Compassion 2

"Every day I die again and again I'm reborn.
Everyday I have to find the courage to walk out into the street with arms out.
Got a love you can't defeat!"
taken from 'Breathe' by U2

The challenge of compassion requires me to move into a place that can be costly. The song words are from U2's recent album and picks up a common theme in his songs the issue of surrender but his image of compassion grabs me. When I leave the house to go to the Feast, I have to decide to reach out with 'open arms' and I don't always feel like I can do it. But there is hope, the Love that God shows to us is invincible!! This tune and especially the lyrics have been running through my mind a lot lately as I have been working on the 5 year goals for the project. This afternoon I am meeting with the project leadership and planning ahead. One of the challenges I want us to address is how to make sure we continue to get out into the streets and not stay behind walls. It requires courage. Last week I spent time with the street drinkers on Rushey Green, I find it is a slightly edgy place to be, you never know what is going to happen next but it is most definitely an inspiring place to be. Spiritually I come alive in that context.

It reminds me of when I first worked at the night shelter in Bedford. The shelter had been going for 6 months and the honeymoon was most definitely over. The residents had taken over and the management had lost control. As you can imagine there was lots to learn from watching this being turned around, I was only involved from a distance. But I was a volunteer and I dreaded those nights, I would arrive at 9pm for a 3 hour shift and would be faced with a room barricaded by residents drinking alcohol. To walk there required huge courage and I had to ignore my feelings and trust God for my life (at points literally!) simply to get there.