Compassion “Corps”
by Jan Bean
The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.
Lewis B. Ergen
No, it is not “core”, meaning what would be at the heart of compassion, or “corpse”, as some pronounce it (a less than lovely image!)… It is an unusual word with a silent “p” and a silent “s.” The choice of the word “corps” for our name was made after much deliberation, as we sought to capture the essentials of our identity in the fewest words possible.
Many of you know that I was a Latin teacher for 5 years, and that I have an insatiable delight of languages. I love words and especially love to study word origins and meanings. I taught my students that the Latin word, “corpus”, means “body”, and from it we get the derivative, “corps”, which is used as a military term. The Roman legions were renowned for employing specialized bodies of soldiers who, when working together in excellent precision advanced their empire over thousands of miles and hundreds of people groups. Our English word, “corps,” surely calls to mind the urgency and intentionality of military action. Enlisting a corps of devoted souls with the energy and drive of an army, intent on carrying good news of love and peace and hope along with substantiating deeds of compassion to those in great need would certainly be a worthy enough aim.
Equally important to us, though, is the inherent meaning of “corpus” as a “body”, in our case, a body of concerned individuals, a living and growing network of those who would purposefully join together to make a difference. Thus we aim to engage our “corp”orate body in the business of loving – in our case, loving the least loved in Northern Africa. Each member of our corpus is just as essential as the next; a head is only as good as it has hands and feet to fulfill its work, and a mouth to express its intentions, and a back to carry the burden of its conceived responsibilities.
Our “Amazing Grapes” event of this past fall is a perfect illustration of how our Corps functions healthily and effectively. Just look at many of our essential body parts in action:
Jason, willing hands doing hours of set up and take down & a willing voice to serve as emcee; Ruth, getting there early to use her eye for detail to see that all the jewelry was arranged well in the marketplace and all the tables were ready; Craig (my husband), shuttling seemingly endless boxes of crafts and supplies to Gap and allowing his living room to be “Amazing Grapes Central” for weeks in advance; Lois, Barry & Jared, using their artistic talents and voices to prepare the slide program about Mali and their generous hearts to provide the costs for the Alternative Gift Cards; Chris, inspiring us with his passionate heart to see water brought to West Africa and working tirelessly on the website to help be a cyber voice for our work; Marge (enlisting her sister), sewing up over a hundred little bags for the coffee promo effort as well as some of the tablecloths, and using her creative hands in other ways to help with last-minute decorating; Kathy, gifted with an artistic hand, writing out the lengthy menu on our dinner board and adding finishing touches to each table; Alison, a master scrapbooker, lending her talents to preparing some of the country displays and helping Ruth & Cassie get all of the crafts inventoried; Deborah, enlisting her entire small group to help cut out the fabric for our tablecloths & do some tedious prep work; Chip & Trudy, showing their servant’s hearts as they assembled countless tags & labels on 200 water bottles for the West Africa fundraiser; Carla, gracing our event with a warm smile and welcoming greeting at the door for each person who arrived; Rita, Laura & Karen, creating all of the pretty centerpieces by working the grapevine and fruit with their creative hands; Mark, Ben and Matt, bringing the authentic sounds of Africa to us as they played their djembes and rallied our hearts; Al & Beth, helping behind the scenes to direct guests out in the parking area; Janet, Laurie D. & Kate, donating “think time” as we brainstormed the event details in advance; Dianna, Ellen, Mark M., Joe, Sara, Suzanne, Ed, Lori, Wes and many of the folks above, jumping in to help set up, make or serve tea, serve food or beverages, clean or pack up…so many hands and so much joyful service; Ed & Sarah, laboring in the kitchen making unique dishes at an amazing discount; Tim & Melissa, donating the use of their beautiful greenhouse & grounds; BJ, Sheila & Alex, giving of their time and energy to drive from NYC to bring us challenging messages; 12 generous table sponsors, enabling 125 people to be blessed by the event & hopefully inspired into action; and then there was Beth, at the heart of things, organizing and laboring on everything from the crafts to the decorations, to the set up, to the alternative gifts, to the slide presentations…
What a team! Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” What a privilege to be one part of a body of ordinary people making an extraordinary impact!
Carpe diem, Corpus Compatiens!