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| Image by Yuga Kurita |
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Torso
A GREETING
Answer me, O Lord,
for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
(Psalm 69:16)
A READING
As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.
(Mark 6:34)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Even the sparrow finds a home
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts.
(Psalm 84:3)
A REFLECTION/POEM/PRAYER
Come here, little sparrow —
you too
need a place to rest.
- Haiku by Issa, found in
Issa: Cup-Of-Tea Poems : Selected Haiku of Kobayashi Issa
VERSE OF THE DAY
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life.
(Psalm 23:6a)
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| "Sad Color," by Ayana Otake (2017) Otake's work takes its inspiration from kimono design. She is inspired by the beauty and the harmony of the decorative lines which gives her energy as an artist. Each painting takes almost a week to complete: the process involves working directly on silk, with paper and other media playing a roles. She intentionally paints so that it is impossible to determine which era and/or stage of life the figure is in. The kimono is worn over the entire body, but folds over in front on the torso. For more, see this interview. How does what we wear express how we feel about our body, how we know who we are? |
The torso of the human Jesus holds his "inmost parts," a critical aspect of the first-century understanding of the body. The inmost parts include essential organs like liver and bowels and spleen - and in women, the womb. It is in this part of the body, that the ancient people believed that all feeling began.
The word translated in today's reading as "compassion" actually means "inmost parts." The bowels, a part of the body we don't often bring into theological conversation, was considered to be the actual seat of compassion. It might help us to widen the area to include the gut and especially the womb. In Hebrew, the word for "mercy" and "compassion" is the same as the word for "womb." But here in Greek we are definitely talking about the whole lower part of the torso, where food becomes nourishment, where bodies hold new life. The text from Mark comes just before the feeding of the five thousand: Jesus sees the followers who have been with him for days and is stirred to compassion. He might actually feel hunger on their behalf.
This word for "compassion" appears in many significant stories of the gospels. It is in the critical decision of the Good Samaritan and the welcoming stance of the father of the Prodigal Son. It is a compassion that is radical, that bypasses the obstacles that the brain wants to put up. It is the compassion that we most want to resist. The Samaritan has compassion despite his social situation. The father has compassion for the prodigal son despite all he has squandered. There are other kinds of compassion as well: in the Jerusalem temple, if a sparrow could manage to build a nest in the very altar where birds were ritually sacrificed, it was given its life.
Where do you locate your compassion physically in your body? Where do you most feel it?
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| Image by Mark Wordy |
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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.
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LC† From Dust, Still Holy is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work.
Thank you and peace be with you!