Dear Friends,

In our Gospel reading for today, we hear the parable of the “Good Samaritan.” The story is so familiar, there is even have a “Samaritan” law that limits our liability if we come to the aid of a person who has been injured in an emergency situation.

What people don’t always know is that the story begins with a brief exchange between a religious legal expert and Jesus. “Teacher,” the lawyer asks, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Or, in more contemporary terms, what must I do to be whole, enlightened, fulfilled, and at peace?  In response, Jesus asks the lawyer what his own study of the law tells him, “what is written there?” The lawyer can recite it as easily as any well-versed Vacation Bible School child: “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.” Perfectly stated. It really is as simple as that.

But not for long. “Who is my neighbor?” the lawyer asks, either sincerely perplexed or fishing for a more complicated answer. And Jesus tells the now well-known tale of the Good Samaritan. A man is robbed on the Jericho road, stripped, beaten and left for dead. A priest and a Levite, considered holy and good, pass him by, but a Samaritan, outcast and rejected, gives assistance. He bandages the man, carries him to the shelter of an inn and takes care of him, paying his way for days to come. “Which one,” Jesus asks, “is the true neighbor?” Even the lawyer knows it is the Samaritan, the one who is loved least but has loved another the most. 

No matter what our understanding of faith might be or become, we all start somewhere. We all have a foundational springboard: an inspiration, a spark of desire, a “first love,” from which we begin. Some of us begin in trust, some in fear; some in cooperation, some in competition; some in spite, some in compassion. What is your founding desire? Is it, like Jesus suggests it should be, to love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and to love your neighbor as well as yourself?

This is a question I’ve been asking myself during this time of deep division in our nation. If I truly want to love my neighbor as myself, especially neighbors who don’t think or act or believe as I do, where do I begin? Does my love simply stay in my head and heart, or does it show itself in action? More and more, I’m convinced that our “first love” is only as real as what we do, how we respond, the kinds of lives we end up living. If you followed me out on the road today, what sort of love would you see in me? Would you see me render aid or pass on by, condemn or show mercy? When I’ve been laid low and stripped down, will I let you come close enough to see who I really am and, when you see, to show your mercy to me?

These are challenging questions, and I hope you will join me in asking them of yourselves. I can’t think of a better gift to offer a world so desperately in need of God’s love and ours.

In Christ,

Amelie+