Today we read in Leviticus 19:18 this: “you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”If this sounds familiar to you, it is probably because Jesus lifts this up verse from Leviticus as the second the greatest commandment ever given, which he says is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”
We are prone to ask, “Who is my neighbor?” just as the lawyer did when Jesus spoke these words to him. Jesus responds to that question with the story of the Good Samaritan…and the neighbor in that story turns out be someone completely different from us, a stranger, and even a natural enemy by race or religion.
Who might qualify as our natural enemies today, who are actually our neighbors? Muslims perhaps? People from other countries, especially countries where we are at war? People on the opposite side of the political fence from us?
And what if those very people move in next door and become our actual neighbors? Or what if they come to our church and become a part of our community here at St. Alban’s?
Well, let’s be clear: We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. It’s not easy, it’s even a little scary, but we are to do it anyway, because this is the way of the one who would follow God in Christ. Leviticus flushes out for us some of the tangible ways we would love our neighbor: we will make sure they have enough to eat if they are in need “You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.” We will not steal, lie, defraud, slander, be unjust, or show partiality. Interestingly, among the things we are to do includes “reproving” our neighbor…that’s tough love, not just the warm fuzzies. The list could go on, but making sure they have what they need to survive is up at the top.
About a year and a half ago I was approached by a Church in the North County that was seeking worship space on behalf of one of their church plants here in El Cajon, where a large body of mainline Christians from Iraq were gathering and growing. As I spoke with the young Anglo pastor who was assisting them, I learned that they had approached every church in El Cajon and that we were among the last they had asked. They had been turned down by every church to date. When I asked the pastor why no one was able to accommodate them, he said that it was a combination of reasons…like a lack of space, but also because they were from Iraq and most churches expressed a lot of discomfort about that. I responded by saying, “Yes, but these are Christian brothers and sisters, many of whom were driven out and persecuted because of their faith and viewed as American sympathizers in their own country.” “Nevertheless,” the pastor said, “no one wants them at their church.”
When I spoke to our Vestry about it, they agreed that we should be willing to open our doors to these Christians in El Cajon. And in that moment, that was an act of your Vestry to love our neighbors. While the group did find another, secular location to meet, they expressed gratitude that at least one church had been willing to say, “yes” to them in El Cajon.
Most of you know that we continue to assist refugees from all over the globe who have been sent here to El Cajon, primarily to those from Burma, but also people from the Sudan and Iraq. Many receive food and your monthly donation items every Tuesday morning from our wonderful refugee ministry volunteers, in conjunction with the Episcopal Refugee Network. One Tuesday morning, someone who works for the ERN, asked me a question with great concern in her eyes. She said, “Is it okay with you that others know that we are helping refugees from Iraq?” “Yes,” I said, “Why do you ask that?” “Because,” she said, “Someone from another church told me that we should keep that a secret because its’ not good PR, but I disagree with that.” At that point my jaw dropped. (And just to be clear, we will never keep a secret the fact that we are doing what Scripture and our Lord calls us to do in feeding the hungry in our community. I don’t care if it’s bad PR, Jesus didn’t care about that and neither will we.)
We here at St. Alban’s are one part of the larger global Christian community. We are all members of Christ’s Body and we are all God’s children, no matter where we come from. We are equal members as well, whether we are from Ireland or the Sudan, from England or Iraq, from Germany or Burma. And one of the things I truly value and treasure is that we are an open community to people of all cultures. I love looking out upon our community gathered on Sundays and seeing people from all over the world together, one in Christ. I pray that will always be true of St. Alban’s, where “everyone is equipped to share and celebrate God’s love” as our Mission states. That statement is hanging above the entrance to our church building and behind you overhead, as we exit the church, thanks to Dick and Jill Walter. What a tangible reminder!
Our seventh Christian practice in our “Guide to Christian Practices” is “engage in community.” What that means in this context, is to invest yourself in the people here in the St. Alban’s community. Be present to one another, that includes worship, but come and be a part of community events that go beyond worship as well… like our upcoming Pancake Supper, our Maundy Thursday agape meal, and our adult education opportunities like our Lenten Study. There are opportunities throughout the year. Fellowship is not a luxury of the church, it is a necessity to our health and well being, both spiritually and emotionally. We are called, as a community, to carry one another’s burdens and share each other’s joys: how can we do that if we opt out of the very opportunities to get to know one another more deeply?
Today we live in a very isolated and individualized culture in the US. We are more mobile than ever and many of us live far away from friends and family, we often don’t even know the people who live next door to us. While online communities offer some level of support, through things like Facebook and email listservs, we cannot substitute online community for real life person to person and face to face community. We need one another, our fellow brothers and sister in Christ.
Something I hope we will focus on in the coming year is to start small groups here at St. Alban’s. This will be yet another way to connect with one another and share more deeply in each other’s lives and to ultimately fulfill the call to love our neighbors as ourselves. I am grateful for all of you and for the gift of THIS community in Christ.
0 comments:
Post a Comment