Dear St. John’s community,
Jesus said to the people, love your neighbor as yourself. But then came the question from a lawyer who wanted to test him: “Who is my neighbor?”
In answering, Jesus gave a teaching that is as beloved as it is challenging. It is the story of “the
good Samaritan” (Luke 10:25-37).
Why is this a challenging teaching?
First of all, Jesus requires us to examine our view of “the other.” There was no group more mistrusted or hated by Jews than Samaritans, and yet a Samaritan is the hero of this story. To Jesus' audience, it was absolutely scandalous! (To get the idea, imagine whatever group you mistrust the most right now, and imagine Jesus speaking to you about a person from that group being “good.”) The point is, our concept of who
could
be a neighbor to us is usually too small. This is a great message for anytime, but especially now for a world as divided as we have become.
But there is another level to this teaching, which is that being a neighbor is about how we treat one another. Most people think of a neighbor as being defined as someone who lives in the same neighborhood as someone else. Jesus’ point is that proximity alone does not make you a neighbor to another person; how you treat them does.
How you treat them flows from how you love them. And so the teaching goes full circle. Loving God and loving your neighbor is inextricably linked, and together they are the greatest commandment.
We have a diverse church at St. John’s, thanks be to God! That means that there are a lot of different experiences represented among our own community. We at our best have practiced being a neighbor to one another within St. John’s. I have seen it with my own eyes, where compassion, love, honesty and true friendship have been shared by people with very different life experiences (let alone political beliefs). There is a grace in this way of being, which is one of the spiritual gifts that blesses us.
I also see that in a larger sense, we’re being given the chance as a church to be a neighbor to people in our city and beyond who are crying out because of seemingly unending experiences encountering racism, including violence, injustice and economic inequality.
Battling racism is a tall order, but it gives focus and mission when we think of this work as neighborly work!
Neighbors show up for one another. Neighbors listen. Neighbors act. In this way, neighbors love.
As you hopefully know, we have begun internal work as a parish on racial healing. Already, we are seeing a deepening sense of understanding and love growing out of these conversations, and there is good work for us ahead.
This foundational work is not the end point of course. We are also called to take this outside of ourselves, because there will be actions that we can take to bring healing as well as justice, all for the sake of loving one another as neighbors in the name of God.
I truly believe that the core of this work is not political work, but kingdom work.
I pray for God to guide our discernment especially in this particular moment when we find ourselves in the middle of heated and complicated times.
God will show us a way. Being there for our neighbors when they are in need is not just good—it is salvific! It is life-giving, and part of God’s work for bringing
shalom
, which means not just peace but wholeness and healing. I pray that in the words of St. Francis we as individuals—and St. John's as a community of faithful people—will be used as an instrument of God's peace on earth.
Faithfully,
Rob+
