Lenexa UMC Devotion

LUMC Devotion “O Lord, who may abide in your tent? Who may dwell on your holy hill? Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right, and speak the truth from their heart; and do not slander with their tongue, and do no evil to their friends, nor take reproach against their neighbors….” (A Psalm of David Ps. 15:1-3) “And who is my neighbor?”, the young man asks Jesus. And Jesus told him the story known to us as The Good Samaritan. (Lk 10:25-37) Some background to refresh your memory: A Samaritan was the lowest of the low to a Jew in Jesus day, and vice versa. Hated, mistrusted, reviled, unclean. In Jesus’ story a Jewish man was attacked by robbers and left in the ditch for dead. Various devout Jews ignored his body, and passed on by, until…this Samaritan man saw him there and stopped, gave life saving assistance to this man, his enemy. The gist of Jesus’ story, pick your worst nightmare of a human, and like the Samaritan, treat that person as your neighbor. In our contentious time in which we are living, it behooves us to check the “ditches” to see who is lying wounded there. We are separated by so many barriers of mistrust, I don’t have room here to list them. Our “tents” have gotten smaller and smaller as our “welcome mats” are more and more restrictive. As you and I spend these few minutes in devotional contemplation today, maybe it is time for each of us to ponder who IS our neighbor? It is obvious the Psalmist understood what it takes to be one of God’s own. And our Lord Jesus understood who he expected us to be as we share this world with those around us….even those Samaritans! Or Jews! Or Republicans! Or Democrats! Or… In short: check those ditches. Your neighbor is waiting! Rev. Jan Hayen Subscribe to LUMC Devotions Lenexa United Methodist Church | 9138 Caenen Lake Road, [email protected], Lenexa, KS 66215 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!