Month of Compassion
Spare a thought for the needy
The month of August is observed in URCSA and the ecumenical church in South Africa, as the Month of Compassion. The church does not engage in acts of compassion during this month (and as an always integral part of its ministry), because we see it as just onother  project that we should do. The church shows compassion, because it is a command given to the church by God. Compassion is one of the defining characteristics of the Church.
In the Bible, compassion is a divine as well as a human quality. Compassion is expressed in concepts such as; have pity, have mercy. It has to do with sparing a thought for somebody or a situation. The prophets and other servants of God were deeply aware of the wonder of God’s mercy to sinful humanity. They taught that anyone who had experience this would feel it their duty to have compassion on his/her fellows, especially the fatherless, the widow, and the foreigner. There is no doubt from the frequent references in the book of Deuteronomy that God expected His people to show compassion not only to each other, but to foreigners who lived among them.
From the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10), it is clear that compassion is to be shown by His disciples to anyone who needs their help. Each and every person, no matter what color or creed, is the focus of Christian compassion. Compassion is expressed in deeds which may involve personal sacrifice.
It is about crossing over to other people’s world of need and suffering. To stand beside them in a manner that they experience we are there for them and with them. It is by crossing over into other peoples world of need and suffering, that we change their and our world and the world at large. 
Compassion is also about witnessing against the unjust conditions that make people suffer, needy and destitute. The best way that we as URCSA can do this, is to invoke our faith which speaks to us and the world, in the Belhar Confession “that the Church must therefore stand by people in any form of suffering and need, which implies, among other things, that the Church must witness against and strive against any form of injustice, so that justice may roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.”
As this year’s Month of Compassion lies before us, let us spare a thought in deeds of compassion for the homeless, unemployed, hungry, poor, those living with HIV/AIDS, the brokenhearted, and all the conditions that people find themselves in, that make life unbearable to live.