Sing (as I take off my shoes and put on comfy shoes): It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor, Would you be mine? Could you be mine? It's a neighborly day in this beautywood, A neighborly day for a beauty, Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Please won't you be my neighbor?
Hi neighbor, I'm glad we're together again.
That’s part of the iconic theme song from the children’s TV show: Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. Fred Rogers died twenty years ago this coming Monday. He once said, “I have really never considered myself a TV star. I always thought I was a neighbor who just came in for a visit.”
We all have neighbors. People who live next to us. People who have a locker near us at school. People with a desk near us at work or school. Even people around you right now could be considered neighbors . . . especially for those of you who sit in the same place each Saturday/Sunday.
What is an ideal neighbor? Lifestyle Magazine says its one who is: friendly, quiet, respectful, mature, helpful, trustworthy and tidy.
Mr. Rogers says, “I believe that appreciation is a holy thing--that when we look for what's best in a person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does all the time. So in loving and appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something sacred.”
I think Mr. Rogers would be an ideal neighbor. And maybe there’s a Mr. Roger’s living next door to you. How well do you know your neighbors? Do you even know who your neighbors are? Especially those who live in apartments. Do you know their names or anything about them?
In the gospel, we hear the classic story of Jesus being tempted by the devil. Now the image that I want to present to you (and this came from my 30-day silent retreat a year ago January), is that Jesus was not in distress. Instead, his 40 days in the desert were one of joy, maybe with him singing and dancing. And NOT doing the “woe is me, I am so lonely.” But instead, “This is great, I can’t wait to start calling the disciples and go spread the good news.” So with that way of thinking, the “temptations” were more like, “Oh come on Satan, that’s the best you got? [jokingly] ‘One doesn’t live on bread alone,’ or ‘Don’t put God to the test’ or ‘Get away, Satan.’”
But still he WAS tempted. And all of us face temptations, Maybe we could start laughing at them more and not “freaking out” over them. But a big temptation that ANY of us could have is to ASSUME things about our neighbors. For example, we see ONE thing, or we hear ONE comment and right away we LABEL them. It’s assuming a set of beliefs or values. And remember, when you ASSUME [hold up the word and then divide it: ASS – U – ME], you make something out of U and Me.
Again from Mr. Rogers, "All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we're giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That's one of the things that connects us as neighbors--in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver."
The danger with labeling is that is can actually cause us to unconsciously filter out and dismiss any information that contradicts what we assume. Hence we are tempted to stereotype. Often the reason we have tensions with neighbors is that we have a hard time processing information that challenges our pre-conceived labels.
Mr. Rogers, “We're all on a journey - each one of us. And if we can be sensitive to the person who happens to be our neighbor, that to me, is the greatest challenge as well as the greatest pleasure.”
An initiative we present to you for Lent, is for you to get to know your neighbors. Look at the sheet in the pews. Here’s a challenge, see if you can identify who lives around you. Maybe that’s easy, maybe there’s someone behind or near you that you don’t know. And perhaps this little exercise will broaden you to think of others, which can expand to a larger sense of neighbor. As Jesus talks about in a different section of Matthew.
Perhaps as you look around you, you can start listening around you.
Rogers says, “Listening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.”
So we want this to be a good Lent for you all. We, as staff, want you to be successful.
Mr. Rogers adds, "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."