When the neighbor interrupts sermon preparation

Pastor David Carlson serves Bethany Evangelical Free Church in Madison.
Jan. 14, 2020

(This is a series of brief essays by local pastors reflecting on the love of neighbor in anticipation of this year’s Kingdom Justice Summit on March 7 and 8. You can learn more about that here.)

My first congregation was in Queens, New York. The church was small and I had an office in our home, next door to the church. This arrangement worked really well until kids arrived and began to invade my sanctuary. Kids were not the only ones to invade.

I remember a week in the first year or two of ministry there, where I was studying the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). The point of that parable is to answer the question “Who is my neighbor?” It is interesting that the religious insiders did not do anything about the man that was robbed and beaten. It was the religious outsider who took him in his personal care and paid for his treatment. The religious insiders apparently had urgent business to do at the house of worship.

And as I was at my desk, studying this text, someone rang the doorbell. It was a man who had contracted AIDS through a shared needle. He was wondering if the church could help him with food. He had some social services, but he and his mother tended to run out of food at the end of the month.

I remember walking him over to the church. We have a very informal food pantry. It was a cabinet with donations from members. I warmed some soup so we could eat and talk and get to know each other. This was the beginning of a yearlong process where my neighbor would come, usually each month, and see if we could help. We went through he same soup sharing most of the time. Sadly, in the 1990s there was not much for effective treatment. My new friend gradually grew sicker and thinner until he finally passed.

The Bible which I study week by week for teaching and preaching is filled with the idea of loving your neighbor. Once you notice this theme, you cannot stop seeing it. 

My interaction with this neighbor was small. It did not address root causes or deeper issues. But it was a help. It was personal.

Whether the neighbor is an insider to the church community or an outsider does not matter.

We are called, repeatedly, to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I would encourage you to open your eyes. First open them to what you find in the scriptures. Then open your eyes to what is around you in the community. You might go and find an opportunity to serve. Or, that opportunity might be knocking at your door.

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