This post, by Heather Weir, is a reflection on the “Who Am I?” sermon as part of the “In the Name of Jesus” sermon series.
The Good Samaritan is a very familiar story. There are even laws named after the story – legal protection for people who help others out. We know we’re supposed to help others out. We know it is bad to be the people who walk by and ignore the wounded person, the stranger in need of help. So why is that what we do most often? Why is that what I do most often? Why don’t I stop and talk to the woman crying outside Shopper’s Drug Mart? Why do I put my head down and just walk, ignoring the strangers on the street, my neighbours? How is it that I’ve lived in a small building for years and don’t know any of my neighbours by name? What’s the deal?
On Sunday, Elaine had three paintings to go with the story of the Good Samaritan. Each of them showed an animal that the wounded man was placed on to ride to the inn. In all the paintings the Priest and Levite are both shown without a horse or donkey. Sometimes, I excuse myself from being neighbourly because I think I lack the right equipment or skills. What can I do? I don’t have the resources to be helpful in that situation. I might make things worse.
So what can I do when I feel like I don’t have resources for a situation that might call for me to be neighbourly? I’ve decided that the least I can do is pray. That is the minimum. And if I can pray, then possibly I will see what else I can do, what the next step might be. But it is a choice – do I see a situation that calls for neighbourly action and turn away? Do I pray later when I’m well out of the way? Or do I make the choice to pray then and there as I am in a position to possibly do more, to take the next steps in acting out the values of the Kingdom of God – to love my neighbour as myself. I have to make a choice to begin to act, then trust that the Holy Spirit in me will provide the resources sufficient to any particular situation.
Who is my neighbour? How can I act like a neighbour today?