Compassion Helps Us See and Welcome
For the month of July, children and families from our church and in the Decatur community will be participating in a take-home VBS called “Compassion Camp.” Families will spend five sessions learning about the different ways compassion helps us and the world around us.
Each week from now until July 29, our devotion and daily prayer will focus on the theme from that week’s VBS session. Many of the stories that you will hear will be familiar, but I want to encourage you to hear them with new ears and see them with new eyes- and through the lens of compassion.
Scripture Reading
Luke 15:11-32 (The Illustrated Ministry paraphrase)
Jesus told this parable: There was once a man who had two sons. The younger brother greedily demanded his inheritance, turned his back on his family, and let them for a far away country. He wasted all the money he took from his family.
Soon he became needed and hungry. Even though he felt ashamed, he decided to return home, hoping his father might welcome him back. When his father saw him, he was filled with compassion.
He ran out to his son and threw his arms around him. He was so happy he was alive! The father got a big dinner together with the best food and drink to give thanks for his son’s safe return.
Meanwhile, the older brother came in from the fields, tired from working hard all day. When he heard the music and dancing, he became very angry and refused to go in.
His father went to the older brother to persuade him to come, but he said: “I’ve listened to you and worked hard for you all these years and you’ve never given me a party. My brother comes home after wasting all his money and you throw him a huge party!”
His father said to him: “Son, I love you. You know what is mine is yours. But people matter more than possessions. We thought we lost your brother from our family, but he is home. Come to the table and celebrate with us!”
Reflection
How many times have we heard this story? Probably so many times that you could paraphrase it very easily. But today, we are looking at this story through the lens of compassion. Our takeaway for this week’s VBS session is “Compassion Helps us See and Welcome.”
We begin by telling our children that the first step to understanding and having compassion is to understand what the person in front of us is going through. “Compassion means I see your hurt, I feel your hurt with you, and I try my best to ease your hurt.” But we can’t do any of these things if we aren’t willing to see and listen to the people in front of us. We have to try and understand where they are coming from, or try to put ourselves in their shoes. This requires humility and vulnerability on our part; but without these two things, we won’t get very far in our journey to having compassion for people.
Exercise
Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of the three main characters in our story for today. Choose one of the prompts below and imagine or write down your responses to the situation.
Imagine what it would have felt like to be the younger brother, who had everything he every wanted and then it was all gone. How do you think he felt when he was making his journey back to his father’s house? How do you think he felt when his father through him a huge party?
Imagine yourself as the older brother. How do you think he felt when his younger brother left? Do you think he came in and joined the party?
Imagine you are the father who has essentially been told “I wish you would doe already.” Why do you think he gave his younger son his part of the inheritance? How do you think he felt while his younger son was gone?
What did you discover as you reflected on this passage? Was there something new revealed to you? What lesson are you carrying with you today?
Reverend Kristen Koger has served as the Pastor for Children and Families at FBC Decatur since June 2017. Kristen loves working with the youngest of God’s family as she helps them realize that they have some of the most important gifts to offer the family of God. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her dog Dietrich “Bonehoeffer,” cooking, knitting, and playing board games.