Sermon 2019.05.05
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
(Luke 10:25-28; sermon 1 of 4 in series “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”)

1. Television preacher.  When I say the words “television preacher,” you probably have a certain image in mind: a bible-thumping, brassy, bigger-than-life showman who alternately casts out demons, consigns sinners to hell, and ask for your money. I don’t mean to demean TV preachers, who do a lot of good work and spread the good news to folks who might otherwise miss out – but there is kind of a stereotype going on there.

But the longest running TV pastor was a much gentler sort. In fact you may not have even realized he was a pastor. That’s right… Mr. Rogers. Fred Rogers was ordained as a Presbyterian pastor in 1963. By that time, Rogers had already been working in television for a while, developing children’s programming. 

In 1968 his long-running hit show debuted, and for the first time people heard Rogers sing:

It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor,
Would you be mine? Could you be mine?

Although Rogers never explicitly talked about his faith on his show, every aspect of “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” was based on his gentle Christian values of love and respect.

2. Mr. Rogers preaches.  There are a lot of Fred Rogers stories about how he genuinely cared for children and tried to teach them values of love and respect. But perhaps my favorite Mr. Rogers story comes from his acceptance speech at the 1997 Emmies, when Rev. Rogers preached to the adults. This was narrated by Tom Junod in an article for Esquire magazine:

Mister Rogers went onstage to accept the award – and there, in front of all the soap opera stars and talk show sinceratrons, in front of all the jutting man-tanned jaws and jutting saltwater bosoms, he made his small bow and said into the microphone, “All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Ten seconds of silence.” And then he lifted his wrist, looked at the audience, looked at his watch, and said, “I’ll watch the time.” There was, at first, a small whoop from the crowd, a giddy, strangled hiccup of laughter, as people realized that he wasn’t kidding, that Mister Rogers was not some convenient eunuch, but rather a man, an authority figure who actually expected them to do what he asked. And so they did. One second, two seconds, three seconds—and now the jaws clenched, and the bosoms heaved, and the mascara ran, and the tears fell upon the beglittered gathering like rain leaking down a crystal chandelier. … And Mister Rogers finally looked up from his watch and said softly, “May God be with you” to all his vanquished children.

Preach, Reverend Rogers, preach!
3. The royal law.  Of all the Christian values espoused on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood,” the one that undergirded everything was the royal law of love – “love your neighbor as yourself.” In our scripture reading today, Jesus pairs this verse from Leviticus 19:18 with a quote from Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.” Together they form what we know as the greatest commandment. 

Love God, love neighbor – Jesus explains that all the law and the prophets hang on these words (Matthew 22:40). Love your neighbor is called the royal law “because it is the supreme law that is the source of all other laws governing human relationships.”

The royal law of love is what the Apostle Paul calls the more excellent way (1 Corinthians 12:31). In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul points out that if you’re right, but not loving, you are just an annoying noise. Truth must always be spoken with love; good deeds must always be done in love; faith must always be lived out with love.

4. God in the neighborhood.  We often think these are two different verses: “Love God,” and also “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” But Jesus pairs them to make a point.

We often think of God as being “up there” in heaven, while we humans live “down here” in the muddy, messy reality of the world. But the whole point of Jesus Christ is that God traded “up there” in order to move in “down here.” I love the way Eugene Peterson phrases John 1:14 in The Message, “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son!”

Furthermore, we believe that each and every person carries a spark of God’s image within them. Each and every person reflects something good about God. So when we love our neighbors, we are loving God. You can’t separate one from the other.

5. Year of connection.  For Onalaska United Methodist Church, 2019 is our year of connection. Back in January, our church leaders set three goals for connecting – connecting with our own congregational family, connecting with our immediate neighbors, and connecting with our community. 

This month we are going to focus on connecting with, and loving our neighbors. By neighbors, we mean the folks who live next door, across the street, or down the block – whether at your house, or my house, or right here around the church. Think about it… what do you really know about the folks next door? Our challenge this month is to get to know our neighbors better… to walk down the street, or lean over the fence, and learn what there is to love about the folks who live next door. 

Because our neighbors are the gifts God has given us. When you think about it this way, it really is a beautiful day in the neighborhood, isn’t it?