Won’t You Be My Neighbor

“It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Won’t you be mine? Could you be mine?  Won’t you be my neighbor?”

Most of us can sing that song completely, or at least hum the tune.  Mr. Rogers was always talking about neighbors and how we should be treating them. He was on to something for all those years on PBS, and it finally sank in to my brain!

The Mr. Rogers theme song was what I was humming in my head many mornings as the pastoral staff worked through a book on neighborhood mapping. This is a process to examine a specific area of the city looking for needs, concerns, problems, and worries. Then we were to pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us to fill any needs that we could.

The area I was led to was downtown Columbus, or 31901. I am in that area every day when I go to the gym, or when I walk the River Walk with a pastor friend from Lakewood Baptist in Phenix City.  He owns a business that is adjacent to an area used by homeless families.

For many months while walking, we have been talking about the homeless situation and the needs in that area.  One of the exercises from our book is to find a person who is making an impact in the area of concern and find out the needs. I began praying for guidance from the Holy Spirit. It was amazing how God put people in my path, ideas in my head, and a true burden for the children in this zone.

The people in this area are my neighbors too. Yeah, that lady next door (with the perfect yard) is my neighbor.  Also, the family in 31901 with an average annual income of $14,000 is my neighbor. The people living in the park downtown are my neighbors. On one particular afternoon as I was walking, I passed a mom and her daughter sitting on a bench on the River Walk. They were simply sitting and staring out onto the river. As I passed this homeless family, I caught the eyes of the child who looked at me with the most haunting sad look. I see that little girl every day in my thoughts. She is my neighbor.

The needs in this area are many — some might say overwhelming. But the God we serve is bigger than all of it. We need to start somewhere. So, we took a gift of love to the teachers who are in the downtown area. Included with the gift, we sent a note of encouragement and told them we are praying for them. They are making a huge impact on these kids, and we want them to know how much we appreciate it.

The next step is to teach our children who their neighbors are. During Kids JAM we will be learning more about this and will be implementing a program that we are calling No WALLS for the Valley.

Did you know that more than 94% of all the miracles Jesus did were OUTSIDE the WALLS of the Temple. In the words of Jesus, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

See the first word is GO. We are not to wait for them to come inside our walls — GO TO THEM. So, hum along with me and that famous song — will it be a good day for a neighbor? Let’s see what love can do.