be taken seriously, if it is apart from or in addition to the commandment: ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ Praise of God must always be understood as obedience to this commandment.” — Karl Barth

“Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.”  — Iris Murdoch

“True faith is all about love. Love God with all your heart, your soul, your might. Love your neighbor as yourself. Love the stranger because to others you are a stranger. […] Love is the space we make for that which is not me. By opening ourselves to something bigger than ourselves, we grow.” — Jonathan Sacks

“The gospel of Jesus Christ does not marginalize people. People marginalize people. And we have to fix that.” — Carol F. McConkie

“When the Savior stretches out His hands, those He touches are uplifted and become greater, stronger, and better people as a result. As we extend our hands and hearts toward others in Christ-like love, something wonderful happens to us. Our own spirits become healed, more refined, and stronger. We become happier, more peaceful, and more receptive to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. […] ‘We can spend our days obsessing about the finest details of life, the law, and long lists of things to do; but should we neglect the great commandments, we are missing the point and we are clouds without water, drifting in the winds, and trees without fruit.” — Dieter F. Uchtdorf

“Jesus’ loyalty is to human suffering.” — Richard Rohr

“The New Testament shows the great efforts Jesus made to reach out to all kinds of people: lepers, tax collectors, children, Galileans, harlots, women, Pharisees, sinners, Samaritans, widows, Roman soldiers, adulterers, the ritually unclean. In almost every story, he is reaching someone who wasn’t traditionally accepted in society […] It is an unwavering requirement of Christian disciples to show true love to one another.” — Sharon Eubank

“It is not what we think or feel that makes us who we are. It is what we do. Or fail to do.” —Jane Austen

Kindness
by Naomi Shihab Nye

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say,
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.