Summer block-buster series 2020 part 1

Summer block buster series 2020

It a beautiful day in the neighborhood Part 1

Luke 10:36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked.

Luke 10:37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to our Summer blockbuster series 2020. It a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Fred Rogers was a musician, puppeteer, writer, producer, and Presbyterian minister.

He was ordained in 1963 with the unusual charge to continue his ministry with children and their families through the media.

His ministry to children reached millions through his long-running TV show on PBS, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.

Do you remember the PBS show “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood”.  It always began with Mr. Rogers entering his fake television home, singing the familiar song, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” and changing from his work clothes to the less formal sweater and sneakers, all the while singing the familiar song.

Play the clip of Mr. Roger singing at the beginning of the show.

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,

A beautiful day for a neighbor,

Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?

Won’t you be my neighbor?

Following this song, Mr. Rogers would then visit many of his neighbors, traveling to the Neighborhood of Make Believe by a toy train to visit King Friday, Queen Sara, and Prince Tuesday or visiting those in his own neighborhood who had different occupations and different interests. 

The point was that we did not have to all be the same to be neighbors.  Everyone was a part of the neighborhood and everyone was invited to be a part of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. 

Just as all were invited into his studio home, he, in turn, entered each of our lives and then essentially left everyone with the same message:  “Go and be a neighbor.” “Go and do likewise.”

On his show, Fred Rogers wasn’t afraid to introduce children to a wide range of concepts and help them navigate through some tough issues like cooperation, racial tolerance, divorce in the home, death, even 9/11.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award in 1997, and he spent his acceptance speech challenging everyone to reflect on all those who had poured into their lives, wishing the best for them.

He died in 2003, this was part of the legacy of America’s favorite neighbor.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is out in movie theaters, and the two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks plays the man best known for wearing sweaters, trademark sneakers, and for telling children how special they were.

He did it through music, through the use of puppets, and through lots of people visiting him in his neighborhood—a magical land of make believe.

Fred Rogers said this, “There are three ways to ultimate success. The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”

He set out to show people that demonstrating kindness is something that is possible for everyone.

Mr. Rogers got his passion for showing kindness to others from the Bible.

Colossians 3:12, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (NLT).

Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (NIV).

Galatians 5:22, 23, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (NLT).

Fred Rogers cared very much about boosting the self-image of everyone he met—especially children. He reminded them of how special and unique they were and told them, “There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”

And the message of his loving and kind words are now being carried to the next generation of preschoolers through the cartoon descendant of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood . . . Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Show the clip of Daniel Tiger’s neighborhood

Not too long ago a study was conducted in which children who watched this animated show on PBS were observed.

These children were found to have higher levels of empathy, were better at recognizing emotions, and were more confident in social situations than children who did not watch this series.

As parents and grandparents, it is our responsibility to help the next generation understand what it means to love and care for others.

We must show them what it means to show kindness to people—in the big things and the small things.

We must demonstrate what forgiveness looks like.

Jesus was talking about this need one day and it started out with a way of trying to catch Jesus up in his own words.

Luke 10:25 One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking Him this question: "Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?"

Luke 10:26 Jesus replied, "What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?"

Luke 10:27 The man answered, "'You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.' And, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

Luke 10:28 "Right!" Jesus told him. "Do this and you will live!"

Luke 10:29 The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Jesus said to this man: What does the law of Moses say? and How do you read it to be?

The man responded like this: “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.” 

Indeed, you shall love God with everything that you are.  And, just as importantly, (in fact, in order to DO the first part) “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

But just having the right answer does not necessarily mean that we know God. 

And when the man is told by Jesus to “Go and do,” he responds with his own trick question.  “And who,then, is my neighbor?” 

Because in the man’s mind and in the society in which he lived his righteous and good life, some were considered acceptable neighbors and others were not. 

Some were considered clean and righteous and worthy of respect according to religious law and some were not. 

Well, of course, the expected reply would be something like “your relatives and friends; those who live their lives the way you do in respectable and acceptable ways; those who think like you and believe like you—THOSE are your neighbors.

But Jesus, in true Jesus-fashion, turned the assumed law upside down.  Because it is not about laws; it is about love. 

Jesus begins to tell this parable:

Luke 10:30 Jesus replied with a story: "A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

Luke 10:31 "By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.

Luke 10:32 A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

Luke 10:33 "Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.

Luke 10:34 Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.

Luke 10:35 The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, 'Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you the next time I'm here.'

Luke 10:36 "Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked.

Luke 10:37 The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy." Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."

What I think is interesting is that Jesus does not describe the man. In other words, He does not say if he a Jew, Samaritan, rich or poor, No particular religion.

All we know about him is that he is our neighbor.  In essence, Jesus is saying “I do not know his name because it doesn’t matter.  Your neighbor is anyone who lies in need at life’s roadside.”

The first person that happens by is a priest who passes by.  Now, in defense of the priest, religious law dictated that he could only touch those who were clean. 

But all the priest would have had to do was wash ceremoniously and then he would be clean.

Then a Levite passes by, also choosing not to help.  As one who assisted the priest, perhaps he saw the priest pass by and assumed that he needed to do the same.

(OK, maybe he felt that he needed to do what the priest did but, really, if the priest jumped off that rather steep cliff on the side of the road, do you think he would have done that too?)  Truth be told, neither of them really had an excuse at all.

And then a third person who Jesus describes as one from Samaria approached the wounded man.  Now you have to understand that the relationship between the Samaritans and the Jews was anything but friendly. 

So here is this Samaritan—an outsider, an undesirable—treating and bandaging the man’s wounds, risking defilement. 

He then picked up the man and took him to a place of shelter, giving the innkeeper money out of his own pocket for the man’s lodging. 

He did more than just supply band-aids, though.  He entered the man’s life and shared his own life with him.  Go and do likewise.

We like this story of the hero Samaritan.  It makes us feel good about human nature.  So, it makes us feel good about ourselves. 

 Many of us focus in on the fact that the Samaritan shared what he had with a person in need.

The word charity, though, is not just about benevolent giving.  It is taken from the Latin “caritas”, which means a selfless and unlimited love shown toward all. 

It is agape, that unconditional, unreserved, and indiscriminate love that comes from God.  It’s a love that we sometimes have a hard time grasping. 

It does not rely on who someone is, or what status they are, or whether or not they are “one of us”, or even whether or not we know them. 

It doesn’t matter whether or not they deserve it.  It draws no lines or boundaries.  See, it is “caritas”, not our version of charity, but that was what Jesus was talking about in this story.

It means that it is no longer enough just to be nice.  It means that it is not enough to give out the time and money and love that we can spare. 

It means that this story is no longer about figuring out who your neighbor is.  It means that we are called to enter our neighbor’s life and allow them to enter ours. 

It means that we realize that, as this passage says, love of God and love of neighbor are inseparable. 

It means that we can become “fully human”, “fully made in the image of God” only by allowing ourselves to enter each others’ lives.

We need to see one another as neighbors in order to experience the community that God created for us. 

We are all part of the neighborhood.    We are all called to be a part of each others’ lives.  Go and do likewise.

I am grateful for the legacy left by Mr. Fred Rogers and his neighborhood. He demonstrated what Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote about in 1965 . . .

Jake and Hannah song, What the world needs now is love sweet love.

So, who, then, is my neighbor?  Turn and look at the person next to you.  That is your neighbor.  Do you see the one sitting several rows away with who you disagree?  That, my friends, is your neighbor. 

Do you see the person with whose lifestyle you do not understand, possibly do not condone?  That person, my friends, is your neighbor. 

Do you see that man who dresses differently, perhaps worships differently, the one that you do not understand and who may scare you a bit?  That man is your neighbor. 

One person said “I note the obvious differences between each sort and type.  But we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.” 

This parable defines everyone—friend, acquaintance, stranger, enemy, black, white, red, yellow, baptist, A/G, etc. as our“neighbor”. 

And then tells us, that we shall love our neighbor as ourselves.

And when we love our neighbors with the same intensity that we love ourselves, the differences become just part of us. 

They no longer matter.  The road is no longer wide enough to simply pass by on the other side.  There is no person who is anything less than a neighbor.

Yes, sometimes, being a true neighbor is controversial and even dangerous business.  Sometimes being a neighbor means risking or even giving up part of yourself. 

Henri Nouwen said, though, that “only when we have the courage to cross the road and look into one another’s eyes can we see that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family.”

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

So, look around the neighborhood and imagine it the way God intends for it to be and then go and do likewise.  

And it’s always a beautiful day in this neighborhood.