When our friends are hurting, it’s hard to know what to do or to say. We are often left feeling helpless and useless when we can’t fix our loved one’s hurt. How does one empathize in ways that can truly help our friends or even ourselves when life brings us to our knees?
Rev. Karon Sandberg
Empathy is more than sympathy, it involves a deeper understanding of, and even the ability to anticipate the feelings of another person. There are two kinds of religion, the personal piety sort whose goal is to avoid punishment and attain reward, and the empathic journey of faith that seeks to be a blessing to others, even those who are not yet born. Maybe there is really only one kind of religion because, as this sermon argues, religion without empathy is really just self-service with rituals.