Sanctuaries: COMPASSION- God with us

Photo credit: Thomas G. - Pixabay

Today the Christian Church celebrates the holy day of Epiphany, the Revealing. The One being revealed is of course Jesus of Nazareth, as someone who has a bit more to him than just being a young carpenter from Nazareth (…and “what good could ever come from there,” for heaven’s sake?!)

We read the biblical stories of special moments of Jesus’ revealing: the visit of the Magi, who kinda knew more stuff about the newborn Jesus than most others, including evil kings and scruffy shepherds, and unwed mothers and fathers.  Also, we read about the time when the adult Jesus went to see his cousin John at the river and got a holy dousing, complete with a dove landing on him and voice that some heard saying he was the Beloved and we should all listen to him.  We love those stories. They bring us into some of the other sanctuaries: Light, Joy, Generosity, Mystery, Wonder, Just Peace.

So, on this day of revealing, I want to offer one last sanctuary as we enter into 2025.  It may be a sanctuary we will find useful this year: the sanctuary of COMPASSION.

Our Christmas season focuses us on a number of important ideals: love, kindness, empathy, forgiveness, transcending differences and divisions, overcoming our violent tendencies and conflicts, but sometimes, quite frankly, it gets sappy.   That’s why I like the word “compassion.”  It means a kind of connection or affection using “com-” which means “with,” and we’re “with” each other in our “passion” – or suffering. 

We may identify what we’re going through at the present moment as suffering…but we may not.  We may just be going though our usual stuff that hasn’t raised to the level of suffering. We may be fearful and anxious about the potential of suffering on the horizon of 2025 barreling towards us.  I think it’s important to discern how much of our yearning for affection, for kindness, for forgiveness, safety, for easing of conflicts and relief from fears or violence, for SANCTUARIES, has to do deep down with ways we are suffering - maybe in big ways, maybe only in small ways – but things that add up over time.  Compassion sums it up for me. I want someone to be with in my passion and in theirs.

We know that burdens feel lighter when they are shared.  We know when we feel a sense of safety with someone who understands us.  We know when we feel the companionship of someone who loves and accepts us. We know fears subside, challenges are minimized, and we feel strong and capable.  We all need a sanctuary where we can be authentic and vulnerable.  And, perhaps this is the most profound sanctuary of all.   A sanctuary of COMPASSION best reveals and embodies the promise of Jesus’ human birth being a sign of “God-with-us,”  Jesus with us in our passions: our sufferings, our hopes, our dreams, our confusions, our fears…just as Jesus said he was with God and God was with him, and we are with him, and God is with us, and we are with each other. We are One.

How do I, how do you, offer and receive compassion now?  Who are you WITH in their passion? Who is with YOU?  Is there a framework in your life you can build or strengthen in 2025 with greater intention for a sanctuary of compassion? 

The beautiful thing about all these sanctuaries is that if you create one of them for someone else, you will also be building it for yourself. They are not isolating spaces.  They may offer spaces of needed solitude, but they can be created for oneself, and then offered to others. And, they can be created for someone else’s needs, but you discover soon that you are as nurtured in this sanctuary as the other is.  And God is present, seeing us face to face, revealed and ever-revealing. 

Happy Epiphany!