A book group is currently gathering after service on Sundays in the church library to listen to/read and discuss Karen Armstrong’s new book, “Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life.” All are welcome. Ms. Armstrong is a British Author with a degree from Oxford and has written over 20 books on religion including several on the world’s major faiths. The desire to be compassionate resides in all of us; Karen Armstrong spells out the steps. She claims that all of us, regardless our faith tradition, have developed our own version of The Golden Rule, “Do on to others as you would have them do on to you,” and that we all need to work on ways to cultivate and expand our capacity to be a more compassionate person in our every-day lives. The Charter for Compassion is her latest interfaith effort to promote these principles. The charter is guided by the Council of Sages, a multi-faith, multi-national group of religious thinkers and leaders; it can be viewed at http://www.charterforcompassion.org. Over 68,017 have affirmed the Charter so far.