A Christmas message from the Pope, a N. Hollywood pastor, and me. There's no on/off switch for empathy. By Hal M. Brown

Midnight Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica was standing-room-only — and thousands stood outside in the cold rain. Before the liturgy began, Pope Leo stepped away from the altar and walked into the square to greet them. (Reference). We know that the Pope has voiced his concern for how migrants are being mistreated, in some cases brutalized, both in the United States and elsewhere.

The Rev. Jonathan B. Hall is senior pastor of the First Christian Church of North Hollywood. He writes about empathy in The Religion News Service:

Excerpt:

“There is a quieter, graver danger that does not wait for December and does not end when the lights come down: Taking the Christ out of Christian.That happens whenever we subtract empathy from discipleship, whenever the self narrows our field of vision until we can no longer see the plight of our neighbor.”

Empathy is the pulse of the Christian, argued Hall. And to call it a sin is to “confuse the selfishness of self with the self-giving love of Jesus.”

Here it is Christmas Day when millions celebrate the birth of Jesus, and there’s supposed to be, not only glory to God, peace on Earth, but crucially, goodwill towards humankind. What does this mean? I asked ChatGTP:

“Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men” is a phrase from the Bible, specifically Luke 2:14, which celebrates the birth of Jesus and emphasizes the hope for peace and goodwill among humanity. It reflects the message of Christmas, highlighting the importance of harmony and kindness in our relationships with others.

Harmony and kindness requires empathy. It means that each and every person has to put themselves in the place of others, to experience a sense of how they feel, and to care about how they feel. Here’s the leap. Just experiencing the feeling briefly isn’t enough. They have to actually care.

Caring is what is tragically missing in far too many people. It is too easy to have a fleeting sense of empathy and push it aside.

They may think “oh, sure the people on the boats Trump is blowing up aren’t hardened ruthless drug trafficking criminals, they are really poor fisherman trying to cobble together a living risking their lives working for the real criminals. But who the hell cares? They knew the risks when they accepted the job.”

Besides, they have a president they revere who is telling them not to care.

Trump took one of Ronald Reagan’s slogans, “Make America Great Again,” turned the letters into a word which was really brilliant marketing, then turned it into a movement. That word is an understatment. He made MAGA a juggernaut.

What this really means is making America into a country where the favored group is great and, as individuals, they have no empathy for and do not give a hoot about the plight of those not fortunate enough to be in their domain of privilege.

Far worse than this is that they define those outside of their world as enemies, and in some instances, support their being banished, brutalized, or both.

These people may have their own Christmas trees with families happily unwrapping presents today, but for others they have set their trees on fire.

As if it could be worse, they hold the reins of power and aspire to control the fire departments.

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