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JoAnne Terrell



Reflections
by JoAnne Terrell

Biography
JoAnne Terrell is an associate Professor of Ethics and Theology at Chicago Theological Seminary. Professor Terrell is also an ordained elder in the Michigan Annual Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.

 
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Reflection: Compassion - PG# 5413 (2010/2011)
by JoAnne Terrell

Compassion is a gift we make of ourselves when we witness suffering.  Literally, “suffering with,” compassion requires availability of Spirit, and open eyes to see personal, private pain, as in sickness or heartache and corporate, public misery, as in economic collapse or war. Yet it is not enough to witness suffering without possessing and even being possessed by the will to act on behalf of our neighbors, human and non-human, who are suffering right now displacement, hunger, thirst, death; through benign neglect and systemic causes; natural disasters; tragedies; sometimes, seemingly without rhyme or reason.

Opportunities abound both to suffer and to suffer with. Receiving compassion from those who love us, who make gifts of themselves to us, we persist in hope.  To love is to be compassionate—to suffer with and offer hope—when we come face to face with pain.  God is love.  Every call to compassionate action is thus a call for the surrender, not merely of things, but to God, the Spirit of Love. Possessed of this Spirit, it is impossible to be in want or become weary in well-doing. Possessed of this Spirit, it is possible to become change agents, gifts to our suffering world.

 

Reflection: Peace - PG# 5401 (2010/2011)
by JoAnne Terrell

“And a peace came over me…” I’ve often heard peace described this way, as a sudden occurrence to one’s mind triggered by a thoughtful word or a kind act that then becomes a life-changing event. Yearning for peace, the “desire of all nations,” the planet is nonetheless besieged by what author Bell Hooks calls the “killing rage.” This virus is felt globally, in wars and rumors of wars; nationally, in the up tick of domestic homicides, and locally in gang warfare that recently claimed the lives of over fifty people in a single weekend. What will it take for peace to come over us?  

The killing rage took my mother’s life when I was a teenager and almost claimed mine. I was a recent college graduate and a committed Christian. My mother’s murderer had been released and happened to jaywalk in front of my car. Instead of yielding to him, I sped up! By some miracle, I pulled over shaking, sweating, heart pounding—classic symptoms of a viral infection.  My wise aunt told me, “You think because you are a Christian, you have to love him. God loves him enough for you.” Her words helped me see that my enemy and I both need God’s amazing grace continuously. And a peace came over me!    


  
 
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