Be Still And Know

Luke 10:33-34 NLT  'Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.' Compassion is to feel pity for someone else. It means to experience similar emotions as the sufferer does, to suffer alongside them. And here the Samaritan, with little thought for his own safety, is moved by compassion and tends the wounds of the man beaten by robbers with olive oil, the symbol of healing and mercy.   When the coronavirus arrived there was palpable panic across the nation. But we cannot eradicate the element of risk from our lives. Sometimes the process of seeking to limit risk comes at the cost of practical social support for one another. While I can always present a case why I cannot get involved, as is clear from the priest and the Temple assistant who passed the Samaritan by, in God’s kingdom ‘the