Words of Life: Who is my Neighbor
We had a discussion on Race at Tigard Covenant Church a few Saturdays ago. We called the seminar Who is My Neighbor? The title was taken from the parable in the Bible called the Good Samaritan. In the parable, the Samaritan gives aid and comfort to a man that was beat up and left for dead on a roadway. There were several people in this story who shared the same race and religion as the hurt man who didn’t stop to help him. The point of the parable is that a man of another race and religion did the right thing and helped this man in desperate circumstances. In life, we often help people that are our friends or people that have the same common interests. It takes courage and compassion to help people that are different from us. The answer to the question, who is my neighbor, is everyone that we encounter that needs our help. When we care about everyone, we can truly discuss the subject of race in America with a different perspective that is more accepting than judgmental.
Pastor David Greenidge