Who Is My Neighbor? and What Happened to the Neighborhood?

I have concluded that for far too long now, we Christians have not been doing church very well.

Leviticus 19:18
Luke 10:25-37

So, it’s a trick question.
Luke tells us at the beginning that it’s a set up.

But it’s a universal question, wouldn’t you say?
It’s a question every single one of us wants to ask – and probably has asked at some time or another:

What do I have to do to have eternal life?

Of course, it didn’t matter to Jesus whether it was a trick question or not.
Luke saw it as opportunity for another Jesus parable.

To the questioner (and to us) Jesus asks,
What does our scripture say?
What is written in the sacred documents?
What does our faith say about what you have to do?

Well, the questioner knew the answer to this.
He knew his catechism well.
As a good faithful card-carrying member of the faith community, he had this drilled into him from as early as he could remember:
The Shema: the daily prayer repeated several times each day – not only the prayer, but also a commandment, really.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind”.
And, what is considered to be the great commandment of Moses:
love your neighbor as yourself.

Then Jesus could reply, “Right you are! Do these two things and you will live forever.”

Now he could have stopped there.
Trick question answered.
There could be no argument with that response.
That’s what the catechism said.
That’s what all good Jews believed.
That’s what guided their moral life.

But Luke wants to share a parable with us.

Now, parables are not sermon illustrations –
they are not words of wisdom or prophetic proverbs to use as guides for life-decisions,
no parables are a specific form of story Jesus used to redefine common wisdom –
to turn the tables on what everyone valued –
to overturn common ideas about the real world and how life should be lived.
Parables were like jokes in a way – they had punch lines that followed a logical set-up that always left the listener saying “What?” – or words to that affect.

When Jesus told the questioner to do these two things and he would have eternal life,
the questioner was taken back somewhat.
There has to be more to it than that.
So, just who is my neighbor?

And that’s when Jesus told the story –
the story that is probably the most familiar of all the stories in history.

One researcher found in a survey that nearly half of the people interviewed said they would be able to tell the story of the Good Samaritan if asked to do so.
Among those who attended religious services every week, the proportion who thought they could tell the story rose to nearly 70% percent.

Even if you don’t get all the details right, you know the story.

But whether or not one could accurately retell this parable, the concept of the "Good Samaritan" is familiar enough to everyone.
We name hospitals,
churches,
institutions of mercy,
even legislation in his honor.

But, you know, the listeners to this parable in Jesus’ day are not that different from you and me.
They weren’t sure where Jesus was going with this story.
Who is my neighbor?, the questioner asked.

And Jesus answered with this story.

Now, all of listeners would know what Jesus was talking about:
the traveler was going from Jerusalem to Jericho – obviously he was one of them – a fellow Jew, a tribal member, a neighbor, if you will.

And they knew that road to be unsafe at any speed at any time of day or night – and doubly so if traveling alone.
Robbers were a fact of life there.
So this part of the story was to be expected.

Now along come, in succession, a priest and a Levite.

A priest is a leader of the community.
In that theocratic society a priest is the highest office you can hold.
A priest is the steward of the religious tradition of the Jews, including the moral law.

A Levite was a member of the most religious family in Israel.

If anyone would know what to do morally in that situation,
if anyone had a reputation for righteousness, it would be a Levite.

The expectation, you see, of anyone hearing the parable was that if anyone would stop to help the poor guy in the ditch,
it would be either a priest or a Levite.

But they didn't.
Jesus said, they pass by the man in the ditch.

You would expect the audience at that point to get a little nervous.
I mean, priests and Levites were held up as moral examples in that society.
If this parable were simply an illustration of the decent thing to do,
then these two exemplars of morality would stop and help.
They knew the law.
The law is in Leviticus.
Everybody knew it.
You "love your neighbor as yourself."

And what's more, they all knew what that word "neighbor" meant.

Your neighbor was a fellow countryman.
Your neighbor was a fellow Jew.
The man in the ditch is a Jew.
The priest and the Levite are Jews.
So the expectation of the audience was they would stop and help the neighbor.
But they don't stop.

Jesus isn't taking us where everybody expected.

What is Jesus up to?
Here it comes.
"But a Samaritan, while traveling, came near him."

Now let me tell you what the expectation would be if you were a Jew.
The Samaritan is going to finish off this poor guy lying in the ditch.
That's the kind of people Samaritans were, as far as the Jew was concerned.
Samaritans were identified as the enemy.
There was a saying in those days, "Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."
Everybody knew this.
You just ask anyone.
Samaritans are immoral, unprincipled, opportunistic, mercenary, rapacious and violent. You would never trust a Samaritan.
If you had been robbed and wounded, lying by the side of the road, and along came a Samaritan, you better start saying your prayers.
That was the expectation about Samaritans.

But Jesus moves the story along.
Look what happens.
"When the Samaritan saw him, he was moved with pity, and went to him and dressed his wounds, after he had poured oil and wine on them.
Then he put him on his own animal and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
The next day he came back and paid the innkeeper two denarii, and said, 'I'll be back here the next time I am in town just in case there are anymore expenses for taking care of this man.'"

There it is.

For his listeners Jesus is redefining the word neighbor.
They knew they were to love their neighbor.
And they knew who their neighbors were:
those who lived nearby,
those they saw in the temple,
those who came to their family celebrations,
theirs friends,
their family.
But Jesus said that’s not enough.

Jesus said that anyone who showed mercy to another was a neighbor –
it didn’t matter where he lived,
it didn’t matter who his folks were,
it didn’t matter what he believed,
it didn’t matter what his background was,
it didn’t matter what his history had been –
if he responds with mercy to one in need, he is a neighbor.

(Of course Luke comes back to this theme in the 25th chapter with his parable of sheep and the goats).

Jesus redefines what neighbor means.

I have thought of this parable many many times over the past few years as I have looked for meaning in what was happening here at this church.

I have concluded that for far too long now, we Christians have not been doing church very well.
For far too long the only we know of doing church is by neighborhood.
A church is located in a particular place and the folks that live around it are neighbors –
sometimes we call it a parish, or a kirk.
But churches are defined by and judged by how well they minister to their neighbors in the neighborhood.

Particularly, I think we are blessed by those who live near by so they can walk to church –
there are some –
some are older and some are younger with families.
And there are some who live a little further away so they have to drive – but still close enough to be at the fringes of a traditional definition of neighborhood.

But then, there are others – usually nearly half of those in the room – who drive many miles – past many many other churches – to worship here and be a part of our ministry.

The question is a good one:
who are our neighbors?
And what happened to our neighborhood.

This is the question Jesus took on in this parable and concluded that a neighbor was one who acted on his or her faith –
who showed mercy to another .
And as we have demonstrated here,
our neighborhood is a gathering of those who believe that their faith informs their lives and try to live as though it mattered.

It has become common practice for many school districts to define certain schools as “magnate” schools – schools that serve a particular purpose rather than a particular residential neighborhood.

With no planning or forethought, our church has become a magnate church in a way.
And I can’t help but think that in a way,
any future vision for what this church could be in the years to come would have to embrace this kind of thinking and be purposeful in developing ways for that to happen more often.

And the more I learn about what is happening
on-line with facebook and twitter and the internet,
and how the so-called social networks influence and encourage and abet people and the spread of ideas and actions,
we are called to once again redefine our idea of neighbor and neighborhood.

And whatever dream and vision we put together will have to embrace this new reality –
and a new definition of neighbor and neighborhood.

Right now this very day this church means many things to many folks.
But it seems to be every one of us sees it as place we can come to express our alignment with the Lord’s work –
to express our allegiance to the Lord –
and to work out ways to express our faith by the way we life.
First and foremost our church is a fellowship of followers of Christ.

I believe the hymn is right on:
who is my neighbor?
Where is my neighborhood?
Were there is caring,
where there is sharing,
where there is welcome. . .

For as we are told later by Luke:
where these things take place,
where caring and sharing and welcoming happen,
like a good neighbor, Jesus is there.

'Love your neighbor as you love yourself,"
we affirm.
When Jesus asks who is your neighbor?
Remember the answer:
"The one who showed mercy."


Remember to pray for your church in the days ahead.

Amen.

This sermon was a part of the worship service of the congregation of Christ Presbyterian Church, in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, February 26, 2011.

Vision 2012: Underpinnings of A New Vision for Being Church

One of the major underpinnings of emerging church visions should be, it seems to me, is to be Christian.
That is to say, to see others as Jesus saw them,
and to do what Jesus did.


It seems to be an almost universal descriptor of the time to come just before things get better:
a time when the old folks will dream dreams, and the young folks will see visions.

In 1926 there were a lot of folks dreaming dreams and envisioning a new church here in Drexel Hill –
there were the men in the Presbytery who envisioned and built this very building in which we gather today – at a time when Drexel Hill was largely vacant lots and unpaved roads;
and there was the minister who was charged with gathering a congregation to worship here;
and there were the forward-thinking people who wanted to be a part of this new way being church in a suburban neighborhood.
They all were driven by their dreams and energized by their vision of what this church could and should be.

Of course even before that there was the vision of the early settlers who came to these parts from Scotland and Ireland in the 1700's.
As they established new lives for themselves and their families here they felt a need for churches – churches like they had back home,
churches that had educated ministers that could help them find aspects of the faith that would help them cope with the new realities of their new lives in the new world.

And there was the vision of the ministers who came here from Scotland – being sent as “missionaries” charged with the purpose of starting churches among the folks that were here.
The reality they found upon their arrival here was so different from their experience back home, that they were driven by dreams and vision of what could and should be.

And, I spoke of the changing reality this church had to deal with throughout the 84 years of its ministry here:
a changing reality some of you may be able to actually speak to, but all of you would be able to relate to.

The excitement and energy that enveloped the folks here during the first few years of ministry could only be described as enthusiastic – enthusiastic: a word that literally means God-filled.

Things were going great.
The new homes were being built.
People were moving in.
The church was growing.
The church provided ministries to the community that were needed and wanted.

And then, within three years, everything changed.
The bottom fell out of the economy.
No one was unaffected.
No community was unaffected.
No church was unaffected.
Construction of the new homes stopped.
People were out of work.
Lives were interrupted.
And the people of the church here were forced to revision its hopes and dreams,
to reinvent itself to a new reality.

And then, by 1940, as construction started picking up again, people started working again, things were beginning to look much differently for the folks in Drexel Hill.

This room could no longer hold all the people that were wanting to be a part of this church.
All kinds of creative ways were designed to utilize the space for the maximum benefit for the most people.
And plans were made to construct a new building with a sanctuary large enough to hold several hundred people at one time.
A campaign was undertaken to raise the funds to construct such a building,
and by 1941 construction had started and hopes and dreams abounded as the whole community watched the holes dug, the foundation laid, and the walls started.

And then the war broke out.

Reality changed again.

It was a time for new dreams and new visions of what this church was to be and to do during these new times of war.

Construction stopped.

New ministries were started.
The church saw itself in a new way during those years.

And it didn’t take long for new vision to arise of the need to finish the construction of the building because the soldiers and their families would be needing what this church could offer when the war was over.

A similar revisioning and repurposing happened in the early 1950's as the folks here wanted to better serve all of the children and families that were in need of what the church could offer to them.
And a new building was funded and built.

It seems that revisioning and repurposing was an ongoing part of the ministry of the folks at this church.
Conversations were held with every Presbyterian congregation within two or three miles of here to encourage thoughts of new ways of doing ministry with possibilities of combining efforts and begin to dream dreams of new ways of being church.

A crisis occurred in 1989 that precipitated another revisioning of how ministry could be done here.

I vividly remember being interviewed at that time and listening to representatives from the congregation and the Presbytery telling me that there were funds available for six months of ministry before the church would have to close its doors,
would I consider serving here for those six months.
It was a six-month contract.
Well, in January, I began by 22nd year here.

Clearly God was not through with His church at any of these past points in this church’s history.

What has been called for again and again,
and what the people here have able to do over and over again,
is a rethinking,
a revisioning,
a reworking,
a redesign,
of what this church could do and be.
Theologically, we would say “being open to hearing to what God was telling us to do – and then doing it.”

All of this is as background for what the Session and the Congregation here has done to this point.
The successful sale of the building here was a result of a lot of prayerful listening, and thinking, and dreaming, and visioning of other possibilities for doing ministry as a church in the days and years ahead.

An immediate result of the culmination of the sale of the building here is that all of the stress of worrying about how to pay the bills is gone.
We now have the ability that few churches have – we have been given time to rethink what we could be – and might be – in the days ahead.

The Session has agreed with my assessment that this gives us unique opportunity to spend some time listening – for God’s will,
contemplating the dreams that will occur,
fleshing out the visions that will come,
to develop and design for what this church might look like if it responded as God leads.
(I’m calling this emphases VISION2012)

In the past few years and months I have been doing a lot of reading and studying about new possibilities of being church that are emerging to better be engaged with world we are living in.

I don’t know about you, but I get more and more annoyed when folks representing my faith misappropriate it for some misguided cause or another.

I often feel certain parts of what I know as Christian faith are being hi-jacked – and being used for purposes at odds with what Jesus taught.

As I engage in this revisioning process myself, I look to what are the underpinnings of whatever forms a new way of being church might take – what are the basics that ought to be there in order to be recognized as a community of faith.

One of the books I have been spending time with was published last year.
The title itself intrigued me from the start:
If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus

It seems to me that many churches today have gotten way off track as to purpose and practice.
You know Jesus never went to church.
There were no churches in Jesus’ day.
There is no record of Jesus ever even using the word church in any of the teachings or sayings attributed to him.

There is a persistent unspoken thought that if Jesus were to come back today, he would not recognize anything that goes on in Christian churches.

Anyway, the author of this book, Phillip Gulley, speaks to me – and to the concerns of many people I know – in the way he organizes the chapters in his book.

Chapter 1 begins: If the Church were Christian . . .
Jesus would be a model for living – rather than an object of worship

This is something that has bothered me for a long time.
It seems that churches are much more interested in promoting right thinking (orthodoxy according to code) rather than doing what is right.
Instead of setting up barriers to keep the wrong kind of people out of our churches, we should be paying attention to the teachings of Jesus – as James reminds us faith without actions is dead.

The author writes: if we in the church were serious about honoring Jesus, conducting ourselves as he did would be our chief concern.

Other chapters in this book are:
If the church were Christian . . .
Affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness.

If the church were Christian . . .
Reconciliation would be valued over judgment

If the church were Christian . . .
Gracious behavior would be more important than right belief

If the church were Christian . . .
Inviting questions would be valued more than supplying answers

If the church were Christian . . .
Encouraging personal exploration would be more important than communal uniformity

If the church were Christian . . .
Meeting needs would be more important than maintaining institutions

If the church were Christian . . .
Peace would be more important than power

If the church were Christian . . .
It would care more about love and less about sex

If the church were Christian . . .
This life would be more important that the afterlife

Well, these are Phillip Gulley’s ideas, but I find them intriguing –
even maybe helpful as we start thinking about what church should be,
what it might look like,
and what it might do.
What if the church were Christian?

And so, one of the major underpinnings of emerging church visions should be, it seems to me, is to be Christian.
That is to say, to see others as Jesus saw them,
and to do what Jesus did.

Through my encounter with another popular thinker and writer, I would say also that another underpinning of a new church would be compassion.

That is to say that compassion would be one driving element that informs whatever we would do and become as a church in the days ahead.

But enough about me and my thoughts.
What about you?
What are your dreams and visions for being church?
For new or different ways of doing church?
As you spend time listening for God’s lead,
what is coming to you as basics – underpinnings – essentials of what we should call church?

Basic to my understanding is what I talked about last week.
It’s what Peter picked up on and started promulgating.
Our faith, our church, is not built of brick and mortar, but our church is built out of living stones.
You and I are living stones –
living building blocks that when connected to one another become strong with abilities to withstand onslaughts of outside forces.

I would hope that in whatever form it may take, our church would be known as place of a forgiveness and compassion;
just as I would hope you and I would be known as people of forgiveness and compassion.

This week please pray for your church.
Pray for a vision.
Pray for wisdom of discernment.
Pray for courage to pursue whatever comes as God’s will for us.
Amen.

- a sermon the congregation at Christ Presbyterian Church heard on February 20, 2011.

A Church of Living Stones

The essence of this church is not about bricks.
Its not about mortar.
Its about – and its always been about – men and women subject to the living lord and engaged in ministry to one another and to the world!

I’ve used the story about the deck chairs before, but I think it’s a good one.

During a session at Lucy’s Psychiatric booth, Charlie Brown is sitting there looking despondent.
And, Lucy is listening to his latest tale of woe.
Finally she responds with her magnificent insight and wisdom.
"Maybe I can put it another way....Life, Charlie Brown, is like a deck chair."

Charlie Brown says, "Like a what?"

Lucy says, "Have you ever been on a cruise ship?
Passengers open up these canvas deck chairs so they can sit in the sun...
some people place their chairs facing the rear of the ship so they can see where they've been....
other people face their chairs forward...
they want to see where they're going!"

Finally, she gets to her point and asks,
"On the cruise ship of life, Charlie Brown, which way is your deck chair facing?"

Charlie just looks at her. "I've never been able to get one unfolded......."

Do you ever feel like that?

When we look at what’s going on in the world around us,
when we take stock of what we think is important in our lives,
when nothing is the same as it was,
when things happen to our bodies and our minds,
when life starts to cave in on us,
it is easy to feel somewhat bewildered, and confused, and overwhelmed, isn’t it?

Today, we remember the history of this church, and celebrate those who worked so hard to bring their vision into reality some 84 years ago.

There was a definite feeling in those days that the deck chairs were being arranged to face forward.

In your bulletin there is a list of 21 members who have been a part of this church fellowship for at least 50 years!
And, you know what, if you look around, some of them are here today!
And, they are some here almost every Sunday!
There is a lot of history here.
They remember how things were.
How things used to be.

They remember how they used to have to set up extra chairs in the aisle to accommodate all the folks wanting to worship here.
They remember the circles,
they remember the women’s activities,
they remember the mens clubs,
they remember the Sunday School,
they remember the youth groups,
they remember Vacation Bible School,
they remember the mission aide societies,
they remember how people’s faith was nurtured here.

For those who remember the good ole days, it is easy to feel that this is not what it was,
and we tend to arrange the deck chairs to face where we’ve been.

But, you know what, the folks that started this church 85 years ago wouldn’t understand that.
They were forward-looking kind of people.
I am sure, if they could stand where I am they would see that over half of you here today, were not here twenty years ago.

And they would be very happy about that.

For the most part, we do drink from the wells that others before us have dug.

We must always remember and acknowledge that, but, this is the twenty-first century – 2011!

We live in our times.
Our ship cruises our seas.
To be sure, we may face uncharted waters,
and we may not know what’s ahead for us,
but that’s where the excitement is,
that’s where action is,
that’s where our God is.

As the years and events go by, it is so easy to miss the forest for the trees –
especially when we have to deal with the day to day, week to week, hour to hour events that happen just to keep on keeping on.

Now that we have culminated the sale of building here that sits between Turner and Foss Avenues on State Road in Drexel Hill,
we need to rework the idea that is so embedded in our minds about what a church is.

Two years ago, I wrote an article to remind one and all that our church was not for sale –
while we were seeking to sell the building,
our church was not for sale.
For our church is not this building.

We may call this a house of God,
and, like the Psalmist, we may feel gladness when we come here,
but, our New Testament faith is about something else.
For sure, the Temple was an important part of the faith of Jesus’ time.

As long as the Jews were a nomadic people,
they traveled with their faith.
God’s place was portable.
They carried the symbols of their faith with them were ever they went.
And they celebrated God’s presence in their midst under all kinds of circumstances.

But, as they settled down to a more agrarian society, there were many movements to formalize and concretize a center of faith in the midst of the city where the king lived.
For years, each time it was brought up, God would say “No”. Don’t do it.

But, finally, the need of the people to have a building – a specific place they could point to and say “That’s it!” Prevailed.
And a temple was built – it stood in the center of things for all to see.
That’s our God’s house.
That’s the center of our faith.
That’s our temple.
And, we are told, it was a most substantial building, indeed.
And, by the time of Jesus, the temple was a central part of their faith and life.

That Jesus did almost all of his ministry outside of the walls of the Temple should have given his followers a clue,
but it took some years after his death for the followers to come to understand that God was active outside of the confines of the temple.

It was so much a part of their faith that the very idea that God can do without temples did not come easy to the Apostles.
James held on to the temple image to the last.
Peter barely managed to break away from it –
but he did.
It actually took a special dream –
some would say, nightmare –
before he was able to cut loose and affirm that the Gospel belongs in the marketplace.

Peter gets it,
and begins to understand that if God is found in all kinds of actions where we are engaged in ministry to the least of these,
the image of the temple needs to be revamped.
The new idea is, that this new temple,
this new church,
is being built with living stones.

Our church is not this building of bricks and mortar, no . . .
For some 84 years now, this church has stood built on living stones –
flesh and blood people who make up this spiritual house of God –
celebrating the Gospel in the midst of the people.
The essence of this church is not about bricks.
Its not about mortar.
Its about – and its always been about – men and women subject to the living lord and engaged in ministry to one another and to the world!

From the beginning, and throughout its history,
this church was composed of living stones –
people who have given themselves to the God who has called them to a ministry of compassion and concern:
people in whose hearts and lives the Kingdom of God has been built.

I pray that this essence does not get lost in the next era in this church’s history.
May we continue to celebrate the Gospel in the midst of the people,
proclaiming the wonderful acts of God.
For, the word is that God breathes through living stones –
and wherever the Spirit is breathing, there is life and hope – even after 84 years.

Each of you are living stones
with which this church thrives –
through which the presence of Christ gets expressed –

As long as you are here,
as long as God uses you to minister to others,
as long as God’s breath resides in you and me,
this church will continue to be a part of God’s work for time to come.

As you and I gather around the Lord’s Table today, let us remember the souls of all those who have gone before us.
And let us pray that the same Spirit that was with them and guided them in their endeavors,
be with us and guide us to further give witness to the presence of Christ in the world around us today – in our days and times –
as we prayerfully seek a revisioning of our ministry and our church for the days ahead.

When the inquiry is made,
“Dr. Living-stone, I presume,” let each of us answer,
“Yes! That’s it!”
Amen.