Editorial: Serving immigrants in the name of Jesus
Christians’ response to immigration — more specifically to immigrants —…
Editorial: Looking for neighbors
Finding our way from exhaustion to a ‘good tired’ by caring for the least of these.
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Christians in Trinidad, Colo., are feeding the hungry. Christians in Knoxville, Tenn., are providing a Bible camp for kids with severe disabilities.
Christians in Glenmora, La., are supporting men recovering from substance abuse. Christians in Eastern Europe are welcoming refugees.
Christians in St. Lucia are celebrating the late Botham Jean by empowering youth, promoting social justice and supporting communities in need.
Claire Higginbotham (orange shirt) helps a Forever His camper get close to the pigs at the camp’s petting zoo.
That’s what we talked about when The Christian Chronicle’s Editorial Board met in October — in part because we’re exhausted.
We’re exhausted by violence, wars abroad and wars of words, especially between church members who should be able to find some common ground in Christ and him crucified — in the true religion of looking after orphans and widows in their distress and keeping ourselves unspotted by the world.
We really longed to share a positive message in this space, and so we chose to talk about Christians helping their neighbors and churches working together to help their communities — stories we love spotlighting. And as we talked, our brother Hamil Harris told us about Christians in Glenarden, Md., just outside the nation’s capital, who put up a sign inviting the community to an ice cream social.
Related: Editorial: Serving immigrants in the name of Jesus
And neighbors came. Neighbors who are Christian. Neighbors who are Muslim. Neighbors who were simply hungry for ice cream and community.
It went so well they’re planning a giveaway of lightly used items from church members and friends to anyone who needs them. To help their neighbors. In telling the story, Harris was clearly touched by what a diverse group of neighbors showed up.
It’s not a coincidence that when an expert in the law asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told about a good Samaritan. Not a good Jew, a good Levite, a good son of Reuben or Joseph or Benjamin. A good Samaritan. To the Jews, a half-breed descendant of the Assyrians, ethnically and theologically impure.
Ukrainian and Russian refugees pray earlier this year during a Russian-speaking Bible class at the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston.
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus made it clear. Being a neighbor was not about jots and tittles, not about agreeing about every single word of the Torah before offering a cup of cold water or helping some guy get his ox out of a ditch.
Do it for the least of these, he told them. Do it for the sick, the prisoner, the stranger. In doing so, you do it for me.
We know Botham Jean’s family still grieves his murderous loss. We know it often feels futile to deal with neighbors caught in substance abuse. We’re terrified by the stories of human trafficking victims. We know those Christians feeding the hungry get tired. But they’re still out there being neighbors.
“Being a neighbor can be tiring. But maybe it’s exactly the kind of tired we need to be. Not exhausted but tired. A good tired.”
The late John Lewis told his friends in the Civil Rights Movement to go out and get in “good trouble.”
Being a neighbor can be tiring. But maybe it’s exactly the kind of tired we need to be. Not exhausted but tired. A good tired.
So look for the helpers. They just might help you find a neighbor.
CHERYL MANN BACON is a Christian Chronicle contributing editor who served for 20 years as chair of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University. Contact [email protected].
