Loving All Our Neighbours

The Peaceable Kingdom -- John Swanson

Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery,   of living things, diverse and interdependent,
   of complex patterns of growth and evolution,
   of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls,
we sing of God the Creator,
the Maker and Source of all that is.

Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator,
   who is both in creation and beyond it.
All parts of creation, animate and inanimate, are related.
All creation is good.
We sing of the Creator,
   who made humans to live and move
   and have their being in God.

A Song of Faith United Church of Canada 2006

I mention in today's Lion Lamb blog that the Hebrew scripture lectionary passages for this Sunday speak strongly to God's embrace of the vulnerable, including migrants, which is then strongly supported by Jesus' call to love God and to love our neighbours as we love ourselves.

Of course, these passages are so topical as the "stranger danger" of migrants is spouted by the American president and his minions in the days before mid-term elections.
 
There has also been a lot of grim environmental news in recent days, so the reading from Mark's gospel also invites us to answer the question: "who is my neighbour?" Is it just the elderly person who lives two doors down or are the insects whose populations are collapsing, or the disappearing mammals and sea creatures our neighbours? In Luke's gospel Jesus follows up his comments about neighbourliness with the parable of the Good Samaritan, a story which pushes his listeners out of their comfort zone.

The respected United Church theologian Douglas John Hall was well ahead of his time when he claimed that the central significance of Imago Dei -- created in the image of God -- is the human responsibility to care for all of creation. In this view, God has given humankind unique responsibility to tend this planetary garden, the creation, as a wise, passionate, loving caregiver. The human calling within the created order is to reflect the Creator's loving purpose.

I may not have been filled with love of neighbour as I swatted mosquitoes this summer and I preferred not to meet my neighbour when we saw mounds of bear scat on our hikes in the wilds of Nova Scotia. But we don't always get to choose our neighbours and, truth be told, they may be thinking "there goes the neighbourhood" when we humans show up.

I'll attempt to listen to Jesus as he speaks to me, and expand my horizons. I figure that both God and the planet are depending on us.