These are our neighbors.
Well, actually these are snowmen….our neighbors made them.
We have the kind of neighbors you can call when you are running late and say, “Could you get Sam off the bus?”
The kind of neighbors who bring over pumpkin bread. Who we stand in the street with and talk about parenting and faith and raking leaves.
They make it easy to think about the word neighbor.
And yet, we know when Scripture speaks of neighbor, the concept of who that is expands. In the world we live, it keeps getting larger. We are connected in ways that I would not have imagined when I was in college. (Did I just date myself?)
When we hear the command, “To love your neighbor as yourself”, it is no longer just the view from my front yard.
But from my window view and our across the street chats, I learn.
To be a neighbor is to be available. To care. To put another before yourself.
To be a neighbor is to ask “how can I help?” And to sometimes help without even asking.
To be a neighbor is providing nourishment, for the body and soul.
I look at the melting snowmen. Grateful for the ones who made them. Grateful for a foundation that prepares me to be a ‘neighbor’ to those I meet as I enter realms outside these streets.
Ready for the one whose birth we soon celebrate. Who comes as a uniting force. A redemption of relationships. Come, Emmanuel.
