Empathy is a strange and powerful thing. There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. It's simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting and communicating that incredibly healing message of, "You're not alone."
The Church confesses her timidity, her evasiveness, her dangerous concessions. ..She was silent when she should have cried out...she failed to speak the right word in the right way at the right time.
It seems to me that it is a minority that ever gets the true and full Gospel. We just keep worshiping Jesus and arguing over the exact right way to do it. The amazing thing is that Jesus never once says, "worship me!", but he often says, "follow me" (Matt.4:19)....