Who Is My Neighbour… Mattresses and Tariffs

This morning I was honoured to be with the family of Robert (Bob) Adsett to share our collective grief and celebrate his life. This afternoon after visits at the hospital I visited three inmates at Westmoreland Institution. And then, to end the day I visited with Eunice, the widow of Harvey Hanomansing a former educator in the Sackville and Dorchester area.

The funeral gathering was such a beautiful experience of community! The hospital was its usual self: miracles and sufferings, trauma and hope. And at the Institution mattresses were the talk of the day as earlier that morning the officers had, in the words of the inmates, ‘raided the houses and removed any extra mattresses all the chairs that were even remotely comfortable.’

Of course there is a reason for the removal of the mattresses and chairs. Some men had three or more of the thin foam mattresses on their steel bed frames and they likely exceeded fire code regulations. That the institution is in compliance with fire code will be little comfort for many of the guys tonight when they go to bed. 

And as for tariffs, well, I suspect there is much discomfort among many as they review the losses in the market and are faced with continued uncertainty… and so, perhaps all we can do in this moment is remember that we are neighbours to one another… in very real and immediate ways, and strive to help one another as best we can.

As the request of a few folk who were present at the funeral this morning I offer the text of what I shared this morning:

Luke 10:25-37 (New Inclusive Bible)

An expert on the Law stood up to put Jesus to the test and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?”

Jesus answered, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”

The expert on the Law replied:

“You must love the Most High God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your strength

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus said, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you’ ll live.”

But the expert on the Law, seeking self-justification, pressed Jesus further: “And just who is my neighbour?”

Jesus replied, “ There was a traveler going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell prey to robbers. The traveler was beaten, stripped naked, and left half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road ; the priest saw the traveler lying beside the road, but passed by on the other side. Likewise there was a Levite who came the same way ; this one, too, saw the afflicted traveler and passed by on the other side.

“But a Samaritan, who was taking the same road, also came upon the traveler and, filled with compassion, approached approached the traveler and dressed the wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then the Samaritan put the wounded person on a donkey, went straight to an inn and there took care of the injured one. The next day the Samaritan took out two silver pieces and gave them to the innkeeper with the request, ‘Look after this person, and if there is any further expense, I’ll repay you on the way back.’

“Which of these three, in your opinion, was the neighbor to the traveler who fell in with the robbers?”

The answer came, “The one who showed compassion.” Jesus replied, “Then go and do the same.”

Wendell Berry, Racism and the Economy

If we are looking for insurance against want and oppression, we will find it only in our neighbors' prosperity and goodwill and, beyond that, in the good health of our worldly places, our homelands. If we were sincerely looking for a place of safety, for real security and success, then we would begin to turn to our communities - and not the communities simply of our human neighbors but also of the water, earth, and air, the plants and animals, all the creatures with whom our local life is shared.

A Reflection

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit everlasting life?”

On the surface this is an interesting question. Some might even suggest that it is a deep spiritual and existential question… but the storyteller, sees right through that and writes, “But the expert on the Law, seeking self-justification, pressed Jesus further: “And just who is my neighbour?”

The expert on the Law wants to talk about everlasting life and Jesus by way of a question reminds them that the Law governs this life, today, here, now, this moment:

“You must love the Most High God

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

with all your strength

and with all your mind,

and your neighbor as yourself.”

Your neighbour as yourself.

Bob never once asked the comeback question as asked by the expert on the Law. Bob knew that we are all neighbours to each other.

Bob’s neighbours were his new community on the ridge who he would gladly offer whatever help he could – even his carpentry skills, such as the were!

Bob’s neighbours were the farmers that he visited in role with Agriculture Canada, as were the cows and other animals that he interacted with, including the orphaned puppy he brought home one day in the palm of his hand…

Bob’s neighbours were those that he worked with including a beloved friend of mine, and of the Sackville United Church, Wally Sears, a community journalist, and he expanded the neighbourhood by introducing his son Hugh to Wallie…

Bob’s neighbours were the Church communities that he was a part of, his Church in Ontario and then Salisbury United Church and finally Central United Church… churches that drew the circle wider and wider… extending welcome and affirmation to LGBTQ folk and others including refugees and other newcomers to Canada.

Bob’s most recent volunteer service was with the United Church Refugee Committee that welcomed a number Syrian newcomers to Canada. Recently another member of that Committee, as part of a United Church of Canada Centennial Project, sought to capture the impact of the experience. She wrote,

"It was a humbling and enriching experience to be able to engage in the sponsorship of new Canadians to Moncton NB. Teamwork prevailed, while providing community, integration, resource support, in the sharing of cultures, with the benefit of inclusion for all. Attitudes can be changed with love, knowledge and understanding.”

Bob would heartily endorse these words!

Love God, love the mystery of the Universe,

with all your heart, with all your soul,

with all your strength and with all your mind.

Read and learn, sing and offer praise, share of your time and talents… do all that…

And love your neighbour as yourself.

It is not complicated. It really isn’t. But we so readily mess it up because of our own self-interests and attempts at self-justification…

We are neighbours to one another in this room this afternoon… each of us knows the pain of loss and that experience and knowledge brings us here to share grief with Marg and Robert and Susan and Hugh. In the words of one of my vocational mentors, “we are more alike than we are different” and we are, despite what the current occupant of the White House would have us believe, we are naturally inclined to have empathy toward one another…  compassion.

It is such empathy, such love that leads to life everlasting… as we hold love in our memory.

Jesus shared wisdom through a story to an expert on the Law. Today, we tell Bob's story of loving God and neighbour. And Jesus' message remains: go and do likewise. May it be so. Amen.