In his book, Sacred: A Novel on the Edge of the World, Tom Davis narrates a story about a girl named Adanna who lives in Swaziland. The girl has lost her parents to AIDS and fights for survival in an environment that is hostile for orphans. Her life intersects with Stuart Daniels, a photojournalist whose career has taken a turn for the worse. Stuart has been given a final chance to redeem himself in this assignment. Adanna’s and Stuart’s life intersect and both of their lives are forever changed.
In Tom’s novel there are scenes that will haunt you and make you sick to your stomach; scenes that will make you rejoice and bring tears to your life; scenes of redemption; scenes of God’s providence; scenes that will shake you up and make you want to take action. If Adanna’s story does not move you to compassion I don’t know what will. I don’t know what will. With the power of story Tom transforms mere statistics about orphans, AIDS, death, rape and gives them a face and a name. Even though Tom is writing a work of fiction he draws from real life experience where he serves as the CEO of Children’s HopeChest (www.HopeChest.org) a Christian-based child-advocacy organization.
One character in the book stands out to me especially - Pastor Walter from Swaziland. Adanna describes Pastor Walter as a changed man. She says, “Pastor Walter wasn’t always such a warm and gentle man. Years ago he was more like a painting of a person that looks good from far away but not so good when you get up close.” (120)
Adanna recalls that Pastor Walter scared her and that she was confused and disillusioned by his preaching. She remembers, “Pastor Walter talked about Jesus’ church – where everyone shared with everyone else. Not only food, but homes, money, everything.” (123) After Adanna listened to this sermon she approached pastor Walter and told him that she was hungry and needed some food. His spiritualized response to her concrete need is sickening:
‘Oh, that’s only a story, an example of how people are supposed to live.’ ‘You mean it’s not true?’ My lips tightened. I could feel the blood rushing out of my face. ‘Oh, it’s true, you just need faith to receive it.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Just believe! All things are possible to him who believes.’ ‘But I’ve believed all this time, and I’m still hungry.’ ‘God’s just testing you to see if you really trust him.’ He patted my shoulder again. And with that, he walked off. It was plain to me that day. He was just talking dry wind to all of us. (123-124)
Before his transformation Pastor Walter was not a compassionate man. For me this raises the question what compassion is? Surely it’s not what Pastor Walter did by “spiritualizing” away Adanna’s concrete need for food. We tend to think of ourselves as highly compassionate people. If anyone would tell me that I am not a compassionate person, I would be highly offended. I assume Pastor Walter in this story would think of himself as a compassionate person. After all he is working as a pastor of Adanna’s church. I am sure he thought of himself as a compassionate guy, but in the story comes a moment where he realizes that he has not been compassionate at all. In Adanna’s words, he realizes that, “He was just talking dry wind to all of us.”
But something happened to Pastor Walter in the story. One Sunday after the service after everyone has left there is a little boy lying next to the wall. Pastor Walter goes to him to wake him up.
Hey, boy! It’s time to go now. A church is no place to sleep. Boy do you hear me? What’s the matter with you, sleeping in God’s house like this?’ [….] He kicked at him gently with his foot, but the little boy wouldn’t wake up. So Pastor Walter started dragging him by the shirt toward the door. This wouldn’t have been too hard to do – Tlonge was so skinny. He was also completely filthy; he didn’t own a pair of shoes, and his clothes were nothing more than used rags. [….] Pastor Walter reached down with both hands to pick him up and escort him out the door. But then he froze. It must have been the touch of Tlonge’s skin that did it. Cold, clammy, like the outside of a banana skin. I know because I hugged him ager everyone left. ‘Tlonge? Tlonge? Wake up, boy. Oh, dear Jesus!’ Walter began to cry, slowly at first. He touched Tlonge, more tenderly now, feeling his neck and the side of his face. His sobs turned into gasping heaves as he caressed Tlonge in his arms and held him close to his chest. Pastor Walter cried like I have never seen a man cry in my life. It filled the whole church and poured out into the streets. From that day, Walter was a different man. He even looked different. His eyes and face were softer. He brought food from his house to share after every service, feeding as many children as he could. There were times when my only meal for the week came after those Sunday-morning services. Once in a while he even came to my home with a small meal for our family. It wasn’t much, he said, but it was all he had. I believed him. Tlonge’s death snapped something inside Pastor Walter that needed to be broken. This is the Pastor Walter whose arms embrace me now. (124-126)
Tlonge’s death changed Pastor Walter forever! He could not ignore the hunger and the need of his people any longer. About a year ago I had the realization that I am not as compassionate as I thought I was. I felt sorry for people. Yes, I had moments of compassion, but generally I was not as compassionate as I thought I was. This is an ugly realization.
Why is it difficult for us to be compassionate? We are taught our entire life to avoid pain. Compassion means entering into another person pain and sharing their burden. Identifying with a persons need, predicament and suffering and coming alongside them. Compassion takes time. Compassion is inconvenient. Compassion might cause emotional pain – your thoughts are occupied by this persons suffering and you have identified so deeply with that person that you can feel their pain. Compassion is costly. Feeling sorry is cheap. Compassion is sacrificial. Compassion starts when the Holy Spirit transforms our heart. Of course this does not mean that we can be compassionate about anyone and everything – we function in different roles in different relationships and situations. However, this functioning in different roles should not be used as an excuse.
Are you compassionate or do you feel sorry for people?
Do you let yourself be moved by the Adanna’s in our world?
Jesus, change my heart and fill it with compassion so that I may love like you have loved us. Amen!
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