Who doesn’t love the story of the Good Samaritan? As a child, it may have been one the first stories I read in my children’s Bible. If you have not read the story recently, you can find it in Luke 10:25-37.
Jesus tells this story as an answer to a lawyer’s question, “And just who is my neighbor?” The lawyer expected Jesus to define the word neighbor as a Jew who lived in close proximity. However, Jesus re-framed the lawyer’s question, “who is my neighbor?” by telling this parable. A traveler understood to be Jewish is robbed, beaten, and left for dead alongside the road. Both a Jewish priest and a Jewish temple assistant do not stop their journey to help the injured man. Then a third man, a Samaritan stops to give aid – quite generous aid. What is notable is that Samaritans and Jews despised each other citing religious, cultural, and even racial differences.
After telling this parable, Jesus then asked the lawyer, “Who acted as a neighbor to the man who fell in the hands of robbers?” The lawyer answers correctly by saying, “The one who showed mercy.”
Certainly, we have a teaching by Jesus about the importance of showing compassion and hospitality to strangers. It is about practicing love in action, which reveals the fullness of the kingdom of God. And yet this is also a parable of Jesus. And Jesus always used parables to wake up his listeners, often using subversive means.
Like our world today, the social context of Jesus and the Early Church was a multi-ethnic world, full of tension, suspicions and hostility between groups. This parable was asking all listeners not to simply listen but to rise above such hostility and to cross the boundaries of the fear of cultural, religious, and racial differences. This parable is about blowing apart social prejudice.
When this Gospel was read out loud in the early church, Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians (who also had trouble mixing) were being invited to come together, to hold hands, to touch one another, to get close, to become neighbors as illustrated by Jesus.
I cannot help but be reminded of a contemporary figure who – like Jesus – worked constantly to show us that a neighbor was not someone who lived in close proximity, or someone who looked and acted like us. Like Jesus, he used stories to show us that being a neighbor was love in action. And like Jesus, he was often just as subversive. I am thinking of Fred Rogers.
Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. Then he followed Christ into the neighborhood and into television and into the hearts of children and adults alike. Fred had a vision that his television program could teach children about love and goodness and the dignity of every human being. And it was not just words. The people in his neighborhood, the actors he included in the series manifested diversity, including gender, racial and sexual diversity. Fred Rogers believed that cultural diversity and difference are to be celebrated.
There is one scene in the documentary of Mr. Roger’s career called “Won’t you be my Neighbor?” which reminds me of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Mr. Rogers was sitting on the edge of a children’s swimming pool holding a hose and spraying his feet. Onto the set walks Mr. Clemmons, the neighborhood policeman. “Oh hi Mr. Clemmons,” said Rogers. “It is such a hot day. I am cooling my feet with this water and it really feels nice. Would you like to join me?” Mr. Clemmons responded, “Oh that looks very nice indeed. But I don’t have a towel.” Mr. Roger’s had a towel around his neck and said, “That’s o.k. I am happy to share mine.” “Ok!” says Mr. Clemmons. He pulls off his shoes and socks and sits next to Rogers. Both men sit side by side immersing their feet in the water in the swimming pool. Sweet.
Sweet. But also, subversive. The year of that particular episode was 1969. Mr. Clemmons was an African American man sharing a foot bath and a towel with Mr. Rogers who was a Caucasian man.
This episode was created, filmed and aired by Rogers just a few days after a major news report. This news report had been widely televised, showing an angry Caucasian man throwing swimming pool chemicals into a public swimming pool where African Americans and Caucasians adults and children were swimming together. The pool had recently been declared as desegregated and yet here was this visible and violent display of protest.
Mr. Rogers had his own way of protesting violent action. He did so by reaching out to a person of color, demonstrating that it was a positive and pleasant thing to share water, a pool and even a towel. He could be subversive–just like Jesus!
Fred Rogers embodied what it meant to be a neighbor rising above prejudice and hostility. “Would you be my neighbor?” he sang; asking and living that question is the Good News in action. It is our highest calling. What neighbors, “others”, may fear and hate, ignore and exclude is ours to accept and include, celebrate and bless.
I often wish that Mr. Rogers was still alive to help us sing his song. “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. It’s a beautiful day for a neighbor. Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Since we’re together we might as well say, please, won’t you be my neighbor?”
Now it is up to us to sing and live that song. How do we sing the song of Mr. Rogers who sang the song of Jesus? By speaking up when in the presence of racist or sexist jokes or bullying. By making efforts to reach out to those of different races, religions, economic classes and cultures. By learning how to proclaim and defend the rights and freedoms of all people. And most subversive, perhaps reaching out to those of different political parties. These days, that’s a tough one for me.
Fred Rogers sang another song called “It’s you I like. You make each day a special day by just being yourself.” That was the message of Jesus. Jesus saw past people’s beliefs and practices (unless they caused harm and then he named it) and into people’s hearts and declared them good. Like Mr. Rogers, may we learn creative and perhaps even subversive ways to do likewise.
Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash, the pool scene can be viewed by visiting https://misterrogers.org/videos/sharing-a-swimming-pool/
Digging Deeper: The Art of Contemplative Gardening
Christine Sine’s latest book is packed full of contemplative wisdom and inspiration for creating your own meditative focus. Whether a beginner or an expert gardener, enjoy the process alongside Christine! You don’t need a plot of land or even a proper pot – any small vessel will do. Bring new life to your morning prayers. Click for more details!
by Louise Conner, originally posted on the Circlewood blog The Ecological Disciple here: The Art of Creation: “Back” and Its Stories
For the past 20 years, Isabella Kirkland has documented flora and fauna in danger of extinction through paintings that combine techniques of Old Dutch Masters paintings with scientific accuracy learned through past experience as a taxidermist and current experience as a Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences. Kirkland measures, photographs, draws, and observes firsthand (using live or preserved materials) the subjects of her paintings and then re-creates them with oil paint in anatomical accuracy and true-to-life scale. Each painting takes at least a year for her to complete, and each creates an awareness of the important of biodiversity and our current environmental problems.
Her Taxa collection includes six paintings that, combined, depict almost 400 species whose existence has each been deeply affected by human actions. Kirkland began working on the series after reading a list of the 100 most-endangered species in the United States.
Each painting in Taxa (the plural form of “taxon,” meaning order or arrangement), includes species of animals and plants who have been affected in particular ways by humans. The painting Gone features plants and animals that have become extinct, Trade—species that are harvested in the wild and sold through both legal and illegal markets, Collection—plants and animals that are treated as decorative objects, Ascendant—non-native species that have been introduced to the U.S. and are increasing and overtaking native species, Descendant—endangered species, and finally, the painting which I share within this post, Back—species which were either nearly extinct and have rebounded or were thought to be extinct, and have been rediscovered. In other words, species which have come back from extinction.
The forty-eight species in still-life Back have rebounded through sustained attempts to reintroduce them to their original habitats, and at times through sheer resilience.
Each of these species has its own story, many of which demonstrate the power humans have to change the outcome for species if research and sustained effort are brought to the work. Some in the painting, such as the bald eagle represented by the egg labeled #18, are poster children for regulation, education, and success; the stories of many others are less well-known.
Consider the Owens Pupfish (#35 in the picture). These natives of California’s Central Valley from the Owens River and associated sloughs and marshes, have an amazing survival story. During the California Water Wars of the 1920’s and 30’s, the diversion of water from the Owens River to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area eliminated most of the pupfish’s habitat. Introduced species such as largemouth and smallmouth bass, brown trout, bluegill, crayfish, and bullfrogs further decimated the population. By 1948, the Owens Pupfish was thought to be extinct. Upon its rediscovery, pools were built and barriers erected to keep out nonnative predatory fish, but in 1967 it was listed as endangered, and in 1969, the pools which provided its habitat almost completely dried up due to weather causes. Certain employees of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife were aware of the urgent crisis and raced to an area called Fish Slough with buckets, nets, and aerators in an urgent effort to save the fish. They put 800 of the survivors into mesh cages in a nearby pool, intending to move them to better sites the following day. But, before leaving for the day, one worker, Phil Pister, checked on the fish and realized they were dying from a lack of oxygen due to poor placement in the water flow. With just two buckets on hand, he quickly gathered as many of the still-living fish as he could fit into the buckets and moved them to nearby pools with more aeration. The species survived—because of intense dedication, passion, and hard work (plus a dash of luck). In this article, Phil Pister tells this story in detail, and also gives an overall picture of the importance of saving those species that are at risk.
As Isabella Kirkland herself says,
“In-depth study of a single species can yield a world of information: each life cycle is deeply entwined with that of others in its community. The more we learn about the intricacies of one organism and its ecosystem, the more we can see the limits of our current knowledge. The more we discover, the more we comprehend our responsibility for every other living thing.”
The Owens pupfish is just one of the species portrayed in Back—and its story is just one example. Each species has its own story. Some of those stories involve human care and intervention that can inspire us to act in similar ways. The Franklin tree (#32) was preserved by a man named John Bartram who collected seeds that grew into the only Franklin trees then still in existence and which all Franklin trees are now descended from. The dedication of Japanese ornithologist Hiroshi Hasegawa has brought back the once-believed extinct short-tailed albatross (#38). The large blue butterfly (#21) became extinct in Britain despite conservation efforts until the research of scientist Jeremy Thomas and associates was able to pinpoint the causes of its demise (an introduced species of red ants that instead of having a cooperative relationship with the butterfly as the native species had, instead attacked and killed them). As a result of this knowledge, the blue butterfly of Sweden was successfully introduced into an intentionally and carefully recreated habitat that met the needs of the butterfly, needs which had been discovered through this research.
Reading these stories brings home the danger of thinking that “small” actions have no real consequences in the bigger world. For instance, releasing an aquarium fish into the wild may seem like no big deal, but it can have effects on the natural populations that we may not foresee. Planting a nonnative species can devastate an ecosystem one species at a time if that nonnative species happens to be invasive or predatory to the native species already present. On the flip side, eliminating detrimental species can have a positive ripple effect as the native flora and fauna become reestablished and planting something that can create habitat for a struggling species in your area can be an important part of rebuilding the health of a particular species, and even by extension, an ecosystem. Through our presence, we change our surroundings; by caring and learning, we can make those changes positive for our environment, rather than negative.
If you want to find out more about some of the species in Back, check out the links included here: Forest Owlet, Cebu Flowerpecker, Madagascar Red Owl, Jamaican Iguana, Kakapo, Antiguan Racer, Lord Howe Island Stick Insect, and Lange’s Metalmark. You can also search for the other species listed in the painting key above.
What can be learned from the type of careful observation found in the art of Isabella Kirkland? Are there actions you can begin or end that can help foster the struggling plants and animals in the area where you live?
To see the rest of the Taxa paintings and more of the work of Isabella Kirkland, visit her website.
Feel free to contact Louise directly at info@circlewood.online.
Explore the wonderful ways that God and God’s story are revealed through the rhythms of planting, growing, and harvesting. Spiritual insights, practical advice for organic backyard gardeners, and time for reflection will enrich and deepen faith–sign up for 180 days of access to work at your own pace and get ready for your gardening season.
Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines …. The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover them sever as created free; free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. Hospitality is not a subtle invitation to adore the lifestyle of the host but the gift of a chance for the guest to find his own. (Henri Nouwen: Reaching Out)
In our recent Facebook live discussion on hospitality Lilly Lewin and I talked about the necessity for radical hospitality at this season in the history of our world. She began by reading this quote from Henri Nowen which made me realize that hospitality and justice go hand in hand. Living as Christ lived has at its centre a commitment to hospitality, not just to friends and family but to strangers as well.
Interestingly as we look back over the history of the human race we see that it was hospitality to wanderers, pilgrims and strangers that held society together. We see it, and often take it for granted as we read the Bible. In Genesis 18, Abraham offers lavish hospitality to three strangers that turn out to be messengers from God, but he did not know that when he invited them to stay for a meal. Jesus of course is constantly sitting down to eat with strangers that become friends, and he seems to delight in mixing city leaders with outcasts. He encourages them to sit down and eat together and often they become friends just by this example.
When we speak of hospitality we are always addressing issues of inclusion and exclusion. Each of us makes choices about who will and will not be included in our lives…. Hospitality has an inescapable moral dimension to it. It is not a mere social grace; it is a spiritual and ethical issueIt is an issue involving what it means to be human. (Radical Hospitality Lonni Collins Pratt with Father Daniel Homan)
We have become cultures of exclusion. We exclude the disabled, the old, people of color, the poor, the homeless, those of different religions. Sometimes we see those of us who look differently and think differently as less than human.
Tragically these last couple of years have not just disconnected us from others they have made all of us distrust those around us and think that the lack of hospitality, even in something as simple as smiling at a stranger or talking to the person who sits next to you on the train, is one of the reasons. Now is the time to venture out however and what we need to pay attention to is our need to socialize with strangers as well as family and neighbours.
This morning I read an article about a book by Joe Keohane called The Power of Strangers. In his review of the book Robert Shaeffler comments:
Keohane examines these issues within the context of overwhelming psychological research demonstrating that when we do connect with strangers, we like it, we value it, and want to do it again. And it turns out there are many people and groups that can’t wait to sit with just about anyone (who knew?) and have a good chat—on a street corner, in a classroom, at a convention–about your life, your worldview, even (gulp) your political ideas, all free of agenda and free of conflict. (The Power of Strangers by Joe Koehane)
I think it’s true. No wonder radical hospitality was so important for early Christians. The Rule of St Benedict affirms “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ, for he himself will say: ‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me'” and of course, as I often remind us Celtic Christians held the same view, seeing hospitality as a doorway to the kingdom of God.
When was the last time you talked to a stranger in a way that gave them the potential to become a friend, maybe not a long-term friend but at least a friend for a season? And when was the last time you sat down and had a meal with a stranger who was very different from you in appearance or behaviour?
Part of what I have missed in our social isolation over the last few years was the opportunities to sit down and share a meal with people from different cultures and perspectives. Hospitality is an incredibly enriching practice at many levels and I look forward to doing more of it in the coming months. How about you?
If you have time I hope you will watch or listen to, the video from Lilly and my last Facebook live session.
These beautiful prayer cards available for download include 11 prayers by Christine Sine and watercolor succulent design with contemplative imagery crafted by Hilary Horn. Each card provides a prayer on the front with a photo for reflection as well as scripture and suggested meditative response to the prayer. Allow yourself to relax, refresh, and commune with God through each prayer. Immerse yourself in the reflection as you give yourself space to enter into God’s presence. You can find Prayers for the Day in our shop, as well as Pause for the Day – a sister set of prayer cards with morning, evening, and general prayers to pause and contemplate.
Our contemplative service has been absent due to illness over the last couple of weeks and boy have we missed it. So glad to have it back today. Enjoy!
A contemplative service with music in the spirit of Taize. Carrie Grace Littauer, prayer leader, with music by Kester Limner and Andy Myers. Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license #A-710-756. Thank you for praying with us!
by Carol Dixon
God has boundless treasures to give us, and a moment’s sense of devotion is enough for us. We are blind who so bind the hands of God, and we stem the abundance of his grace. When he finds a soul imbued with living faith, into it he pours grace on grace, a flowing stream, which, when it finds a new outlet, spreads wide, abundantly.’ (Br Lawrence Day Conversation)
River Aln & Alnwick Castle
Rivers have always fascinated me. I grew up in Alnwick and often played by the river Aln from which the town takes its name – trying to catch tiddlers in a jar, running across the stepping stones or lying on my back in the sun on the grass opposite the ancient castle imagining knights in armour and great ladies in all their finery.
The Pastures, Alnwick
Beyond Denwick Bridge
Towards the Stepping Stones
In the summer our parents would take us to the beach at Alnmouth where the same river met the sea. We travelled by bus (not many folk had cars in the 1950s). I could see over the hedges and glimpsed the river from time to time wending its way to the sea, bubbling over stones under the bridges and opening out into the estuary full of sea birds. It was good to ponder its journey.
Prayer: (taken from David Adam’s Love the World)
Blessed are you, God of all creation, Creator
Of the great deeps, Lord of heaven and earth.
We give you thanks for the wonders around us.
We thank you for the rains that water the earth,
For sparkling burns and running streams,
For mighty rivers and reservoirs,
For clear refreshing water,
For sunlight that brings warmth and life to our world;
Blessed are you, God, giver of light and love,
Teach us to love and care for all living creatures
And for all green and growing things.
Show us we pray, how to cherish the land,
The air, the waters,
So future generations may enjoy their beauty
With wonder and awe. Amen.
Mudflats near Lesbury
Reaching the sea
One of my favourite writers, Margaret Silf in her book Landscapes of Prayer has written a wonderful reflection on the river in our spiritual lives:
You can keep on going to the same river, and even the same spot on the riverbank, but you will never see the same water twice. Rivers are wonderful teachers of how the continuum of our being can be perfectly balanced with the immediate present moment.
What does the image of the river mean to you?
You might like to look at the course of your own life in terms of the flow of a river. Where was its source and what or who were its early tributaries — those people, family or strangers, contemporary or long-dead, who influenced your way of seeing?
How has the river flowed, through the years of your life?
Times of quiet flow, and “white water” times when our lives hit the rapids. Sometimes the flow will have been brisk, clear and healthy, and at other times your life may have felt stagnant sluggish, or even polluted.
Through what kinds of landscape has your river flowed?
You may recall wilderness times, and times of great fruitfulness. Perhaps your river may has brought life to others’ deserts. Where is your river now, and how is its flow? How do you feel about its meanderings so far, and what are your hopes and dreams for its future course?
An ancient mystic tells a story about a river that could offer us a picture of our spiritual journey. This is how he describes his vision (Ezekiel 47 v1-12) (adapted by Margaret Silf)
My guide showed me a stream that had its origin in the sanctuary, but flowed out from there, under the threshold, all round the outside of the building, and finally found its course in the wider world. A man was trying to measure the river. Using a measuring rod he calculated a certain distance of the river’s flow and asked me to wade across the stream at this point. I did so and the water came up to my ankles. He measured a further span downstream and asked me to cross again. Now the water came up to my knees. A third time he measured off a span of the river, even further downstream, and at this point the water reached my waist. When he made his final measurement, and asked me to wade across again, it was impossible. By this point the river had become so deep and fast flowing that I couldn’t have crossed it. I was out of my depth.
Only when I realized that I couldn’t measure the flow of this river of life, and nor could he, did I see the river from a different perspective. Now it was no longer about how we could measure it out or cross it. Now the focus was entirely upon the river itself. I saw what the river was really about. I saw the fish swimming in it, healthy and full of life and fishermen on the riverbanks. I noticed that the marshes and salty lagoons along the course of the river came to fresh life when the living stream flowed through them, but that where this flow was blocked or denied or resisted, they remained lifeless and stagnant. I saw that the riverbanks were lined with many different trees, each bearing fruit in its season and with leaves that provided medicinal cures. And all this life, I came to understand, was sustained because the flow of the river of life had its source in the very heart of God, the life-giver.
When we allow the Holy Spirit to flow through our lives we often find that our times of prayer can flow like a river, following a sometimes winding course. At other times it is good to remember those times when God has refreshed and renewed us, leading us to sit by still waters with him and feel at peace.
One of the people who often walked with me along the river Aln during my childhood was my granny, whose faith had a profound affect on me and helped me to draw close to God. One of the hymns she taught me was about a river:
HYMN: Like a river glorious [Frances R Havergal] See it Performed Here by A Virtual Choir – Holy Trinity Church Dubai
1.Like a river, glorious is God’s perfect peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,
Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.
(Chor:) Stayed upon Christ Jesus, hearts are fully blest;
Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.
- Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the Spirit there. (Chor) - Every joy or trial falling from above,
Traced upon our dial by the Son of Love.
We may trust Him fully all for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true. (Chor)
A Blessing for today: (from Christian Aid The river of prayer)
May justice roll down like a river,
may righteousness flow like a never-ending stream
and may the joy of creation fill you anew
as you pray, act, and live
for the restoration of creation and flourishing of all people.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, And the companionship of the Holy Spirit flow into us and through us each day. Amen.
Featured photo by Carol Dixon, ‘Towards Cannongate” – youtube republished with permission. As an Amazon Associate I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links. Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
Enjoy A Sacred Summer
Summer is here! Let Christine Sine and Lilly Lewin guide you through the symbols of summer into sacred refreshment. Enjoy 180 days of access to retreat at your own pace. All the details can be found in our shop!
By Lilly Lewin and Rob Lewin
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.” LUKE 10: 25-37 NIV
Lilly asked me to write for Godspace this week, so here goes. This week’s gospel passage from the Lectionary is the parable of the Good Samaritan. Here are some take-aways that surprised me.
The religious person testing Jesus asks what he needed to do “ to inherit eternal life.” And after an accurate confession of the first two commandments, Jesus says basically “do that.” But the expert then says “Who is my neighbor” expecting something clear, doable and Jewish. So Jesus tells the story to him. Then he asks “who was this man’s neighbor?” The expert, unwilling to even say the word Samaritan, says “the one who had mercy on him.” And then Jesus does a “mic drop” that would have made his audience crazy. He simply says “go and do likewise.” What? No way. Jesus are you saying that an unclean person will “inherit eternal life?” That’s as far away from Hebrew orthodoxy as you could possible get! Or that eternal life is based on my action, not my beliefs? That’s “works!” Hey? What about the Reformation? This must be wrong! What about worship, singing, doctrine, theology, sermons and Bible studies? Jesus never retreats, never makes excuses, and never feels the need to explain. It’s as if he’s saying “Those are the words of the Son of God. Maybe you had it wrong. Deal with it.”
How do we deal with that? I wonder if we’ve built our lives on “go and do likewise” or we’ve built them on everything else?
What is your life built on?
I’m evaluating my life, even as I write, and it’s not a pretty picture. Over the last 4 decades, everyone in my life sold me something else to do in order to get eternal life . Eternal life had nothing to do with practicing hands-on mercy to suffering people. That was always a good idea, but last on the list. Was it for you?
And I wonder if 20 years of deconstruction has deconstructed me right out of “having mercy.” How ‘bout you?
On April 3rd 1968, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr gave a speech where he discussed the Good Samaritan passage. He thought that the Levite and Priest were afraid of what might happen to them if they helped the man. What if he was not really hurt? What if it was a set up? Then Dr. King changes the focus. He said what if the correct question isn’t “what might happen to me if I help?” But “What happens to HIM if I don’t help?” Dr. King thought that the lack of compassion not only leaves the suffering without help, but it also corrodes our souls if we ignore the suffering.
So for us, what do we need to do to “inherit eternal life,” or change our focus to what happens to the other instead of what happens to me?
What steps can you and I take to focus a part of our week on people suffering all around us?
Can you feel your existing schedule and family and expectations crowd it out before you even begin? Yea, me too! As I’ve worked at this, it’s not easy. The ” I’m too busy” screams in my head every day. All I can do is just keep moving forward…
Baby steps to becoming a really good Samaritan:
Journal or take a walk and tell Jesus how you really feel about this. Do you want to avoid this? Say so! What things stop you? We all have a million reasons not to take time to show compassion or help other people who are suffering. Jesus isn’t surprised by any of it. Scream it to him if you need to.
What communities are you already familiar that directly touch suffering people? Call them today. Ask how you could help. Just start somewhere.
Do you already see and help folks like Jesus said? How can you invite others to help, so their souls don’t calcify or corrode in the future? You’re a lifeline to them even if you can’t see it yet.
USE this prayer of confession and talk to Jesus about your answers to the above questions
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.
the good samaritan by rembrandt
USE ART to help you engage the Parable of the Good Samaritan
LISTEN TO RICHARD ROHR’S Sermon on the Good Samaritan
READ OR LISTEN TO MARTIN LUTHER KING’S SPEECH including the Good Samaritan
What do you notice? Take time to talk to Jesus about these things.
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
COVER ART “The Good Samaritan” by Vincent Van Gogh
Looking for hospitality inspiration? We have an entire resource page dedicated to hospitality. Find recipes and reflections on numerous hospitality topics, including Celtic hospitality, prayers, and liturgies. Click on Hospitality for more!
Editor’s Note: Each Thursday this month we will be featuring art centered around our current theme Living as Christ Lived: Towards Justice, Love, and Peace For All Creation. Please enjoy these creative reflections offered by our authors!
Part Two: Towards Love For All Creation Part Three: Towards Justice For All Creation Part Four: Living As Christ Lived Compilation Booklet: Free download!
Featured photo: Multimedia Painting by Keren Dibbens-Wyatt, Turquoise Tide
Doves
Doves alight on the tips of the waves
Bubbled, cooing petticoats rolling into shore
Proclaiming them well-loved with foaming wings
And we remember Him in the water.
Doves sat in baskets, on the Temple tables
Waiting in wicker for the death of innocence
His hand stays these tables, turning others
And we remember His gentle wrath.
Doves of peace come rolling into shore now
Riding the momentum of justice
With righteousness as undertow
And we remember His words to Amos
Doves cresting, crashing into shore
Washing away the stench of tepid praise
Crashing over the music become noise
And we remember His snowy silence
Doves’ wings could be called for now
To carry him to shelter, take him to safety
Far, far away from Golgotha’s storm
And we remember his Sorrows
Doves sent out now from the Ark
Of this New Covenant, this Crossroads
Offering olive branches to every sinner
And we remember His Sacred, trembling Heart,
His precious love-blood that will flood the world,
With Mercy and with Grace.
A Morning Prayer
This prayerful observance comes to us from Jenneth Graser, originally posted here. Photo is by Christine Sine, “Winter Sunrise”
A Morning Prayer
You will need: a bowl, some small stones and a candle with matches.
Place these before you as you find a comfortable place to encounter God in silence.
Opening reading:
“You lead me with your secret wisdom.
And following you brings me into your brightness and glory!”
Psalm 73:24 TPT
Meditations:
Father I give you my mind, as clouds on the horizon
bending over to wake up the sun from her slumber,
reminding the ocean that under her covers
a parallel world is waking up.
- Place into the bowl a stone of intention. The intention of interior silence.
Spirit, I give you my body, as a temple on a high mountain
where worship comes naturally surrounded by
winds blowing straight out of Heaven
and into my inner court.
- Place into the bowl a stone of worship. Your sound of worship.
Jesus, I bring you the energy in me, as lava in a dormant volcano
currently steaming with vapours and potential,
allowing the heat of your deep-inside love to build new lands
and restore the broken ground.
- Place into the bowl a stone of your dreams. The dreams buried inside of you.
Father I give you my heart, as an orchid ready to open
like a bird swooping
into the holy Trinity of you, always eager
to see and greet me.
- Place into the bowl of stone of your heart. As stone turned to flesh.
Poetry reading:
Walking softly on the surface of the earth,
each step holy.
Breathing together with the breath of
humming birds about their breakfast.
Taking in the dew-drop necklaces on flowers
shining with praise and prayer.
Being to you a friend on days opening wide
with wonder happening within us again.
It is too easy to rush by these gifts,
too easy for a day to sleep before the sun goes down.
Let us wake into your presence,
in one accord with all life is.
Let us create a moment by moment fellowship,
the sharing of what brings joy or pain.
Your hand rests on our temple
with lavish rest in time and place.
We will be kind to ourselves as well,
generous grace is meant for the sharing.
Closing reading and practice:
“Nothing is more appealing than speaking beautiful, life-giving words.
For they release sweetness to our souls and inner healing to our spirits.”
Proverbs 16:24 TPT
Light a candle in closing as you listen to (47) Requiem: The Lord is my Shepherd – John Rutter, Cambridge Singers, Aurora Orchestra, Thomas Barber – YouTube
Peace to You
Carol Dixon offers this sung version of “Peace To You” – a song written by the Monks of Weston Priory, and used here with permission. Listen to the MP3 Below
Peace to you and every good that life can bring. Evening’s song is calling us to wonder. The night has come and all is quiet now to end the day in listening… Shadows fall and linger long ‘till morning. In life’s hands today becomes a memory. Look up and see the vast and endless sky: who knows how far and wide the stars intensely shine… Calm again are hearts so weary from the day. Life gives peace and peace will bring the morning’s song, and peace will bring the morning’s song.
“Peace to You” © 1974 The Benedictine Foundation of the State of Vermont, Inc – used with permission
Pause for the Day – find a pleasant focus in this downloadable set of prayer cards inviting you to pause and restore. This set of ten prayers include three morning, three evening and four general prayers for the day. Each prayer is paired with a photo to help you focus and enter into that still place where you can hear God’s voice. On the back of each card is a short reflection or activity to deepen the impact of the prayer. This is a downloadable pdf. You may also enjoy its companion set of Prayers for the Day – 11 more prayers by Christine Sine paired with beautiful imagery by Hilary Horn.
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