Week 5 | Monday

My nemesis in terms of being a good neighbor is “time”. I fear that I might not stop to help because I am rushing to my next appointment. I pray that I will always listen for the Spirit’s voice. There have been many times in my life when I have been the recipient of a good neighbor’s care. I am alive because a doctor stopped at the scene of an accident I was in and out tourniquets on my legs. I stayed at Hamilton College because a senior saw my homesickness and spent time with me each night before I went to bed. Terrie and I were mentored by a wonderful retired pastor in New Jersey who gave unstintingly of himself. In our litigious age, a broken and bloodied man might not receive help because he feared being sued after offering help. This story opens us to true Sermon on the Mount living. A radical “St Francis” style call comes as we live life in the Spirit.

I always remember how an episode of the Chosen portrays not only Jesus's mercy but also His pardon and forgiveness towards one of the robbers in the Good Samaritan story. Our love not only has to go to those who are innocent but also to the guilty, the criminal who also has a story of his own to tell.

I remember that too David! His disciples were incredulous!

The phrase that jumps out at me today is from St. Francis: “For it is in giving that we receive.” My tendency is always to set boundaries to protect myself. I am afraid of being overwhelmed by the needs of others. But if I truly believed that a life spent serving other was the most life-giving way to live, I think it would dramatically change my perspective. As I think back over times in my life when I have tried to help others, it is true that they were sometimes messy and challenging, but it is also true that those were some of the most meaningful and life-changing experiences.

I have a small card with this prayer of St Francis on it that I keep in the clear business card slot of my classroom padfolio (it's always open on the podium in each class so I can jot down notes if students ask questions I need to look up later or are absent, etc).



And on Thursday, I walked toward my final class of the day hearing complaining and grumbling from the hallway. It's never a good thing when you hear words like, "and she just gave us like two days..." then silence when they saw me.

I started booting up the system for class, and looked down to see that prayer from my open notebook. It reminded me that I am there to teach the Franciscan values (which really boil down to loving your neighbor well), but I had asked the students to do a task that was obviously too much for them. So I asked them what was going on, and we got to the bottom of it.

I gave them an extension on an assignment that was stressing then out, after telling them I didn't want to hear everyone so upset and not do what I could to help. I think they were stunned.



But the point is, we talk all the time about loving our neighbor in all of those Franciscan ways, but if we don't demonstrate it (which I had inadvertently been overlooking by piling too much on then at once), then it's not going to stick. It's not as dramatic as a Good Samaritan story, but it felt like a way to love that particular group of neighbors well at that particular moment, and the prayer was what reminded me of my real job in their lives.

I recall one incident in my life when I stopped to give a homeless-looking person a ride part of my way to church. It was unusual for me, and I remember feeling fearful, yet it seemed like the right thing to do. It was actually pretty un-remarkable. Nothing happened. I don't remember any significant conversation. But years later, my son, who was a child in the car at the time, recalled it as a living example of this parable. I was thankful that I had done something right that had a significant impact on my son--this is what stories should do. But it shouldn't be the exception either. It's so much easier to have my eyes on myself than on God and others.

Recently during one of the big snow storms I was the recipient of a Good Samaritan. I was outside shoveling and was getting close to the end of my driveway where it’s always packed in and heavy. A man was walking down the road with a shovel and offered to help. At first I started to decline because I didn’t want to be a bother and thought maybe someone else needed the help more than me but I ended up saying yes. It took us maybe 10 minutes together and we had a nice chat.



This also makes me think of why it can sometimes be challenging to be a Good Samaritan. Sometimes people do not want help. Sometimes things are being kept private or they think someone else deserves help. That being said I think offering the help is still important.