I am teaching a class in pastoral care and counseling at seminary. I decided to roleplay a hospital visit. I had one student to roleplay having a back injury with uncertain prognosis. Then I roleplayed a rather poor pastoral visit.

I am pretty good at poor pastoral visits— I just have to do what comes naturally to me. So I go up to my patient (student) and I stand over him and ask how he is doing. I am distracted, looking around, not paying too much attention to what he is saying. I am more interested in saying what I want to say, rather than getting him to say what he wants to say. I did not draw him out and I quickly moved towards a closing prayer and then I leave.

Then I had one of my other students take on the role of chaplain. She had been trained by my wife, Celia, so I knew that she was good at doing things the right way. She asked permission to talk to him. She sat down and maintained a body language of interest. She encouraged him to talk and showed clear evidence of interest in what he said and was going through. I was very pleased. She did a great job.

I asked the class to critique our performances. They definitely identified obvious differences between the two of us. The best one was probably this:

“She was Compassionate, and you were not.”

I jumped in and said, “Actually you don’t know whether I was compassionate or not, and the same with her. You cannot read our minds. The thing is that SHE DEMONSTRATED COMPASSION, AND I DID NOT.”

Upon reflection, I think this is kind of the point. When we do what comes naturally to us, we generally are recognized as not compassionate. In many cases it is because we are in fact not compassionate. In other situations, perhaps we have empathetic feelings, but they fail to be recognizable. Compassion is a volitional form of empathy, so if empathy never makes it to action, it could be argued that there is no compassion.

It is pretty natural for us to be ethnocentric/racist (rejecting those seen as of a different ethnicity), nationalistic (rejecting aliens), religiocentric (rejecting those of a different religion), sexist (demeaning some based on gender issues), partisan (rejecting those of a different political or ideological bent) and xenophobic (generally rejecting those who are different). What is natural isn’t necessarily good.

It is surprising to me how many Christians seem to pride themselves in these natural tendencies. I had to hide messages from a pastor friend of mine on FB because he would share every hatefully and biased story he could find about Muslims. Another pastor I had to hide messages because he had turned his FB page into a non-stop advertisement for some unpleasant politician who was running against an equally unpleasant politician. It may be natural to do that sort of thing, but in ministry we are certainly called upon to do better than what is natural.

When I was young the rainbow was a symbol of hope… and then racial acceptance. Now that some have appropriated the symbol for a different use, it is so odd to see some of my friends freaking out about it. But I guess it is natural. Some friends of mine back in the US seem to think that it is an awfully Christian thing to build a really big and long wall. Seems like an inherently flawed idea (walls don’t have a great track record historically) but the Christian church has all too often loved establishing cultural walls to make it clear that others are not welcome. So perhaps they want to extend that idea elsewhere.

Perhaps it is time to do the unnatural thing— show compassion to those who are needy— even if (or especially if) they are different than us.

My wife’s family raised pigs. One year their sow had a litter of 13 piglets. The sow could feed 12 simultaneously. So, not surprisingly, it was the smallest one, the runt, who was left out. Without intervention the 13th pig would starve and die. But my wife’s family did intervene, periodically the largest piglet would be pulled away from the mother so the 13th pig can feed.

Some feel that nature should take its course. But in this case that would be foolish. No intervention results in 12 healthy pigs. With intervention the 13th could survive. I see the story of Jesus at the pool of Bethesda as choosing intervention. The fastest could get to the pool first, but Jesus did not go to the fastest. He went to the one who was too slow.

I have noticed that the best fund-raisers are often the best at raising funds, not necessarily the best missions, and even more so not the most needy missions. The flow of support often goes to the wrong places. Laissez-faire fails sometimes…often. So how does one intervene wisely? Not totally sure— but having eyes on the ground who are able to make real decisions in the field can help. Decisions from a distance have the problem of being able to identify the noisiest and the flashiest— not necessarily the most deserving.

The Church can support more than the biggest and most aggressive. Supporting the runts does not mean weakening the rest. The 13th pig grew to be a healthy pig, but so did the other 12. Missions is not zero sum.

Religion has an important role in society. Emile Durkheim among others have recognized that one of the roles of religion in a society is to safeguard it. It provides the support and underpinnings of a culture’s worldview. As such, it provides the norms for behavior as well as interpretation of experience. In a sense then it is true that religion does provide a conservative force preventing change. However, hopefully, it does not simply prevent change or idealize the past or present, but identifies principles that center our behavior. Religion commonly takes on the role of arbiter of change and conflict.

Therefore, at its best, religion is a benefactor to society. This role as benefactor may change in a multi-cultural, multi-religious setting… but the role doesn’t disappear.

Consider, however, another scenario. This was referred to by Alan Tippett in his book, “Missiology” (in Chapter 14).

“In passing, however, I may suggest that even in our modern society, if religion today seems to have become dispensable, it is probably because the Church has come dangerously near to forgetting its responsibility to society and has concerned itself too much with its own survival. It is just as this corresponding point of time, when the witchdoctors turn from being social “benefeactors” to being social “parasites” that the populace of animist societies turn to Christianity.”  (Tippet, 161)

Consider the story of the Longhouse Religion of the Iroquois. It has been suggested that part of the growth of this religion, based on the revelations of their prophet Handsome Lake, came as a revitalization movement. The former religion was polytheistic and led by shamans, and supported the worldview and values of the people. However, around the time of Handsome Lake, the people were inundated by vices from European settlers and pushed back economically, and militarily. As such, they were under great cultural stress. However, the political and religious leaders of the Iroquois, the supposed benefactors of their society had become corrupt, given into the vices that were destroying the people, and now had a parasitic role in the society. The Longhouse Religion came as a revitalization movement but also as a conversion movement. It was a monotheistic movement and supported a strongly ethical standard for the people. Despite the differences from the previous faith, it in many ways better supported the Iroquois’ self-understanding and values than the previous faith. It took on the role of being a benefactor to the people rather than a parasite.

Ezekiel 34 speaks of a similar thing where the “shepherds” of Israel, both political and religious had taken on a parasitic role in society.   I would recommend reading the whole passage, but I will put here the first 10 verses:

The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them: This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? ³ You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. ⁵ They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered. ⁶ My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.

⁷ “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. ⁸ As I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“because My flock has become prey and food for every wild animal since they lack a shepherd, for My shepherds do not search for My flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand My flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue My flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

Today, we see religion in many forms. We see it providing group identity and supporting high values that are to be attained to. As such we see religion still being a benefactor. But we also see religion corrupted by power, coercive, and self-serving. Rather than step on toes and point out places and ways religion (very much including Christianity among the other faiths) has often moved from being a benefactor to being a parasite, I would just suggest the following question:

If the church is worried about losing influence in society, it is better to ask the question of whether it is being seen as a hoarder of human blessings (wealth, power, etc.) or a channel of God’s blessings.

 

I wrote on my personal blog on some of the soul-searching I am going through in my role in trying to write books and helping some people in Asia and Africa in writing books.

You can find it at When a Hobby has Become a Job.