The Expansive Meaning of "Neighbor"

8 Pentecost, Cp10, July 10, 2016  

Deut. 30:9-14   Ps.25:3-9  

Col. 10:25-37  Luke 10:25-37 

Lectionary Link

  We as citizens of our world have had some heart wrenching events of death and dying dominate the news cycle.  Some events in our country and some overseas.  The Orlando night club shootings which targeted a group of LGBTQ people; the bombing in the Istanbul airport, the bombing of a restaurant in Dacca, Bangladesh, the deaths of almost 300 in ISIS bombings in Iraq, the deaths of two African American men in seeming routine law enforcement  interactions and the shooting and injury of police officers and bystanders after a peaceful rally in Dallas, Texas.  All lives are valued lives even though the apparent effects of the death of people are different for each of us.  We feel particularly moved in the death of members of the armed service and our police officers because these are people who have voluntarily signed up to put their lives on the line to protect the lives of other people.  And so we feel rather devastated when the lives of the officers who were protecting the rights of free speech had their lives taken and injured.
  Today, more than ever everyone in our world needs a lesson in the meaning of the word neighbor.  Killing others because they are anonymous people reveals a terrible pre-condition of the heart.   Killing people because of their race, their various personal identities, nationalities or occupation means that someone has dehumanized another person to the point of eliminating them from one's world. 
  Most people have not killed or thought about killing other people, but we are all tempted to "eliminate" people from our lives by just pretending that they don't exist or by complete neglect or passive aggression.
  The Gospel account is about an  encounter between Jesus and a lawyer.  "Jesus, what must I do for eternal life?  Love God and your neighbor.  But the lawyer wanted to quantify the meaning of the word neighbor?  The lawyer was really asking, "Jesus, who are the people whom I have to love in order to say that I have kept God's law?"
  Jesus answered him with a story.  The famous American story teller Garrison Keillor retired this past week.  In one of his books he wrote, "You get old and realize that there are no answers, just stories."  Jesus taught with stories, the ones we call parables.  And so we have the story of the Good Samaritan.
  The Good Samaritan story was a brilliant way to counter this debating lawyer.  The story is simply cleverly wise and hits us right between the eye, and Jesus does not even have to say, "Gotcha!"
  The rules states: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  With the Good Samaritan, Jesus was saying that You are the neighbor when you are treating everyone like your neighbor.  Who do I have to love Jesus?  No, you are the neighbor when you are doing the loving care.  Do you see how Jesus showed us that neighbor is both a passive and an active notion.  The lawyer wanted neighbor to be a very passive and limited notion.  "Well, Jesus, I will love the people whom I like but don't ask me to love the people whom I don't like or whom I don't associate with." 
  The Good Samaritan story also reveals the smallness and the ethnocentricities of our hearts.  What do we feel like when someone whom we do not like, does something wonderful and kind?    We get angry when our prejudices are exposed.  The Jews in the time of Jesus did not like the Samaritans.  So what did Jesus do?  He told a story to the Jews which had a natural enemy of the Jews play the role of the loving kind person.  And he used Jewish religious leaders as those who could not be inconvenienced to stop and help the man who had been robbed, beaten and left for dead.
  Whether one is Gentile, Jew, Samaritan, white, black, red or yellow, everyone is supposed to act neighborly and regard everyone as one's neighbor.
  Can we see how Jesus expanded the notion of being a neighbor from the passive to the active?
  We need this full notion of what it means to be a neighbor today.  You and I can sometimes be in the passive mode of being a neighbor.  We often need the kindness of friend and stranger in our lives.  And may God grant us friends and Good Samaritans in the times of our needs.
  The point of the parable of Jesus was this: the passive notion of neighbor is not enough.  All of us need to be active neighbors to anyone who needs us.  The reason we have embraced a path of spiritual transformation is so that our hearts can be expanded to be active neighbors when the opportunity arises.
  If I have fear, bias and prejudice against people which inhibit me from acting in a caring way, then I am not a neighbor as Jesus Christ defined neighbor.
  Ask not what my neighbors can do for us; let us ask what we can do as active neighbors toward all of the neighbors who come into our lives.
  Today, more than ever our world, our country, our neighborhoods need this Good Samaritan notion of neighbor.
  Let us ask God for the largesse of heart actively to be good neighbors today.  Amen.

Sunday School, July 10, 2016 8 Pentecost, C proper 10

Sunday School, July 10, 2016       8 Pentecost, C proper 10

Exploring the Theme of the Parable of the Good Samaritan

What is a neighbor?

Sometimes we think that neighbors are people who live close to each other.

Sometimes we think that neighbors are just the people who we feel familiar and comfortable with.

When Jesus said that we are to “love our neighbor as ourselves,”  a man asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  He was really asking Jesus, “Who am I required to love in order to please God.”

Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan to show a different meaning for “neighbor.”

Neighbors are not just people who live close to each other and are familiar with each other.  A neighbor is one who cares for anyone who is in need.

So a neighbor is doing and not just being.  This means we have to work in our lives to practice kindness all of the time so that we are always in good practice of being a neighbor.

Sermon

  What is a neighbor?

  Sometimes we use neighbor to mean only the people who live close to us.

  But sometimes people who live close to each other are not very friendly.

  Jesus told a story to help teach a young lawyer about the meaning of being a neighbor.

  One day a man was traveling to Jericho.  And he was attacked by robbers.  They hurt him and took all of his belongings and left him in the ditch.

  Two very important people, a priest and Levite saw the poor man in the ditch and but they did not stop to help him; they walked by because they thought that the man was dead.

  Then a man, a Samaritan, came and saw the man. (The Samaritan was a man who would not be liked by the lawyer).  The Samaritan nursed and cared for the man and carried him on his donkey to a place where he could heal.

  After Jesus told the story, he asked the lawyer.  Who was the neighbor?  And the lawyer answered, “The Samaritan, the one who showed care and mercy.

  Jesus taught an important message about the meaning of being a neighbor.

  A neighbor is not just someone who lives close to us.  A neighbor is you and I, and anybody when they show love and kindness and mercy to people who are in need.

  Today, we want God to make us good neighbors, because we want to be those who respond to people in need.

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

July 10,  2016: The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Gathering Songs: Kum Ba Yah, This Little Light of Mine, Seek Ye First, Praise Him

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and forever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Kum Ba Ya, (Christian Children’s Songbook  # 150)

Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah.  Kum ba yah, my Lord, kum ba yah.  Kum ba yah my Lord, kum ba yah.  O Lord, kum ba yah.

Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah.  Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah. Someone’s singing Lord, kum ba yah.   O Lord, kum ba yah.

Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah.  Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah. Someone’s loving Lord, kum ba yah.  O Lord, kum ba yah.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Liturgy Leader: In our prayers we first praise God, chanting the praise word: Alleluia

Litany of Praise: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors, when you obey the LORD your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 25

Show me your ways, O LORD, * and teach me your paths.

Lead me in your truth and teach me, * for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.

Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, * for they are from everlasting.

Liturgy Leader: I invite you to let us know what you are thankful for today

   As we thank God let us chant Thanks be to God

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God!  (Chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" He answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live." But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, `Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon –   

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Liturgy Leader: Next in our prayers, we remember people who have special needs.  As we pray let us chant:  Christ Have Mercy

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Song: This Little Light of Mine, (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 234)

This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.  This little light of mine, I am going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine.  Hide it under a bushel, No!  I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine.  Don’t let anyone blow it out, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine.  Shine all over my neighborhood, I’m going to let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned or said)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us a Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we gifts of bread and wine will be presented. We ask you to bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

We remember that on the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat the holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Song: Seek Ye First, (Blue Hymnal, # 711)

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you, allelu, alleluia. Refrain: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, allelu, alleluia.

Ask, and it shall be given unto you, seek, and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened unto you; Allelu, alleluia.    Refrain

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Praise Him, All Ye Little Children (Christian Children’s Songbook,  # 184)

Praise him, praise him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Praise him, praise him all ye little children, God is love.  God is love.

Love him, love him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Love him, love him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

Thank him, thank him, all ye little children, God is love, God is love.  Thank him, thank him all ye little children, God is love, God is love.

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ.

People: Thanks be to God! 

For Jesus, Neighbor is a Verb

8 Pentecost, Cp10, July 14, 2013   

Deut. 30:9-14   Ps.25:3-9  

Col. 10:25-37  Luke 10:25-37 

Lectionary Link

  Have you ever experienced in a time of need the kindness of strangers?

  In 1975, I decided to make my Journey East, to the walk the Razor’s Edge, in a Passage to India. (My apologies to Hermann Hesse, Somerset Maugham and E.M. Forrester whom I happen to be reading at the time).

I had gone through Afghanistan, Herat, Kandahar and Kabul (saw the Bamiyan Buddhas….the one destroyed by the Taliban).  I had passed through the Khyber Pass into Pakistan and then into the Punjab region of Northwest India; I spent several days in New Delhi before arriving in Agra.  One goes to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and it was all and more than I expected.  I also took day trips to Fatehpur Sikri to a complex built by the same dynasty and I returned to Agra in preparation to leave to go to the north through Darjeeling of tea fame, toward Nepal.   I left my hotel with my back pack in tow; got a ride on a rickshaw to the train station to wait for the train.  Sudden I was overtaken by fever and the worst feelings of nausea imaginable.  I decided to take on some fluids because the weather was hot and humid.  I purchased two bottles of orange Fanta and sat on a bench to wait for the train.  I weakened, so much so that I begin to lie on the bench.   And then I vomited; what a sight, here I was on an island train bench in an incredible large puddle of bright orange Fanta (I’ve never drunk an orange Fanta again in my life).   I had been struck by the infamous Delhi Belly.  Alone in a train station with thousands of unknown Indians.  Too weak to even get up and I knew I could not take the train.  As I lay there, my eyes were drawn to the area underneath the opposite train platform and what did I see?  It was teeming with rats.  How’s that for an image of helplessness?

  A young man saw my situation and asked me if I needed help.  I told him that I probably had a very bad case of amoebic dysentery and that I would need some medicine.  This young man from Calcutta, helped me get up and get into a rickshaw; he asked about a local doctor and took me to a local doctor who gave me some medicine.  This young man took me back to my hotel where I spent several days recovering.  I tried to give him some money for his trouble but he would not take it; after I insisted he finally took a few Rupees for his train fare back to Calcutta.

  The kindness of a stranger.  This is the parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus told when a young lawyer had recited to him the ancient summary of the Law: And love your neighbor as yourself.  The young lawyer interested in getting some legal qualifying information from Rabbi Jesus, asked a very dangerous question.  “And who is my neighbor?”

   Behind this question was really another question.  Who am I required to love?  The hated Romans?  The Samaritans?

  The lawyer was assuming like we often do a very limited meaning of the word “neighbor.”  Neighbor often means those who live closest to us in our immediate vicinity.  Neighbor is mostly used as a passive concept; we get designated as a neighbor because of where we live.  In the passive notion of neighbor we do not have to do anything to be designated as a neighbor.

  The parable of the Good Samaritan explodes the passive notion of being a neighbor.  And who is my neighbor? Wrong question. The question is: Am I a person who acts in a kind and neighborly way to the people who are brought into close proximity with me in my daily life?

  Jesus changes the word neighbor from being a noun into being a verb.  Yes, you are a neighbor by being in proximity to other people but neighbor is also a verb and let conjugate this verb.  I neighbor, you neighbor, he or she neighbors, we neighbor, they neighbor.  Past tense:  I neighbored.  We neighbored.  Future tense:  I will neighbor.  We will neighor.

  With the parable of the Good Samaritan (maybe that would be a good name for a hospital)  Jesus also expanded the meaning of being a good neighbor.  When is it the most difficult time to be a good neighbor?  When it is terribly inconvenient.  Exigent, arising emergencies are very inconvenient; they happen on no one’s schedules.  Accidents are not planned; they just happen and they are very inconvenient.

  The story of the Good Samaritan has the added dimension of the challenge of the inconvenient.  The notion of the suddenly random inconvenient event is the ultimate test of being a neighbor.  Ironically, people often are heroic in event of emergencies.  In fires, accidents, hurricanes, tornadoes, often people will be neighborly in heroic ways.

  Let us remember today the very dynamic notion of neighbor which we learn from the parable of the Good Samaritan.  The notion of neighbor is defined on a continuum of being a recipient of acts of compassion and empathy and being the one who performs acts of compassion and empathy.

  When you and I are in need of acts of kindness, we want to be regarded as neighbors. And we want someone to be an active neighbor towards us.  And we need to be ready to receive kindness from people who may not be our normal every day acquaintances.   And we too need to be active neighbors and be willing to respond in emergencies when it is inconvenient.  We need to know that anyone who is in need is our neighbor and respond accordingly.

  Let us learn from Jesus regarding this very expansive notion of neighbor.  Let us know that as disciples of Jesus we live today to have our hearts and lives be educated toward greater love and compassion.  Amen.