Won't you be my neighbor?

 7/10

Fred Rogers

With General Assembly, in ZOOMland, finally done, I went to Good Shepherd Faith Church

Good Shepherd Faith 

 live and in person to be met by my friend Elder Michael and lead worship and administer communion..

Elder Michael

.this was my reflection, with Korean translation added by Chris Kim.... 

Mister Rogers cardigan

So last week I went back to my hometown, Pittsburgh. And for the first time after many years I went to visit the Heinz History Center.  There are many special exhibits there like the Heinz “57 varieties” itself and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum but this time I spent some time in the Mister Rogers exhibit.


Fred Rogers is one of the very special people to come from Pittsburgh and even more important for us, Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister. Pittsburgh Presbytery endorsed his television show, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, as his ministry.

I like the fact that Fred Rogers gave us a different model of what it means to be a man. And a faithful daily Christian witness without ever using explicit Christian language. His show had a very clear theology….the theology of neighbor….and that’s what we’re talking about today.

Our text is the old familiar parable of Jesus we call the Good Samaritan. About an unfortunate person set upon by thieves and left “half dead” along the road and the various people who pass by including two significant religious leaders, perhaps a tall steeple preacher or Presbytery exec or one of the Trustees, passers by, who do exactly that, pass by. On the other side. Maybe they even cross the street when then see him.

In the end it’s the  unexpected one, there's one who’s not like us, the one who’s one of them, one of those people, maybe an undocumented immigrant, maybe a Muslim, maybe…that’s the one who responds who takes care of the person in need. (Maybe precisely because they know what it’s like to be excluded ,unseen or mistreated…) That’s who, in Jesus terms, proves neighbor. 

Remember, the context for this conversation began when a lawyer asked Jesus about inheriting eternal life and when they’ve agreed on the most important commandment, to love God with all your soul and strength and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is to say it’s inseparable, you can’t love God with all your soul snd strength and mind unless you love your neighbor as yourself, the lawyer, as they will do, decides to quibble with Jesus around, well who is my neighbor? And what does Jesus do? Like always, he flips the question. It’s not who is my neighbor? The question is who proves oneself to be a neighbor? That is the question. Go and do likewise, Jesus says.

We can see this neighbor issue in both the macro and micro perspective. In the global scene, Ukraine has clearly been set upon by robbers and thieves. Looking for a neighbor. And we struggle with how to respond. And along that same  road we find Yemenites, and Sudanese and Syrians and people from Western Sahara…that road to Jericho is crowded with victims of robbery and oppression. And who is proving neighbor? 

Our neighbors have literally picked themselves up and walked their way to our doorstep. How do we respond?

(I can tell you that starting next week, I’ll be traveling to Spain and Italy to help our Presbyterian Church figure out how to be in partnership with our sibling Christians from the Spanish Evangelical and  Italian Waldensian Churches in their work of being neighbors with people on the move in Southern Europe).

But there’s the micro, the close at home.  I face the Jericho Road every time I go to Penn Station, all the people sleeping there. It’s not uncommon for me to find someone on the street right outside my door. How do we respond? What do we do?    

When I lived in Tulsa, a Catholic priest friend I knew had started a project he called “Neighbor for Neighbor.” He insisted that it was not a charity but an adult education center. After starting with fixing broken dow cars so people could have transportation for jobs, they  developed a food cooperative. Later medical and dental clinics were added. 

It was completely open as to clientele. The ethic was unconditional love, and my friend Dan, the  founder meant exactly unconditional love.  What was not completely open or accepting was who could volunteer. Only those who understood that this was not charity, but only what neighbors do for one another because they are neighbors  were welcome. The result was it became considered a badge of honor to be accepted as a volunteer at Neighbor for Neighbor.  The very best doctors and dentists in the city vied to share their skills at the Neighbor for Neighbor clinics. Dan believed that the poor deserved only the very best. 

The program became the model for others and Neighbor programs spruced in various places around Tulsa. 

That’s the theology that Fred Rogers exemplified through his TV show. The word is a neighborhood. We are neighbors and belong to one another. One night locking myself out of my apartment led to several unexpected hours of enjoying hospitality of Yemenis from the deli next door, in their home. As I thanked them, they said, No this is our culture, We are there for you, you wink be there for us. We are neighbors.

We are living in challenging times. Times that can lead to lead to despair.  Issues about which we seem powerless...But what gets us through are our neighborhoods...communities of care, concern and acceptance. We have the capacity to create and sustain them, ikf we choose,with Jesus' help.

Friends, Jesus is clear …we live in a neighborhood and are called to be neighbors.

Fred Rogers put it like this…

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

 

It’s a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

 

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you,
I’ve always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.
So let’s make the most of this beautiful day,
Since we’re together we might as well say,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won’t you be my neighbor?
Won’t you please,
Won’t you please?
Please won’t you be my neighbor?

Let those with ears to hear, hear….

 

Luke 10: 25-37

25Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he said, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26He said to him, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" 27He 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." 28And he said to him, "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live."

29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, 'Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.' 36Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" 37He said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Neighbors

 7/14

The installation of Rev. Kwansong Jeong at HaKnesiah

This Sunday I'm at Good Shepherd- Faith Church in the midst of Lincoln Center. The last remaining non-Lincoln Center/Juilliard Building. Here's my reflection for the day...

So how many of you were affected by the power, outage last night? Another transformer issue. (The last time Con-Ed announced a transformer issue, some people actually thought robots were marching into Queens...No...Con-Ed said transformers...This explains a lot about where we are today...)I keep trying to find a theological connection with today’s gospel but so far haven’t been able to find one. If, one comes to you let me know...(through the magic of technological communication, a friend in Tulsa told me that 65000 others were affected.) With the subways crowded, the buses were jammed completely beyond capacity..

Asked what teh greatest commandment is, a young man replies 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.

28 And Jesus said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

But the young man doesn't want to leave it there...

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 30 Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii,[b] gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ 37 He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

So there’s this story we’ve heard since nice our youth. What new sense can make of it. Clearly the key question edition is who is my neighbor.

First of all they are the people who live in my apartment building. On long summer nights they bring their lawn chairs and coolers and share food, music and maybe politics.  

Or the Yemenites who run the corner deli. They say hospitality is our culture. So be a good neighbor and be there for us and neighbor we’ll be there for you too.The morning the President announced his plan to exclude and deport people from countries like Yemen, the front of the store was covered with signs saying don’t fear and we’ve got your back and we love you.

Attorneys created signs for the shop that said  “what to do if ICE comes." Now that’s a neighborhood. (Even as today The President's ICE agents spread out in their raids.....)

I watched the Netflix series "When they see us” about the Central Park 5. How instructive it was to be reminded of how far we’ve got to go in dealing with racism in this country. I remember how angry I felt when I heard that story. I was a Central Park runner too. It was people like me who got stirred  up by Donald Trump’s full page ad in the New York Times. Everything about that story stirred up my worst fears.  You know what, he’s still doing that. Those boys probably ran right past my building on their way into the Park. I say boys because then they were. They were even interrogated for as long as 30 hours,  with no sleep,  no food, no attorneys. It took years and a random meeting for the actual rapist to be discovered. To this day the NYPD and the president still need to say they they were guilty of something. Yes, we have a long ways to go.

I’m just back from Central America. Where  the so-called caravans develop. To learn why people are leaving . Not only there but all over the World, its a global problem.

The pattern becomes clear. Agribusiness plus the degradation of the environment makes susbsistence  farming impossible. More and more people fell to the cities where there are no jobs no government infrastructure to speak of and everything  controlled by gangs or drug cartels. Those who want to take care of their families and leave are among the most responsible and courageous in the region. I also met with people who had lived here, in theUS, for decades who had been deported back to places they never knew with a language they could barely speak. There is poignancy in their gathering together to celebrate an American thanksgiving.. on this side of the world we are all Americans. Neighbors. 

I could keep  on expanding the circle of neighborliness but am pretty sure the idea is getting across. 

When I think of neighbors I can’t help but think of Fred Rogers. He was a Presbyterian minister who somehow convinced a Presbyterian committee on ministry that hosting a children’s TV show was a valid ordainable ministry. In those days, we actually had a Presbyterian Church that would validate the media ministries of Fred Rogers and that amazingly creative Dennis Benson. For over three decades Mr. Rogers demonstrated that for him, the clearest understanding of Gods kingdom is a neighborhood.  But maybe the point is not are you my neighbor but Won't you be my neighbor?

His song went:

It's a neighborly day in this beautywood
A neighborly day for a beauty
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

So let's make the most of this beautiful day
Since we're together, we might as well say
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Won't you be my neighbor?

Won't you please
Won't you please
Please won't you be my neighbor?

When I was a teenager and young adult I made fun of Mr.Rogers. I had to mature in order to see the profound nature of his work. He talked to children about everything from divorce to assasination. When controversy arose over allowing blacks in public pools, he brought out a wading pool and invited his black mail carrier to join him in cooling their feet together. 

For Mr.Rogers, neighbor was a verb.

Notice that for Jesus the question was not who is my neighbor but who proved to be neighbor. The tall steeple preacher, the televangelist and the presbytery moderator all passed by on the other, with legitimate reasons of course.

Only the undocumented Muslim deli worker took the time to intervene and see what could be done.  That’s the one who proved neighbor.

May we as well. 

So let's make the most of this beautiful day. Since were here together 

We might as well say  would you be mine, could you be mine won’t you be my neighbor. 

Let those with ears to hear....

                                                       ****

Later in the day I will meet GSF Elders John Gingrich and Chris Kim and we'll head out to Bayside Queens to join in the installation service for Pastor Kwansong Jeong at Ha Knesiah Presbyterian Church. Elder Kim will preside over the service and I will serve the communion. Anyone going onto the altar will remove their shoes.There's a line of slippers there. Communion is served by men formal wear and bow ties and I as celebrant have to wear white gloves as well. 

This has been a long time coming. The struggles in the church have been bitter. Involving charges and countercharges and law suits and fist fights , vandalized cars and the police being called all playing out like an ecclesiastical soap opera in the Korean language press. "We Koreans are the Italians of Asia" an elder once told me. Passions about church run deep. The day I arrived to preside over the vote as to whether to install Pastor Jeong I arrived to two police cars waiting in the lot, just in case. Hopefully this installation has resolved something and a step towards a new beginning can ev made.