Dear Ones of St. C's, 

In the book, Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler, the main character, Lauren has hyper-empathy.  This means that she can literally feel other people’s pain and pleasure.  If someone has a headache she feels like she has a headache.  If someone is very happy, she can feel the happiness they feel.  In the world that Lauren lives in, there is a lot of pain and suffering, so having hyper-empathy can be a serious challenge, at times it can be paralyzing.

I can relate to Lauren’s hyper-empathy.    Today I had a conversation with Dr. Kimberly George.  A feminist scholar that Alissa and I have been being mentored by over the past year or two.  She was helping me prep the class on Parable of the Sower that will happen in October.  And we were talking about how empathy can be a superpower if it is harnessed correctly.  If we don’t let it overwhelm us or cut us off from our bodies. Empathy gives us the ability to put ourselves in others shoes, to remain humble, and to create hope with others as we see and understand each other's pain. All of these things that Jesus calls us to do. 

When this world is cruel, when I remember the suffering of the unhoused or those in Ukraine, or when our Sudanese brothers or sisters mention going to their homeland of South Sudan and say that they are afraid, it can feel like too much.  Sometimes I feel paralyzed and want to shut off my empathy.  But the question that is asked throughout Parable of the Sower and by Dr. George, is how do we stay open to possibility and hope, while being honest about our current reality, without disconnecting from our empathy.  

Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  This requires our empathy, this requires that we are in touch with ourselves and our neighbor, not dissociated or disconnected.  This is not easy work. How do we harness our empathy?  I think we have to get to know our limits around empathy and honor them.  To start to learn how much and how often you can bear listening to the news.  To start to be aware of the clue’s your body gives you before becoming overwhelmed and shutting off.  We need to create spaces of creativity, joy, and pleasure.  When we do this we will remind our bodies why we want to stay connected to empathy and that it is worth it for ourselves, for our neighbors, and for our love of God.  Because it is only in harnessing our empathy that we will have a clue on how to love our neighbors as ourselves.  I believe this is so much of our work as a church.

I hope you will join us in discussing Parable of the Sower in person on Oct. 9th at 10am and/or on zoom on Oct 12th and 19th at 7:30pm as we wrestle with the themes in this book and and how they can help us as we seek to live out our Christian faith today.

with hope, 

Meghan