{"id":8657,"date":"2024-01-20T00:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T00:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/?p=8657"},"modified":"2024-01-18T21:33:45","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T21:33:45","slug":"wpcu-2024-day3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/?p=8657","title":{"rendered":"Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWho is my neighbour?\u201d (Luke 10: 29)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lord, open our hearts to those we do not see<\/em><\/h2>\n

Additional scripture passages<\/span><\/h3>\n
    \n
  • Romans 13: 8-10<\/li>\n
  • Psalm 119: 57-63<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Commentary<\/span><\/h3>\n

    The teacher of the law wanted to justify himself, hoping that the neighbour he is called to love is one of his own faith and people. This is a natural human instinct. When we invite people to our homes, they are quite often people who share our social status, our outlook on life and our values. There is a human instinct to prefer places of familiarity. This is also true of our Church communities. But Jesus takes the lawyer, and his wider audience, deeper into their own tradition by reminding them of the obligation to welcome and to love all, regardless of religion, culture or social status.<\/p>\n

    The Gospel teaches that loving those who are like ourselves is nothing special. Jesus steers us towards a much more radical version of what it means to be human. The parable illustrates in a very visible way what Christ expects from us \u2013 to open wide our hearts and walk in his way, loving others as he loves us. In fact, Jesus answers the lawyer with another question: it is not \u201cwho is my neighbour?\u201d, but \u201cwho was a neighbour to the man in need?\u201d<\/p>\n

    Our times of insecurity and fear confront us with a reality where distrust and uncertainty come to the forefront of relationships. This is the challenge of the parable today: to whom am I a neighbour?<\/p>\n

    Reflection<\/span><\/h3>\n

    The Lawyer\u2019s Tale<\/strong>
    \nI love God\u2019s Law.
    \nI dearly, dearly want to keep the Law.
    \nIt\u2019s the foundation of my life
    \nand my eternity.
    \nBut I want to know how,
    \nI want to do it right.
    \nThat\u2019s why I asked
    \nwho it is that I should love as myself.
    \nAnd he answered
    \nwith a tale about a strange encounter,
    \nan encounter of strangers.
    \nAnd I will reflect
    \nabout the one who showed mercy.
    \nAnd I bear the challenge
    \nto be like that one,
    \nto walk
    \nin the outlaw\u2019s shadow.<\/p>\n

    Prayer<\/span><\/h3>\n

    God of love,
    \nwho writes love in our hearts,
    \ninstil in us the courage to look beyond ourselves
    \nand see the neighbour in those different from ourselves
    \nand to be the unexpected neighbour,
    \nthat we may truly follow Jesus Christ \u2013
    \nour brother and our friend,
    \nwho is Lord, for ever and ever. Amen.<\/p>\n

    Questions<\/span><\/h3>\n
      \n
    • Personal:<\/strong> Why do you think the lawyer asked his first question?<\/li>\n
    • Local:<\/strong> Who are the people who are excluded within your community and why?<\/li>\n
    • Global:<\/strong> How can you, and your church or group of churches, be neighbours to people in other parts of the world with whom you have little or no contact?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Go and Do<\/span><\/h3>\n
        \n
      • Personal:<\/strong> Think of a person you have never really thought of as your neighbour. How can you be a neighbour to them in a practical way?<\/li>\n
      • Local:<\/strong> Think of the church\/congregation geographically nearest to your own with which you have little or no contact, and make contact!<\/li>\n
      • Global:<\/strong> Take practical steps as a church or group of churches to be neighbours to the people of Burkina Faso.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        \u201cWho is my neighbour?\u201d (Luke 10: 29) Lord, open our hearts to those we do not see Additional scripture passages Romans 13: 8-10 Psalm 119: 57-63 Commentary The teacher of the law wanted to justify himself, hoping that the neighbour he is called to love is one of his own faith and people. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8648,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8658,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8657\/revisions\/8658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/burnheadchurch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}