Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:25-29)
If you’ve been keeping tabs on diocesan happenings, this question, “Who is my neighbor?” should be a fairly familiar one. It was the theme of our 2018 diocesan convention, was the topic of a panel discussion at our March 23 Lenten Learning Day, and is a focus of one of our Project CREED working groups. And yet, for all the discussion around it, the answer to this question, “Who is my neighbor? … Who are our neighbors?” seems to remain somewhat elusive.
Why? … One likely reason is that the process of getting to know our neighbors – those living in, working in, and passing through the community in which we worship and serve – can seem like a daunting task. True, it requires time, commitment, and a measure of courage to explore the unknown corners of our neighborhood and to forge relationships with the people we encounter there. But there are some fairly easy, unintimidating ways for you to dip your toe, so to speak, into this important work.
These are presented to you in a new resource, the Getting to Know Your Neighbors Starter’s Guide. As the name implies, this is intended to provide a starting point for people and parishes who are interested in doing this important work, but who aren’t sure where or how to begin. A few things to note:
- This work is all of ours to share – young and old, long-time members and relative newbies, lay and ordained. Jesus instructs all of us to love our neighbors, and loving them begins with knowing them.
- You don’t have to be an extrovert to engage in this work. Maybe you’re not the type of person who can shoot the breeze with the stranger in line behind you at the grocery store. But there is probably something else you can do to contribute to your parish’s efforts. Perhaps you can take a walk through the neighborhood and report on what you observe there, or do some online demographics research. Truly, there is something for everyone.
- This is just a starting point. The activities suggested in the Starter’s Guide will help provide you a helpful, surface-level understanding of who your neighbors are, but in order to engage in meaningful mission, you’ll need to go deeper.
- This list may not be exhaustive. If you have other suggestions for how we might get to know our neighbors, share them by commenting below. And if you have already tried some of the activities included in the Starter’s Guide, let us know about that, too.
We hope that you will find the Getting to Know Your Neighbors Starter’s Guide to be helpful as you and your parish seek to answer the question, “Who is my neighbor?”