Who Is My Neighbor - A Geeks of Faith Devotion for Election Day

Election day is upon us.  In a matter of a few hours half our nation will be really happy and half will be angry or depressed.  A little while ago I posted something about the greatest commandments;  you know love God and love your neighbor.  And mentioned that posting hate mongering articles that were just meant to hurt or anger your opponent wasn’t loving your neighbor.  As Christians we should stop name calling and spreading hate.  One of my friends said flat out, “I can’t do that.  I guess that means you think I am part of the problem?”  I didn’t fall for the bait.  I had just said name calling was wrong, but it hurt and was frustrating.

          I have dear friends, family, and church members who are on the far right and on the far left.  They are all good people, good Christians until politics come up.  Then, I don’t even recognize them.  They literally seem to hate the other side.  That is tearing our country apart.  It is also destroying what Jesus teaches and what God wants from us.

          There is a scripture story that deals with this exact thing.  It is the story of the Good Samaritan.  Before I read it for you I want to make sure you understand it’s setting.  The Jews and the Samaritans HATED each other.  They both claimed that they were the faithful remnant of Israel after returning from exile in Babylon.  So, they all worshipped the same God and believed the same thing except where you should worship.  The Jews said Jerusalem and the Samaritans had a mountain in Samaria that was their Holy site.  Now, they hated each other so much that there was a saying in Israel that the only good Samaritan was a dead one.  They would spit on them.  They were forbidden to talk to them or have business with them.  They truly hated each other.

          Now listen with me to Luke 10:25-37 commonly known as the story of the Good Samaritan.

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

²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 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 traveling 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 neighbor 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.”

          I can imagine that the Lawyer wasn’t thrilled.  The hated Samaritan was the one that Jesus portrayed as following the commandments.  So, you can’t say that the people you hate are outside of the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.

          I saw a news story that is going viral that is this story played out in real life.  When the shooting happened in the Synagogue in Pittsburgh one of the ER nurses was the son of a rabbi who didn’t know whether his parents were among those killed.  He was the nurse asked to tend to the shooter when they brought him in.  He didn’t refuse.  He didn’t even say anything mean.  He treated the shooter who would happily put a bullet in his head if he found out he was Jewish.  This nurse treated the man with gentleness and compassion.  The shooter even thanked him for treating him so well.

          Jesus said to us, “Go and do likewise.” Soon the elections will be through and more hate will be spewed from both sides.  The winners will gloat and the losers will rant and rave.  Don’t fall into that trap.  The other side is human.  The other side is American.  Believe it or not, the other side believes that they voted for what will be best for out country.  Most importantly, the other side is made up of beloved children of God.  They are your neighbor regardless of whether or not you agree with them or even like them.  You are called to love them as yourself.  So, when the votes are counted and the election is done think before you post, or rant, or rave, or gloat.  Is your action the loving thing?  Is it kind?  If the situation was reversed would you want them to say or do that to you?  The only way our nation can heal is to stop looking at each other as the hated enemy and start thinking of each other as our neighbor and more than that as our brothers and sisters.  Like brothers and sisters, you don’t have to always agree with them, but you need to love them.

All Hallow's Eve - A Geeks of Faith Devotion

(The Origins of Halloween)

In the first few centuries of the church many Christians (or saints) were killed for their faith.  The church often took time to say prayers of thanks for the saints that went before them.

As early as 270 AD there are records of holding all night prayer vigils in memory of those who died in the faith.

November 1 was set as the official All saints Day under Emperor Charlemagne in the 800s.  Yes, they did place it to coincide with a Celtic pagan festival known as Samhain.  The Celtic people believed that the night of October 31 through the evening of Nov.1 the boundary between worlds was thinner and Spirits from the otherworld could walk in ours.  The church often set it’s early holidays to coincide with pagan celebrations, so that the new Christian converts would not miss their old traditions.  In this case they equated the thought of traveling Spirits with remembering the dead.

Many people are critical about the early church setting our celebrations to coincide with pagan festivals in the area where the church was spreading.  This doesn’t  bother me.  Think of it like this:  You are an avid Star Trek Fan.  You meet someone who is really into Anime.  You want to share the joy of being a Trekker with them.  They say, “That’s all well and good, but I love my Anime conventions and our binge watching parties and the Anime chat rooms.”  Is it wrong to say, “Hey, we have conventions, and watch parties, and chat rooms, too!  Why don’t you join me for the next one.”  That is basically what the early church was doing.  “Oh, you have a big party in the spring celebrating the world coming back to life.  So do we, it’s called Easter and it celebrates God raising Jesus from the dead!  In the middle of winter when the days start getting longer again, you celebrate the hope that spring and longer days will return.  We celebrate the hope that came when Jesus was born.  And when you celebrate spirits walking about in our world, we remember those who have died and gone on to heaven.”  Maybe the church was being practical, maybe it was to make converting less traumatic, but I don’t think that it invalidates what we are celebrating.

OK, so back to the early celebrations.  As time went on there were fewer and fewer martyrs.  Thus, today, All Saints Day (Or All Saints Sunday, the Sunday Closest to November 1) we remember all of the our Christian brothers and sisters who have gone to join the Lord in the “Church Triumphant” in the past year.  (In other words, we remember those Christians who have died in the past year.)  We often say prayers of thanks for those who meant a lot to our own journeys of faith.  All Christians are considered saints.  It has nothing to do with how “good” you are.

Halloween is just a common name for “All Hallows Eve” (The Day before All Hallows Day, All Saints Day).  The traditions we celebrate are actually Medieval superstitions relating to saying the names of the dead.  Some of them probably are bleed overs from “baptizing” Samhain into All Saint’s Day for our Celtic forefathers and mothers.  In the Middle Ages people believed that the evil spirits got agitated knowing that the “good” souls were going to get prayed for and they were not.  So people dressed up as ‘evil” spirits to fool the restless spirits that were roaming about feeling jealous about the holiday to come.  That is where the tradition of dressing up as ghosts and goblins came from.

The church has always asserted that the dead cannot harm you.  When you die, your soul goes immediately to either heaven or hell.  There is no lurking around to bother the living.  But it can be hard to convince superstitious people to give up their beliefs.

There are some churches that feel that dressing up as “evil spirits” leads to evil acts.  Many of them may not know the origin of wearing the costumes was actually to protect against evil.  But today I think the only evil temptations are to eat too much candy, or if you are feeling really naughty TP-ing trees, smashing pumpkins, or egging houses.  My problem with them, is that damaging property is NOT the way to love your neighbor, which is the second greatest commandment.

The Presbyterian Church as well as many others find no harm in trick-or-treating or dressing up for Halloween.  We just want people to remember that it is all in fun.  It is a good chance to get to know your neighbors.  Our HOA is throwing a Pre-trick or treat pizza party for the whole neighborhood so that we can get to know each other better.  I would also encourage you, as you enjoy Halloween, to take a moment out of your November 1^st sugar rush, to say a prayer of thanks for all of the people in your life who have made a difference in faith journey, especially those who have passed away and are now with the Lord.