The Unseen Life, Part 26

Compassion is a central Christian trait as it reflects God’s own defining character. In the Old Testament, God reveals himself as compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and truth (Ex 34:6; Ps 103: 13; Ps 145: 8-9; Lam 3: 22-23). This divine compassion extends to the whole human race in both temporal care and eternal salvation. In the Gospels, Jesus is repeatedly moved with compassion for the sick, the hungry, and the lost, responding by healing, feeding, and teaching them (Matt 9:36; Matt 15: 32; Mark 6:34). His parables, especially the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, portray compassionate action as the true fulfilment of love of neighbour and the revelation of the Father’s heart. It is not just feeling sorry for someone, but a movement of the heart that leads to concrete, self-giving action for the good of the other. Compassion, therefore, is a virtue that images God, expresses faith, and works through love in our consistent daily relations with others (Eph 4:32; Col 3: 12-13; 2Cor 1: 3-4). In this sense, compassion is a habit of active mercy, ordered toward justice and the neighbour’s flourishing. 
 
Nevertheless, it is not surprising to encounter the cut-and-thrust of social interactions, especially among business circles, where compassion and grace are grossly lacking. Unfortunately, this attitude has seeped into church life, when we overlook the intrinsic factor of believers as part of the Body of Christ (c.f., 1 Cor 12: 12-27); where literarily, the Christ in me is the Christ in you! Our dealings with each other in Christ have profound repercussions impacting our testimony to the material and spiritual realms. However, this side of heaven, the church on earth is never perfect, populated by fallen but ‘saved’ beings, who are themselves work-in-progress and still being moulded by His Holy Spirit to be like our Saviour and Lord. Hence, relationships among believers are far from flawless. Besides, it is always a temptation to emulate and prefer man rather than God; which remains a grave human failing. Nevertheless, we ought to look to our Lord Jesus as our exemplar (c.f., Heb 12:2), thereby relating with each other as we relate to Christ. 
 
As the church-wide human resource cost-cutting measure was announced one morning, a pall of silence fell over the staff gathering – you could literally hear a pin drop! Sitting at the back of the room, a former civil service high flyer who became a pastor, turned around and presciently whispered, “Gerald, I have no confidence in the leadership to appropriately carry out this retrenchment exercise.” As the briefing ended, my immediate thought was, “Lord, what are all these faithful and diligent workers thinking and feeling with Damocles’ sword dangling over their heads?” Suddenly and unexpectantly, I felt ‘a knife plunged into my back.’ The pain was excruciating! I choked and teared instantaneously; quickly leaving the room. One of the pastors closest to me, followed me, and we found an empty meeting room. I sat down and wept until the pain subsided. A wanton sense of betrayal lingered on throughout the week. 
 
During the next month, dozens of pastoral staff (including a few who were recently ordained) were summarily dismissed; they were made to submit their resignations. At least one person, I knew, was forced to backdate his resignation letter. Retrenchment benefits were, therefore, never mooted. No follow-up supportive guidance or advice were offered by the leadership or the personnel department. Some of those who continued to attend services were treated as non-persons! It was an indictment on the lack of Christian compassion and grace by a church. 
 
On the quiet, I spent the next agonising months following-up with a handful of those who had left. It was unprecedented for me to give in to a difficult task at hand, but these personnel firings, and their repercussions down the line, distressed me intensely. Attempts to provide feedback to senior leadership on the outcome of the downsizing exercise  were rebuffed. I was instructed to keep quiet! Twelve months later, unable to turn a blind eye to what had happened, a concluding conversation began: “Lord, I cannot bear to be in this environment much longer. Its taking an incalculable toll on my mental health. Am I allowed to leave this behind and move on?” Straightaway, He replied: “Go ahead Gerald. In three days’ time, I have another job lined up for you.” After ten years of service, I put in my notice. In this church today, the whole leadership personnel have changed.
 
Three days after I left, I was contacted by another large church for an interview. It was a difficult dialogue, as the two senior pastors knew each other well. Unknown to me at the time, there was a more qualified candidate from my previous church, applying for the same position. A day after the interview, I was offered the job as a senior counsellor. It was with much joy that I served in this church for the next ten years as God’s continuing grace and wisdom enabled me to hone my knowledge and skills in managing patients suffering from schizophrenia, dissociation, trauma and other clinical issues.