Sunday Inspiration: Operation Inasmuch
After reading my latest novel, The Color of Light, one of my readers sent me the link to an organization called Operation Inasmuch. Their name comes from these words from Jesus: “In as much as you did it for the least of these, you did it for me.” The reader believed this group was in the spirit of my heroine Analiese Wagner, the minister of an Asheville congregation that struggles with how to help a homeless family.
Calling themselves a compassion revolution, Operation Inasmuch trains faith communities to effectively reach out to those who are suffering from lack of resources and support. They work with people from a wide variety of congregations, believing that denominations should unite us in compassion and not divide us in fear.
Several years ago I traveled to Guatemala to connect with the Mayan community there that was devastated by a civil war. I especially appreciated a project that brought several congregations together to prepare and ship 250,000 meals for the poor of Guatemala. They have also fed the hungry in our own country and have given assistance to countless people who needed a helping hand.
I always find it inspirational when people work together to practice compassion not for any reward for themselves but simply to be loving human beings. In the words of Albert Schweitzer, “The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”
What would you like to do for the compassion revolution? Do you have a project that would mean something special to you? Do you know a church like one of these that is working to bring justice to your community? So many are. I salute each and every one of them.