Category: Living our faith

Good Samaritans I have known

On By fosteringyourfaithIn Living our faith3 Comments

Jesus told us, “Go and do the same” as the Good Samaritan.  Go and

  • Be that caring.
  • Recognize the need right in front of you.
  • Be willing to reach out to someone who is different than you.
  • Break down the barriers and go the extra mile.
  • Dare to speak up.

That’s what it means to love God and our neighbor. How do we do that?

Maybe we can be inspired by Good Samaritans we have encountered in our lives.  Have you met one?  I know I have.

  • The stranger who paid for my coffee in the drive-through lane.
  • The kind lady who allowed me to go ahead of her in line at the grocery store.
  • The thoughtful person who left scones at church for me and my secretary, with a note, “You are appreciated!” It made our day.

There was the family who gave me a ride to a distant city when I was in college. When I missed the bus to my summer job, they brought me to their home, fed me supper, let me stay overnight, and then delivered me to the correct bus in the morning.  I don’t remember their names, but I cherish the memory of their kindness and hospitality.

Good Samaritans are all around us, if we look.  I see them in

  • The volunteers who cook for our community kitchen each week.
  • The man who brings the newspaper in every day for his homebound neighbor.
  • The child who draws a picture to cheer up a sick friend.
  • The knitters who create prayer shawls.
  • The young mother who breastfeeds an abandoned baby in foster care so he’ll have a healthy start on life.

None of those actions change the world.  Neither did the Good Samaritan; he simply helped one wounded stranger by the roadside. But the story of his compassion is being told 2000 years later because he made a difference.

There’s much we can’t do.  That shouldn’t stop us from doing what we can. We need to share kindness. We need to love our neighbor. We need to go past our comfort zone and reach out to others. We need to recognize that stranger as another one of God’s beloved children.

We need to go and do the same.

Gross encounters of the unwanted kind

On By fosteringyourfaithIn Living our faith4 Comments

A woman in her 80’s stopped by my office this week to reflect on a time she had been sexually harassed by a college classmate. Although the event occurred decades earlier, she still hesitates to attend school reunions, fearful to encounter him again.  “Just seeing him makes me feel sick to my stomach,” she said, “Do you know what I mean?”

I do indeed.  I would be willing to bet that every woman understands. If we gathered a group of woman together, each one would have at least one story of a time when she was harassed, molested, assaulted or spoken to in a way that made her feel disrespected or dirty or ashamed. Or just plain angry.

It’s been all over the news lately. The politics of the situation are not as important as the need to have this conversation, to get the problem out in the open.  Our sons and our daughters must listen so they learn to treat one another with respect.

We can start by sharing our stories. The “gross encounters” that I have experienced are probably no worse than anyone else’s.  I could tell you about the time when

  • Two boys were playing a rough game of tag with me at a school picnic when I was eleven. Suddenly one of them grabbed me and pushed me to the ground, pinning my arms down while the other boy reached under my shirt.  I can still hear their breathless laughter. That ended when a male teacher yelled, “What are you kids doing?” He then went on to childe me about teasing boys.
  • I was on my junior year abroad from college, backpacking with a male companion by train through Europe. He behaved like a gentleman for our entire trip, living up to our agreement to travel as friends, despite sharing rooms and living in close quarters. But on a night train to Rome as I ventured down the corridor to the bathroom, a stranger lunged out of a compartment, pushed me against the wall, and tried to kiss me as his hands groped my body. It was only when I brought my knee up suddenly that he stopped and pushed me away.
  • I received an envelope in the mail filled with images of violent pornography after challenging my male college dorm mates about the volume of their music. “Women should be quiet” was the only repeatable phrase scrawled across the vile photos. I could never prove that it was them, but I always felt afraid when I walked by their room.

Many women have experienced much worse.  Many women live in fear every day.

Every Sunday I announce God’s grace and forgiveness by announcing, “You are cherished by God.”  I want everyone in my congregation to know they are created in God’s image and deserve to be treated with respect.  Gender, race, sexual orientation – none of that matters. The person you see in the mirror – that person is God’s beloved.

Imagine how different the world would be if we treated one another that way.