To Delight in One Another

 

            I read a recent transcript of the interview of the Jesuit, Greg Boyle, by Kristi Tippett.  Tippett does a masterful job of finding interesting people and eliciting some wonderful insights from these folks.  Greg Boyle never disappoints.  Boyle is well-known for his work with gangs in Los Angeles.  He has been doing it for some time now, so it is not a publicity stunt.  He is known for helping the Homeboy Industries project get started.  It is a gang rehabilitation effort and a means to reintegrate them into society.  He is the author of the book, Tattoos on the Heart.

            We get a sense of Boyle’s spirit in his answer to the question why he joined the Jesuits.  He said “they were always this combo burger of absolute hilarity and joy, and the most fun people to be around.  And they were prophetic.”  This would be good enough for me, too!  Who does not want to hang out with people who are hilarious, joyous and have fun!  No doubt, Boyle has been a good Jesuit.  When I think about the different religious orders within the Catholic Church, the Jesuits stand out for me.  I studied with many Jesuits when I was in grad school and had a few Jesuit faculty.  They are always intellectually top-notch and they are fun. 

            When Boyle was asked why he did what he did with the gangs in LA, his response was quick to say he did not go there to help them.  Instead, as the title of this inspirational piece suggests, he was called there to help all folks delight in one another.  This sounds so much more creative than merely helping.  It sounds more fun---potentially hilarious.  Interestingly, he says this delight in each other leads to a sense of kinship.  That actually is where this spiritual endeavor intends to go: to a sense of kinship and family.  I think Boyle sees himself as involved in the process of creating a big family of God.  We are more than neighbors; we are family. 

            Boyle chooses the image of family because of what he understands it delivers.  Family is ultimately mutual.  Mutuality does not necessarily mean we are all equal.  But we are mutual in our relationship with one another.  The mutuality may change as the people in relationship change.  My role in the family was very different as a boy than it was as a teenager and then as an adult.  Intriguingly, Boyle links this mutuality to his claim we are called to delight in one another.  He says, “…that’s where the place of delight is: that I’ve learned everything of value, really, in the last 25 years, from precisely the people who you think are on the receiving end of my gifts and talent and wisdom — but quite the opposite.  It’s mutual.”

            At one point Kristi Tippett asked about Boyle’s failures in his work there.  I loved his answer.  It reminds me of my work in the arena of innovation.  The first thing he claims is absolutely true: “anything worth doing is worth failing at…”  Too often folks let their fear of failure prevent them from even trying something.  It is hard to imagine this would be Jesus’ approach.  In fact, one could argue in one way, he and his mission were total failures.  He lost his life for a failed cause.  But from the perspective of faith, it was through his audacity to proclaim a new way, a whole religious transformation came forth. 

            I was most touched when Tippett moved the conversation to the topic of hope.  Interestingly, Boyle began to address this from the perspective of compassion.  He confesses in his work with the gangs, it was noteworthy the “measure of our compassion lies not in our service of those on the margins, but in our willingness to see ourselves in kinship.  And so that means the decided movement towards awe, and giant steps away from judgment.”  Moving from judgment to awe is an unexpected move for many of us who see ourselves as good Christians. Too many of us do judgment better than awe!

            Boyle asks a powerful question.  “So how can we seek a compassion that can stand in awe at what people have to carry, rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it?”  I know it will take me some time to learn how to seek this kind of compassion.  I believe I am in need of some spiritual refurbishing---some renovation.  This is to admit the gang members are not the only ones with a problem!  I realize I have more to learn about compassion.  When asked more about compassion, Boyle linked it to our idea of God.  He quips, “Well, if you presume that God is compassionate loving-kindness, that all we’re asked to do in the world is to be, in the world, who God is…”  What a powerful challenge it is to be asked to be in the world just like our sense of who God is. 

            Boyle wants us to move away from judgmentalism and “to be as spacious as you can be.”  I like the idea of spaciousness.  I believe this is who God is: one who provides space…and grace to be better not bitter.  There is our hope.  I realize some folks find it very difficult to hope.  They see little evidence for hope---no reason to hope.  This is not pessimism.  It is hopelessness.  And when someone has no basis for hope, anything is possible---literally anything. 

            Finally, it is helping each other learn to hope is basic to the spiritual life.  Indeed, the Spirit is hope.  For it is only in hope that we have any chance---or reason---to delight in one another.  No hope, no delight.