One of the desires we have with Under Construction (UC) is to create a sort of community. In addition to building side by side, we want to shut the saws off and take some time to talk about where we are at in our spiritual journey, what we have experienced, and what obstacles we are facing. That is the beauty of doing - you run head on into issues that otherwise might not have come up so quickly, if ever.
Throughout this project, and as recent as last week, I have received some push back to what we are doing. The suggestion being that our efforts at compassion are sort of misguided. Certain attitudes and beliefs underly these push backs. We want to intentionally confront these attitudes and beliefs head on and let the Spirit use them to clarify, modify, or change our own attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Heart change requires such confrontation, as difficult as it might be. Bring it on!
During our building time, we are going to confront the hard issues that come up head on. There are several current issues that have recently come up that I think both relate to an underlying belief - something like this:
"Acts of compassion miss the real need. The real needs are spiritual not physical, or they need Jesus not a bed." This could be nuanced and qualified in many different ways. Depending on how you qualify or nuance it, it could undermine compassion.
So, we will start at the beginning and answer some more basic questions first.
What is compassion?
Are we to be compassionate?
If so, why?
Is so, how?
How does compassion fit into the larger picture of the spiritual life?
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