For the second Sunday after Pentecost, Rev. Cari preached on a series of moments, from Matthew’s gospel, in which Jesus was repeatedly interrupted. The text was Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26, and she invited the listener to consider their own response to being interrupted. She also framed the whole text with Jesus’ quote from Hosea 6:6 – “I desire compassion, not sacrifices.”

She then moved to the difference between empathy and compassion, according to the researcher Dr. Tania Singer, and invited the congregation into a practice of compassion with “perspective taking” like Jesus’ in this text.

Finally, she identified that Jesus even uses interruptions to reveal patterns that bring harm. Jesus uses compassion to bring about healing.

(Little did Rev. Cari know, at the end of the service, she was about to get interrupted, herself, by a surprise celebration of her 25th anniversary of ordination!)