09/02/2018
Luke 10:25-37
Chris Breslin
The missionary must be the salt which dissolves in the meat, disappears and dies in it. -Leslie Newbigin
“I am an Israeli Jew on my way from Jerusalem to Jericho, and am attacked, beaten, stripped, robbed and left half dead in a ditch. Two people who should have stopped, instead pass by: a Jewish medic from the Israeli Defense Forces, and a member of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the PCUSA. But the person who takes compassion on me and shows me mercy is a Palestinian Muslim whose sympathies lie with Hamas, a political party whose charter not only anticipates Israel’s destruction, but also depicts Jews as subhuman demons responsible for all the world’s problems. The parable of the “Good Hamas Member” might be difficult for people in support of Israel’s existence. Were Jesus a Samaritan, we’d today have the parable of the “Good Jew,” told in the streets of Ramallah.” -Amy Jill Levine, Short Stories by Jesus: Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi
“The lawyer is told by Jesus, in effect, to stop trying to live and to be willing to die, to be willing to be lost rather than to be found – to be, in short, a neighbor to the One who, in the least of his brethren, is already neighbor to the whole world of losers.” -Robert Farrar Capon, Kingdom, Grace, Judgement: Parados, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus
Darley/Batson Princeton Study (HT Dr. Christena Cleveland’s post at IV’s The Well)
“The practice of hospitality forces abstract commitments to loving the neighbor, stranger, and enemy into practical and personal expressions of respect and care for actual neighbors, strangers, and enemies. The twin moves of universalizing the neighbor and personalizing the stranger are at the core of hospitality.” -Christine Pohl, Making Room
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.” -Henri Nouwen
Loving My Actual Neighbor Card
Scripture:
Songs for Today’s Worship Gathering:
Come On Up to the House by Waits
Be Thou My Vision by Forgaill/Traditional
They Will Know We Are Christians by Scholtes
All Ye Refugees by McCracken
Heal Us by Cowper/Twit/Morton
We Are Not Overcome by Heiskell/Wardell
Doxology
Series Resources:
Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicalsby Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, & Enuma Okoro
Faithful Presence: Seven Disciplines That Shape the Church for Missionby David Fitch
Celebration of Discipline: the Path to Spiritual Growthby Richard Foster
Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Lifeby Tish Harrison Warren
Slow Churchby C. Christopher Smith
The New Parishby Paul Sparks, Tim Soerens & Dwight Friesen
The Art of Neighboringby Jay Pathak & Dave Runyon
No Home Like Placeby Leonard Hjalmarson
Where Mortals Dwellby Craig Bartholomew
Race and Placeby David Leong
Seeing Jesus in East Harlemby José Humphreys
Making Neighborhoods Wholeby Wayne Gordon & John Perkins
Roadmap to Reconciliationby Brenda Salter McNeil
The Power of Proximityby Michelle Ferrigno Warren
Making Roomby Christine Pohl
Reconstructing the Gospelby Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
