Sunday Service | Good Neighbor Recap: September 6, 2020

2020, am I right? Full of disaster after disaster. But Jesus invites us to choose hope, to choose to see him, and to choose to see the good and the good that can come out of the sea of circumstances that we are in.

Mary shared today specifically to the kids of our fellowship, inviting them (and all of us) into a virtual “hug-it-out” time, and by reminding us to find Sabbath in a simple way: by stopping wherever we are, however we’re feeling, and to talk to Jesus about it! During virtual school, while out in crowds, with our parents, we can also turn to Jesus in prayer and find rest and peace when we feel overwhelmed or upset.

Brian led us in a continued pursuit of what it looks like to become a good neighbor from Luke 10. Scripture is so smart to give us a practical example of the Good Samaritan story with the real-life example that follows it in the story of Mary and Martha. We can get overwhelmed with all the doing that needs to be done, but Mary shows us “the better way,” with a simple act: sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Becoming a good neighbor means being invited into this story where we no longer sidestep anyone--we are all needy. And Jesus meets us at the intersection of our needs & others’ needs, joining us on this journey.

But the work seems never-ending, doesn’t it?

How do we hold up? How do we stay present? Stay soft-hearted? And stay willing to not sidestep, but instead to give mercy & compassion?

The story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10.38-42 answers these very questions.

In Martha, we see someone being a good neighbor, a real-life Good Samaritan of her own home, inviting Jesus and his disciples in, and serving their needs. 

But Martha gets consumed with the serving, with the doing.

We don’t know her motivations, but we do know that her service and work drew her away from the presence of Jesus.

The invitation of sitting at Jesus’ feet, a form of Sabbath (which we’ve talked about extensively), is to keep us in line with the purpose of being a good neighbor: to love God with all our passion and strength, and to love others just as radically--by inviting us to stop, to rest, and to worship.

Our world needs change, and the tendency is to put too much pressure on all that we need to do--but that is not the path of Jesus.

Jesus takes the slow path of intentional interaction.

Jesus only participated in what he saw his father doing. He intentionally loved each and every person that he saw. He chose how love would respond, and changed individual lives--and that made shockwaves for the culture and communities around those individuals.

Mary chooses this path; she chooses “correctly,” the story says, by choosing to sit at the feet of Jesus.

It’s so easy to focus on doing, but Mary’s example also shows us what being a good neighbor looks like:

Becoming a good neighbor is not just “doing” but “being.”

Mary reminds us that sitting at the feet of Jesus is both restoring and empowering.

It is easy to feel like our actions of being a good neighbor are meaningless in the sea of circumstances we face. Jesus changes this line of thinking, so that we are freed up to do the good works.

The Levite & Priest had so much on their to-do lists that they missed the opportunity to do good, to show mercy and compassion. Martha did the same. She was weary of the work, and then saw Mary as an obstacle to her work. When we get caught up in the same line of thinking, we’re going to be put into a cycle of weariness and missing opportunities to show mercy and compassion to our neighbors, because we might view them as obstacles to our work.

Henri Nouwen says:

“Maybe the time has come to let go of my prayer, of my effort to be close to the Divine, and to allow the Spirit of God to blow freely in me.”

The work actually gets completed in Jesus. We must sit at his feet in order to do the good work we are called and wanting to do.

The work of being a good neighbor is just that, it’s work. It’s hard work.

But we aren’t called to do it alone. Jesus walks with us on this journey. He reminds us who we are to love and how to exercise that love.

And we are meant to do this together! To encourage and uplift and help one another.

Many times, being a good neighbor is just to show up. Without a plan or solution. Other times, being a good neighbor is having & executing a plan. It’s both. And sometimes, we don’t go looking for an opportunity to be a good neighbor. Sometimes, it finds us.

Like 2020! 

And so we choose hope, we choose to see the good.

Turning to Jesus, sitting at his feet, is necessary to becoming a good neighbor.

Jesus is drawing us to himself. We cannot turn away or sidestep. We are called to BE the Beloved on this journey. To act AND to be.

To confess and to be.

To lament and to be.

To repent and to be.

To forgive and to be.

To reconcile and to be.

Let’s continue to explore God’s love and how we can be the expression of his love to others.

Let’s continue to explore how we can act out of our being, and how Sabbath inspires us to do so.

How can we find time this week to sit at the feet of Jesus?

How can we not turn away from injustice and need, but also turn toward rest--so that when we act, it is out of compassion and out of being empowered?

A prayer to respond (from Charles de Foucauld):

Father, I abandon myself into your hands.

Do with me whatever you will.

Whatever you may do, I thank you.

I am ready for all, I accept all.

Let only your will be done in me,

And in all your creatures.

Into your hands I commend my spirit.

I offer it to you with all the love

That is in my heart.

For I love you, Lord, and so want to give

Myself, to surrender myself into your hands,

Without reserve and with boundless

Confidence, for you are my father.

Amen.