“God, are you there?”

“God, are you there?”

“God. God, where are you? It’s dark and I can’t see you”

Are you blind?

“I don’t think so…. I just can’t see in the dark. I see in the light!”

“Well, I’m very much around when you are in the dark.”Well, I’m very

much around when you are

in the dark.

“Really?”Really?

“Would I lie. am God, you know?”Would I lie?I am God, you know?

“Oh, I didn’t mean to disturb you. But I can’t see you in the

dark.”

Hmmm…What are you looking for

in the dark? What do you think

I look like? Who do you think I am?

“Well, in the church I went to when I was little, I saw a picture

of a big, old man with a long beard on a cloud. My mom said it was you.”

My child, let me tell you a secret. I had a make-over!

My child, let me tell you a secret…. I’ve had a make-

over!

“So what do you look like now?”

“So what do you look like now?”

“How do you expect me to recognize you?”

“How do you expect me to recognize you?”

“You’re just playing with me!”

“You’re just playing with me!”

Not really! I’m alive and well and just

being the same God I always have been!

“So where are you?That’s what I asked you to begin

with!”

“I’m out walking.

I’m out walking.

“Why?”“Why? Where do you walk? What do you do?”

I’m walking with those who suffer.

“Why?”

Because even already before my

makeover they used to call me compassionate

and gracious.

“Compassionate?”

That’s right. The Hebrews used to call me compassionate

because I suffered with them.

“Well, that’s why I’m looking for you. I need some of your… your compa…compassion. Could I have some of your compassion?

Why? What’s going on?

“Gosh, God. I’m hurting.”

• “”Gosh, God. I’m hurting.”

Well, you know, compassion asks us to

go where it hurts.

Compassion asks us to enter into places with pain.

Fear…

Confusion…

and anguish.

Compassion calls us to cry out with those

in misery

to mourn with the lonely…

to weep with those in tears.

Compassion requires usto be weak with the weak…

vulnerable with the vulnerable…

and powerless with the powerless.

Compassion means

being fully immersed in the

human condition.