Ways to love your neighbor

#ThinkAheadThursday!

If you do not follow our church Facebook page, you may not be familiar with Think Ahead Thursday. This is a weekly opportunity to receive a preview of the upcoming sermon. It’s meant to get us thinking about the sermon topic and wrestling with the Scripture passage before hearing some of my thoughts on Sunday.

As we’ll see in more detail Sunday, Jesus really wants us to love our neighbors. Now is a terrific, and important, time to take this message to heart and into practice.

Sunday’s main text is Mark 12:28-34.

Jesus is asked by a scribe: “Which commandment is the first of all?”

“Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Our job is to take this Great Commandment (the dual commandment to love God and neighbor) and apply it to our own circumstances.

Namely, how do we love our neighbor in light of this pandemic and the accompanying social distance and isolation?

Here are some thoughts on practical ways to love our neighbors:

• Reach out
  • Call, email, text, video chat, etc. more people than you normally do. Check in on friends, family, and colleagues. A conversation can show someone love in a few ways: it can let them know they’re cared for and it can take their mind away from the anxiety caused by this pandemic.
• Pray
  • Pray for your neighbors. That may sound obvious, but we are in a period where some of us have more time and space to pray.
• Donate
  • Find ways to help organizations that help neighbors, such as food pantries
    • Interfaith Social Services in Quincy is asking for financial help. You can do so here.
  • Our church’s Deacons Fund is there to help church members during financially hard times. While we do not know what the future holds, this could certainly be the case for many of us. You can donate to the Deacons Fund to help the neighbors in our church.
• Patronize small businesses
  • Owners and employees of small, local businesses are our neighbors. Safely find ways to continue patronizing these businesses. One idea I’ve seen: order takeout from local restaurants. Or, if you’re not comfortable with that, purchase gift cards that you can use in the future.

What are some other ways you are loving your neighbor during this period?