"America's Greatest Gift and Greatest Challenge"

by Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service

On July 22, Church World Service Executive Director John L. McCullough spoke about compassion and sharing to participants in the 2007Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a founding denomination of Church World Service. The biennial gathering was held July 21-25 in Fort Worth, Texas . Following is the text of Rev. McCullough's sermon.

I Corinthians 13

A year ago my wife and I were preparing for the marriage of our eldest child. I can tell you some pretty incredible stories about our preparations for the “perfect wedding.” Believe it when someone tells you that the first-born is an experiment in process. With the first child, one learns how to parent. Just ask any first-born child if he or she ever felt like Isaac – taken to the land of Moriah by Abraham, offered as a sacrifice on the altar [Genesis 22]. In time parenting doesn't get easier, but as parents we get smarter. Those of you who decided to stop with only one child – have another one! Really, if for no other reason than to discover just how much smarter you've become! We become a bit more relaxed, more lenient, more open to learning new ways of doing things, and less stressed when things don't always go according to plan.

I have long considered myself to be on the moderate to liberal side of the scale. How far the pendulum swings depends on the specific issue at hand; but when it came to expenses for the wedding I became a lot more curious about this thing called “compassionate conservatism.” I wondered if it was possible to, on the one hand be compassionate and fulfill my daughter's every fantasy, while on the other hand be fiscally conservative. The question was not just a matter of fiscal conservatism; it was also a statement about tradition and values, and how they are honored and preserved.

At the beginning of his presidency George W. Bush introduced the concept of Compassionate Conservatism. He said:

"I call my philosophy and approach compassionate conservatism. It is compassionate to actively help our fellow citizens in need. It is conservative to insist on responsibility and results. And with this hopeful approach, we will make a real difference in people's lives."

In his Inaugural Address, the President called on Americans to become citizens, not spectators.

The White House reports, “since that time the President has used compassionate conservatism as his governing philosophy …to tackle some of society's toughest assignments, such as educating our children, fighting poverty at home, and helping poor countries around the globe.1

The concept of putting one's resources to work in ways that achieve positive results is neither original to the Bush Administration, nor mere economic strategy. It is as old as Abraham's trust in the values of his faith – and his faithfulness to the task at hand:

[Isaac asked, “Father,] …where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide the lamb…” Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.… [Then the angel said,] “Do not lay your hand on the boy…for now I know that you fear God…” …And Abraham looked up and saw a ram… and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called that place “The Lord will provide”… [Gen. 22:7-8, 10-14]

Trust in one's values, and faithfulness to one's mission is not easily achieved. Yet, they are essential. Paul writes to the Church in Corinth [I Cor. 13:1] :

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

That is the opening refrain of an anthem that bespeaks the most basic levels of our humanity – acknowledging not only the importance of caring for each other's welfare, but understanding the reality of mystical qualities that enable us to feel not only each other's pain and joy, but also our deepest hungers and yearnings in life. As Jesus sat by the Sea of Galilee he looked upon the masses before him, some who were sickened by diseases that inflicted the body, some who were sickened by poverty that inflicted the soul, and others who were sickened by injustice that inflicted the spirit to live. “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” [Matthew 14:16] The Gospel of John records Jesus asking Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” [John 6:5]

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love…

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love…

If I can feel for the one whose body is sore, and worn, and too weak to even lift herself up, but do not have enough love to care for her sickness; if I see the face of one who lives without food security, clean water, safe shelter, and the ability to care for loved ones, but do not have enough love to accompany him and share the resources with which God has endowed me; if I can know in my heart that someone has been unfairly forced to flee for her life losing all things familiar including a place called home, but do not have enough love to raise my voice in outrage or offer hospitality for respite and peace, I am nothing.

Jesus spoke and acted out of a sense of love – agape, what first century Christians practiced as self-sacrificing love of God for humanity. The Nazarene theologian Thomas Jay Oord defined agape as "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being." For Jesus, agape was undergirded by compassion – an emotional response to shared suffering and the desire to alleviate the suffering of the other.

“[Reinhold] Niebuhr stressed the relevance of agape, or Christian love, not as a directly practicable political principle, but as the ideal toward which justice strives and the standard of judgment on all political achievements in history.”2

Several years ago I was walking in downtown Dallas trying to find a place to have lunch. I noticed a derelict walking ahead of me; I can't tell you why he caught my attention. The thought occurred to me that I should invite him to join me for lunch, but I talked myself out of what seemed to be a ridiculous notion. I was in a suit, he looked disheveled; I am Black, he was White; I was young, he was an older man; I was a northerner, he likely a southerner. What did we have in common? I noticed a McDonald's ahead and decided to have lunch there. Much to my surprise he entered the restaurant ahead of me. Now I was curious. What was he going to do there? Again the thought occurred to me, I should buy his lunch. By the time I entered the restaurant he had already placed his order. He reached into his things, pulled out some crumpled cash and handed it to the attendant.

We ended up sitting at tables facing each other, and I struggled not knowing what to do with these deep mystical feelings seemingly tying us together. Finally, I went to his table to hand him some money, but he refused it! I tried to insist, saying, “I wanted him to have it,” but he became more adamant in refusing. As I started to return to my table I heard a voice saying, “Tell him that I have given it for him.” Without hesitating, I went back and told him that God wanted him to have this money, and he accepted.

After returning to my table, feeling better about myself, I looked up. Now he stood in front of me. He opened a bulletin and handed it to me. He said, “I just came from a church where a missionary spoke. They called for an offering.” “I felt bad”, he said, “I didn't have anything I could give.” He told me that he was going to return to the church and make his offering.

Since government policy is inherently unemotional that may explain why Compassionate Conservatism never took hold as a concept, but we might also consider that compassion is not conditional. Hence, we are troubled when government's response to crisis does not measure up to the standard of our compassion. We ask, why did the government fail in its response to Hurricane Katrina; why doesn't the government do more about HIV/AIDS; why doesn't the government report on the impact of the Iraqi War on Iraqi families, on the large numbers of Iraqi mothers who mourn the loss if their children? It is because government is inherently unemotional.

Unlike government, the church cannot be authentic without compassion. Jesus could not send people away hungry and be relevant all at the same time. In 1949, Ruth Milner was asked by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to administer the resettlement of “Displaced Persons” out of Europe in cooperation with Church World Service. The Christian Church could not be immune to the sufferings of millions of people following World War II. The wanton destruction of cities, nearly forty-five million refugees and internally displaced persons, the scarcity of resources, and the prevalence of hunger are too much for the church to ignore at any time. Here we find the genesis of the Disciples Week of Compassion: A church's emotional and constructive response to injustice.

Jesus said, “You give them something to eat.”

At a recent meeting with religious leaders, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass described our current global context as unprecedented, citing: the wide spans of the War on Terror from New York to Baghdad to Bali, genocide in Sudan and Colombia, the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and potential nuclear stand-offs in Korea and Iran. To this we add the HIV/AIDS pandemic, global poverty and the growing health care crisis, climate change, and the threat of so-called Islamic radicalism and neo-conservativism.

Philip looked at the scope of the situation and answered Jesus, saying, “Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” [John 6:7]

Philip saw the futility of the situation; Jesus saw the possibility. In 1949 many people saw the futility of post-war recovery, but the Week of Compassion and Church World Service, the Foods Resource Bank, Seed Programs, Inc. and others have seen the possibilities. What do you mean five loaves and two fish isn't enough to feed five thousand people? The question is not about what we can do alone; it is about what we can do together.

Together we have committed more than a billion dollars of development assistance in eighty countries around the world. Together we have helped some five hundred thousand families resettle here in the United States, and others return to their homelands following years of conflict. Together we have gathered up children in the midst of war to care for their wounds and to comfort their spirits. We have good reason to believe in the miracle of “the Loaves and the Fishes,” because we have been a living example of how simple acts of sharing can be transformed into a feast. We multiply our resources whenever we put them into a common basket. And that is not just a statement about the past.

Today, your Compassion is giving hundreds of young girls and women in Afghanistan their first opportunity to go to school, to expand their minds and discover more of their potential. Today, your Compassion is helping the victims of Katrina, and tsunamis in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to rebuild their lives, homes, and communities, and overcome the trauma that comes with disasters of this magnitude. Today, your Compassion is advocating for the rights of children in Thailand and Nicaragua, and protecting other children from sexual exploitation in India and the Dominican Republic. Today we don't see futility, today we see hope.

America's greatest gift is her faith, compassion and sense of justice; America's greatest challenge is sharing this gift without reservation. Christian Church, Share the Feast.

Source: The White House, Fact Sheet: Compassionate Conservatism. Office of the Press Secretary
April 30, 2002
"Copyright (c) 1996 by First Things" and this Copyright/Reproduction Limitations notice. This data file may not be used without the permission of FIRST THINGS for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold.