Won't You Be My Neighbor? - Fear of My Neighbor

November 4, 2018 Sermon by Pastor Melody Webb

​Scripture Lesson:    Luke 5:27-32
 
On a “Christ and Pop Culture” podcast in 2016, Christian writer Hannah Anderson presented an episode attributed to a particular episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” Here is her lead-in, which helps to give us a sense of what was happening in the real world at the time in which Mister Rogers created his Neighborhood:
 
“When Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood first aired in 1968 on a public television station in Rogers’ native Pittsburgh, American viewers were desperate for some good news. The previous decade had brought political assassinations, the threat of the Cold War, the Sexual Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam War; and television had delivered all of it right into America’s dens and sitting rooms. With this new technology, no place was safe from chaos and turmoil. No place was simply “over there”—every place was near; every threat, local; every conflict, personal. In many ways, television shaped and escalated the conflicts of the 1960s the same way that the internet shapes and escalates current ones, simultaneously expanding and shrinking our sense of community.
​
"Over the course of thirty-one years and 865 episodes, Rogers would use his Neighborhood to show the world as it should be—a microcosm of kindness where neighbors love and support each other through difficult times of death, divorce, and danger. It was also a space where Rogers helped viewers confront their own fear and prejudices, leading them past them in his own non-threatening way. From the beginning, Rogers specifically challenged the nation’s understanding of race through his friendship—both on and off-screen—with Francois Clemmons, the Neighborhood police officer who just happened to be an African-American.” 

In multiple interviews with Clemmons about his role on the children’s program, he remarks that he was skeptical at first about how a black man playing a police officer was going to do any real good in the real world. But Fred Rogers knew the impact he could have in teaching children love and tolerance instead of fear and hate. And so on a particular episode in 1969, the show opened with Mister Rogers sitting outside remarking about the hot day and how nice it felt to cool his feet inside a small pool of water. About that time, Officer Clemmons drops by, and Mister Rogers invites him to take of his shoes and cool his feet in the pool – with him!

​At the same time, in the real world, public swimming pools had become the most recent battleground for civil rights. Like the water fountains, lunch counters and busses of the previous decades, swimming pools had become the latest “whites only” territory in America. So much so, that many public swimming pools had been filled with dirt so that new pools could be opened in “whites only” private clubs and gated suburban neighborhoods. During this time, both black and white civil rights activists begin to stage “swim-ins” in motel pools and beaches, which resulted many times in police arrests and even violence.
​
​A now-famous photo captured a motel manager pouring concentrated hydrochloric acid into a pool of black and white swimmers, while a black woman clung to the neck of a white man while screaming in horror.

---

​In multiple interviews with Clemmons about his role on the children’s program, he remarks that he was skeptical at first about how a black man playing a police officer was going to do any real good in the real world. But Fred Rogers knew the impact he could have in teaching children love and tolerance instead of fear and hate. And so on a particular episode in 1969, the show opened with Mister Rogers sitting outside remarking about the hot day and how nice it felt to cool his feet inside a small pool of water. About that time, Officer Clemmons drops by, and Mister Rogers invites him to take of his shoes and cool his feet in the pool – with him! At the same time, in the real world, public swimming pools had become the most recent battleground for civil rights. Like the water fountains, lunch counters and busses of the previous decades, swimming pools had become the latest “whites only” territory in America. So much so, that many public swimming pools had been filled with dirt so that new pools could be opened in “whites only” private clubs and gated suburban neighborhoods. During this time, both black and white civil rights activists begin to stage “swim-ins” in motel pools and beaches, which resulted many times in police arrests and even violence. A now-famous photo captured a motel manager pouring concentrated hydrochloric acid into a pool of black and white swimmers, while a black woman clung to the neck of a white man while screaming in horror.
 
It was against this background that Mister Rogers invited his black friend to put his brown feet in the water alongside his white feet on public television. When they were done, Mister Rogers even took his own towel and dried the feet of his friend. And so the entire gesture seemed to imply something beyond mere tolerance. For those of us who know and claim the way of Jesus, it calls to mind Jesus’ extraordinary gesture of washing his disciple’s feet as he gave them a new interpretation of the great commandment: “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:34-35)

Last week, a person motivated by racial hate went into Mister Rogers’ real world neighborhood and took the lives of 11 Jewish souls while they were attending Shabbat in their synagogue. That day’s scripture reading was from Genesis 18, in which Abraham and Sarah are visited by three strangers. This passage stands as one of the great teachings on welcome and hospitality to all three of the Abrahamic traditions – Judaism, Islam and Christianity. We are told that when Abraham sees the strangers he immediately greets them, invites them into his tent, brings out water to wash their feet, and shares a meal with them. At the end of this passage we discover that Abraham and Sarah have actually been entertaining Angels – God’s messengers.
 
Do you remember the passage in Matthew 25 when Jesus explains to the crowd that anyone who gives a cup of water or bread, or who clothes or visits one of the least of these is indeed doing it to Jesus himself? Teachings throughout all of scripture point to a responsibility of recognizing the image of God in each person. If we are to take Jesus seriously about loving our neighbor, and about loving one another as we have been loved, then how can there be room for hate or fear of another?
 
In less than two weeks in our country there have been bombs mailed to prominent political figures; the shooting of two random African-Americans in a Kentucky grocery store, by a shooter who was unsuccessful in entering a predominantly African-American church with ill intent; the shooting death of 11 Jewish worshipers killed inside their synagogue by a man who was filled with hatred towards Jews and immigrants; and most recently, the shooting death of two random women in a Florida yoga studio by a man who had recently posted about his hatred toward women. I believe that we as Americans are at a crossroads when it comes to the rampant inciting of fear of “others.” And we have a responsibility as followers of the Way of Jesus to see the image of God in each person on the planet, and remember to show welcome and hospitality to the stranger and to the least of these. If we are bombarded with daily, sometimes hourly messages of fear-mongering and hatred, how does that affect us and our attitudes and actions? How can we resist these messages that are hurled at us non-stop from the 24/hour news cycle? And how can we become more open to showing God’s love and welcome toward our neighbors?
 
In the scripture reading from today, Jesus was welcomed into the home of someone considered by his religious community as an unsavory character, one of “those people” who had been rejected from the community. And the Pharisees, the group of ultra religious lay people of the community, pull the disciples aside to express their disapproval. But Jesus overhears and chides them. These are the people who need me! he seems to be telling them. They don’t know love and acceptance, and so I’m here to restore their relationship with God and with you! I’m here to bring the kingdom of heaven on earth, where every person has a seat at the table for the heavenly banquet – where no one is excluded or shunned.
 
For the next 10 to 12 minutes, we’re going to have some discussions with each other about how we are tempted to give in to the ideology of fear and hatred of others, and what we can do to overcome that as followers of Jesus; to try to encourage each other to show love and welcome to our neighbors – even the ones who don’t look like us, or think like us, or live like us.
 
I want you to get into pairs of two – you can move your chairs so that you face one another. And you’ll use the questions in your bulletin. Here are the ground rules:

1. You’ll each have two minutes to speak about each of the three questions. After two minutes, you’ll be given a cue and you’ll switch.
2. The point is not to convince one another of your answer – the point is to have an opportunity to reflect on the questions here, and to be heard by another person. This is an exercise in deep listening.
3. The role of the person who is not speaking is to listen deeply. That means: no interrupting & no arguing or disagreeing – you’ll get your turn to speak. But when you are listening, you are focusing on seeing Christ in the other person, and giving them a chance to be heard. You can ask clarifying questions, such as “tell me more about that,” or “I’m not sure I follow; can you elaborate?” But we’re not giving feedback – just listening to understand.
4. After each person has answered each of the three questions, I’ll bring us back together for a prayer.

 
Discussion time
1-Discuss the impact that the 24 hour media cycle has on your world view. What fears or assumptions have you formed about “others” based only on the news you have seen or heard?
 
2-Who are the people like the “sinners” and “tax collectors” in Luke 5 that are being excluded from our communities today?
 
3-Why is it important for us to remember that God’s invitation is for everyone? How will God’s invitation reach those who are currently being excluded, or of whom people seem to be afraid?
 
In several interviews over the past few years, Francis Clemmons reflected on a particular day of filming during their 25th year, in which Mister Rogers ended the show with the same words he said each day, “You’ve made this day a special day by just your being you. And I like you just the way you are.” He said only this day, as Fred Rogers spoke those words, he was looking right at him! So after filming ended, Francis walked over to Fred and asked, “Fred, were you talking to me when you said those words just now?” You see, Francis was also an out gay man, something he didn’t hide from Fred Rogers, but something he never discussed with him, because of the stigma associated with homosexuality. But Fred responded, “Francis, I’ve been talking to you for 25 years. But today you finally heard me.”
 
In closing, I want to ask you one final question: When is the last time you made religious people nervous because of the people you hang out with? If our call is to show love and welcome to those who don’t know Jesus’ love and welcome in their lives, how are we doing at being the one who shows them? These are all questions I want us to keep wrestling with – I believe it will help us discern the ways that God is calling us as individuals and as a church to help bring God’s kingdom of heaven on earth. Let’s pray.
 
How often, O Lord, have we believed that the greatest commandment is our love for ourselves solely. We have not heard the cries of those in need; we have turned our backs on opportunities to serve you by serving others. Many times we have thought only of our own wants and desires and ignored the needs of others. Help us to truly understand the commandments to love you with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. Let us care for our neighbors both far and near. Bring us back to your loving light. For we ask these things in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.