Advent 3: Love – God’s neighborly economy
“He who has two coats, let him share with him who has none; and he who has food let him do likewise.”
Scripture reading: Luke 3: 10-18
Meditation
“Today’s gospel shows John the Baptist compelling people to act differently. John challenged his listeners to turn the world upside down by acting neighborly.
“John called people to repent from the dominant perspective (in the first century and it is still true today) where there are no neighbors, but only competitors, rivals, and threats. John the Baptist pointed to the non-negotiable biblical ethic that you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself.
“The Bible is unflinching and unambiguous in its identification of the neighbor: widow, orphan, immigrant, the poor, lepers, the blind, deaf, lame … all those without viable resources or reliable advocacy. These are the proper concern of the public economy.
“We are learning, slowly, locally, and daily, that common resources can indeed be shared generously. Such generous sharing is…neighborliness. It is this common-sense sharing of public resources that is the theme of the church concerning economics.”
~ Walter Brueggemann
John’s call is to radical neighborliness. In stark contrast to the individualism that our culture makes “normal,” Advent points to a different way.
“Which neighbor do you think should not have health care? The child of which neighbor do you think should be denied an education that is as good, responsible, and well-funded as the education of every other child? Which neighbor do you think should not have adequate secure housing? Which neighbors should work for low pay?”
~ Walter Brueggemann
How we answer such questions with our money, our policies, and our lives shapes the world we live in. John points to the coming of Jesus, who showed us how to live with radical neighborly love and promised to empower us all to do likewise.
Prayer
God of abundance, we hear the call of John the Baptist as your call to love our neighbors. Teach us how to love and to share. Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus, and help us learn to love and share as you do. Amen.
GHM Partner Story - Cameroon
Multiple times a year for 37 years, a sea container arrives in Cameroon filled with vital supplies and equipment to empower the ministry in northern Cameroon. Dedicated nurses like Mr. Djim, the head nurse of the operating theater at Ngaoubela Protestant Hospital, bring their training and compassion to work utilizing these supplies
With skill and resourcefulness, Djim is able to provide care for his patients, but he also relies on the generosity of neighbors he will never meet. Much of the equipment and many of the medical supplies in Ngaoubela’s operating room have been sent in those GHM containers, freely shared by individuals and health systems in the US who respond to the needs of people who have fewer resources of their own. That generous sharing is neighborlinesss.
We give thanks for Djim and our partners around the globe who provide care to all who come to them for healing, and for those whose sharing makes this possible. Healing happens every day in GHM’s partner health centers - and many days, lives are saved - because dedicated nurses like Djim bring their skills and compassion to work to help their neighbors.