Sun. June 3, 2012 (Andre Pekovich)

Andre Pekovich based his message on the concept of compassion. Karen Armstrong, a former nun, is disappointed that religious leaders do not sufficiently stress compassion; she sees a commonality of compassion in all major religions. A recent Sojourners article points out that Christians disagree on subjects from the profound to the mundane: the ordination of women, religion and politics, same sex unions, hell, heaven, baptism, which brand of fair-trade coffee to use, whether to use wafers, pita, home baked, organic, or bagels for communion, etc. Compassion is often lacking in dealing with these issues. Compassion is not a “soft” value, rather it is a principled determination to put oneself in the other person’s shoes – follow the golden rule. Armstrong’s Charter of Compassion is not simply a statement of principle, but a call to action. In light of our world’s problems: militarism, war, global warming, devotion to money, etc, we need to strive for the enduring peace described in Isaiah 54. We have to live differently; there must be an intentional turning away from an old way of life. Try compassionate action. (HN).

Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, June 3rd, 2012 using your browser's preferred media player.