Who Is Our Neighbor?

When the Samaritan was on the road he met an injured man needing help. Two men saw him and went on their way. The Samaritan, an outcast, was the only one who stopped. Turning toward the other, he gave what he had—himself.

In the summer of 2009, Abbey Way focused on answering the question “Who is our neighbor?”  We intentionally put our whole selves in places to listen to what God wants to say to us as a church community. The story of the Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 gave us some clues to help us discover the answer.

The first step is to SEE.

The second step is to STOP.

The third step is to BE AVAILABLE.

It is when we SEE, STOP, and BE AVAILABLE on the road we already are on, will we be able to answer the question: “WHO is our NEIGHBOR?”

DEFINITIONS: “What is a neighbor?”

According to Merriam-Webster, a neighbor is “one living or located near another.” For our use at Abbey Way, we will use the word “neighbor” to describe those who are located near us. Neighbors can be living next to us or sharing the wall of our cubicle at work. Neighbors can be that person who we buy coffee from on Saturday morning or the clerk we see each week at the grocery store. Neighbors can be found in the places we inhabit or are connected to organizationally. Neighbors are not necessarily friends but can be. Neighbors are not necessarily people we always like but it is nice when we have some commonality between us. Neighbors are “people we are near along the way.” We choose to make space for them in our lives because God has already put them there.

AND “What is a neighborhood?”

“A neighborhood is a geographically localized community within a larger city, town or suburb. Neighborhoods are often social communities with considerable face-to-face interaction among members” (Wikipedia). The city of Minneapolis is made up almost ninety neighborhoods. Each larger geographic division, the city calls a community, is subdivided into a smaller area called a neighborhood. They all have a name and shared history. Some function like a social community with lots of face time, neighbor to neighbor, others do not. We want to get to know the neighborhoods of Minneapolis and we’re doing it in a variety of ways.

We invite your continued prayer as we seek God for where we are to be and what we are to do as we listen for the answer to the question: “Who is our neighbor?”