“Who is my Brother?”

This question was asked to Jesus just before the telling of the Good Samaritan story. The story seems to be well known to many people. In fact many state legislatures have passed laws with that name; indicating that there should be no blame placed on a person who attempts to help another. Unfortunately, that isn’t the story.

The story goes that a man, walking on the road was attacked by gang of outlaws, robbed, beaten and left for dead. Over the course of the next few story lines, the man was summarily passed over by a significant religious leader and then by a fine upstanding role model citizen. The Samaritan (a person who was looked down on by the Jews of the day) came along, bandaged up the man’s wounds as best he could and then took the man to safety where he could recover AND paid in advance for the man’s needs.


Who do you look down on? Are you like the people in the audience , listening to the story being told – feeling maybe a bit angry? A bit guilty? The story was told so that the people listening would know that they have a responsibility to help each person. Everyone is the neighbor. We shouldn’t be like the first two who walked around with noses in the air.

Who looks down on you? Have you been the subject of derision? Does your skin color or manner of speaking make you a target? The Samaritan had every reason to hold back and continue walking because that was exactly how his people were treated at that time. Yet, the Samaritan offered assistance, and more. Compassion was given to a person of the class that would put him down.

So, we have no cause to withhold doing good. It matters not who the other people are or what faith is a part of their life. That is not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to love God first and then to love our neighbor.

But, to have a neighbor, you have to live in a neighborhood. We cannot go it alone – either isolated in our own lives; or, even worse, isolated in a community that doesn’t touch the world.

Go. Be the neighbor.

Inclusivity

What does it mean to be inclusive? How do you determine the difference between “inclusiveness” and a lack of standards? Can you be inclusive and still have standards? What type? On what do you base those standards?

Well, I’m waiting. . . . . .

Oh, I guess you’re reading this so I best put something down. My thoughts:

The apostle Paul stated it best when he wrote to the Galatians and said that "In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus."

There becomes no distinction between people when there is unity in Christ. This is the essence of the church. The essence of the faith is the forgiveness of sins through the acceptance of the sacrifice paid by another. The responsibility is to follow the teachings Jesus gave us. As Paul identified it to the church at Galatia, Jesus said it himself when, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these."

In this sense, the word “neighbor” is used to describe all people – humankind. So, how can we to spend our days fighting among ourselves and with others and still hope to express the faith as stated in these two simple verses?

But it goes back even further. The Torah states in the Levitical laws, “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD”

I do not want to get into the political implications of this or its relationship to the letter from the President of Iran. I will let others talk about that. This is personal. This is real. It’s about where we live and what we do. My point is simply this – as long as we all stay focused on the differences between us how can we hope to make any progress together? There are over 6.6 billion people on the planet. If we allow, there is enough hate to go around the planet and poison it several times over. Faith is about society. It is how God wishes us to relate – to Him and to one another. And, it’s about love and compassion. There are enough laws and rules for us to throw at each other. How about some warmth, compassion and understanding?

Welcome to the new Blog

In a perfect world, we’d have a perfect blog. Well, neither exists so you get this instead. This blog is dedicated to the idea that there are many faces and many peoples but one flesh, one heartbeat that binds us all. In that light it is an ecumenical blog, inviting comment from other elements of the Christian identity. The hope is that this will be a format for conversation about faith and the common bonds that bind us together in the unity of Christ.

I am based in Saint Louis, Missouri; and so, the blog will represent that perspective. If you’ve read my other blog, you already know that I do not back down from a philosophical challenge. So it will be here.

In coming installments there will be comments and opinions from me on a number of subjects. I invite you to contribute and support the effort to discuss community in the Christian tradition – as it is, as it was, and as it could be. See my other blog for the lead-in to this one. Because I “own” this blog site, I’ll facilitate. Sometimes, I’ll write the blips, sometimes it may be your input and sometimes it may be a guest contributor.

So speak. I’m listening. So are others.