Love Your Neighbor

I have a neighbor I don’t really like. She lives right above us in our six-unit condo building. I haven’t spoken to her since our big texting fight five months ago. Her number is blocked from my phone. Sometimes I’ve even used the “H. Word” to describe how I feel about her.

And yet, we have this sign in our shared yard (that I put there) Love thy neighbor. You’re black, brown, immigrant, disabled, religiously different, LGBTQ, fully human neighbor. And I really believe these things; except for the one neighbor who lives upstairs.

Jesus says to the people who challenged him about the greatest commandment, that we are to love God with all our heart, soul and mind AND love our neighbor as ourselves. Really Jesus? Even the one upstairs?

Maybe you’ve heard before that preachers often preach the word that they themselves need to hear. So you’re welcome to listen in today, as I preach to myself.

How can so few words be so difficult to live? It sounds simple. Love God with all that you are and all that you have and love your neighbor just like yourself. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all do that? Unfortunately, we are a long way from perfection. As we often say as Lutherans, we are both sinner and saint--perfectly and fully redeemed by God and at the same time always in need of reforming.

Maybe you can relate. How do you feel about your neighbor? Jesus says love your neighbor, but what if your neighbor is a pain in the side (or some other body part?)

Theologian Frederick Buechner writes in his comments about this text,

“By loving God and your neighbors, Jesus doesn't mean loving as primarily a feeling. Instead, he seems to mean that whether or not any feeling is involved, loving God means honoring and obeying and staying in constant touch with God, and loving your neighbors means acting in their best interests no matter what, even if personally you can't stand them.”

I like Buechner's quote because it allows me to act in my neighbors' best interests even while I am complaining about them under my breath. Maybe Jesus believes that if we do that long enough our feelings will begin to change. Or maybe Jesus doesn't care if our feelings change, as long as we act in our neighbors' best interests.

ELCA pastor, Sharron Blezard, writes, “ Love is patient and kind and all that jazz, but it is also tough. It works better as a verb than a noun. Loving God and loving neighbor is a lifestyle, not something one can turn on and off like a water faucet. It’s a process, not a one time decision. One grows into and leans into love. By engaging in a life of loving God and loving neighbor one chooses an alternative path, one that is countercultural and certainly less traveled.”

According to Buechner and Blezard, love is not about how you feel; it's about what you do, day after day after day after day. And according to Sevig, it’s not just about my neighbor upstairs or the one next door. We do not define our neighbor as people who live near us or share our values or like our social media posts. Our neighbors are the ones we usually consider as “other.” The ones who are part of the “wrong” political party, or whose skin color or sexual orientation is different from our own, the ones we criticize and demean on Facebook/Twitter, the ones who come from a different homeland or speak another language. Our neighbors are the ones we cherish and value and our neighbors are the ones we distrust and demean.

To love my neighbor as I love myself means that whatever perks and privileges I want for myself, I must also extend to my neighbor. Whatever rights I believe I deserve, I should make sure my neighbor has, as well. Whatever fundamental protections I believe I should have, from a roof over my head to access to healthcare to the ability to speak freely, I should work to ensure my neighbor has, as well. Under Jesus’ definition, there’s a world of people out there who are our neighbors whether we realize it or not.

In Thessalonians we read today what Paul said to the early believers who were learning to love God and neighbors in fresh ways. Paul writes, “So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also of our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.” Imagine a life lived in this way, where our deep connection to God in heart, soul and mind empowers us to love our neighbors, too, sharing ourselves in service to others.

“It’s Reformation Sunday today; instead of celebrating our Lutheran history and heritage, we need to ask what sort of reforms the church needs now. How do we love neighbors as ourselves in a reforming church? Do we need to address system racism, hunger and poverty that’s growing worse every year, protections for vulnerable neighbors? Who is not gathered around Christ’s table with us and why not? Let’s dream of a bigger reformation, one that looks at systems of power and Christ at work in the world today. Because of COVID-19, nothing is the same. So much of how we understand and how we live life has changed.” Could the pandemic reform who we recognize as neighbors and inspire us to love God and neighbors in new ways?

Many people have gotten to a point where they cannot talk civilly with one another or even listen to and consider other points of views. Where’s the love of God and neighbor in that? We need a reformation of love, dear friends, a divine overflow of love poured out for neighbor and enemy, a bridge of faith constructed across a chasm of despair and fear and anger. If we truly believe that Christ’s nature is love, then how are we doing as faithful reflectors and ambassadors for that love?” I believe we can do better. I know we can. I know I can, even with my neighbor upstairs.

It’s not going to be easy, but it is possible to love my neighbor, even the ones I don’t particularly like, because this love is motivated by and expressed through the unconditional love we receive every day from the Holy One. Whether we deserve it or not, whether we feel it or not, God’s love for us overflows.

“This Reformation day, let love be the mighty fortress that cannot be breached, and let love be our watchword and response in the days to come.”

Quotes from Justified by Grace Freed to Love by Sharron Blezard. https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/2020/10/justified-by-grace-freed-to-love/