Neighbouring as a spiritual practice

Jul 10

“Jesus replied, ‘ “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’ ” (Matthew 22:37–40).

Inspiring practices of faith based on the first commandment are mainstream in our discipleship process, but inspiring practices of faith that focus on the second command can be a little tricky. Seeing the way we interact with our neighbours, community members and strangers as a spiritual practice can be difficult because we have many differing approaches to how we view those around us. I’d like to suggest a couple of practices we can use to help the next generation demonstrate their love for God by choosing to love their neighbours.

Practice being friendly.

At times, this is the most challenging work of my day. It’s easy to go to the grocery store, pick up my essentials, and go through the checkout line without looking at the cashier. Making brief eye contact (too long is awkward) can bring humanity to our interactions. We don’t need deep conversations to show someone they’re seen and valued. Practice smiling and showing genuine gratitude in your daily interactions. Humanizing our interactions with others contributes to the biblical principle of living at peace with everyone.

Know your neighbourhood.

In their book, The Art of Neighboring, Jay Pathak and Dave Runyon suggest that we start by creating a map of the homes immediately surrounding our home. List the names of the people that live in each home and list something you know about them. This can be a family practice. If you don’t know their names, find a creative way to introduce yourself: bring them some cookies, shovel their driveway, or host a block party. As you put names and faces to your neighbours you can begin to pray for them and take an interest them.

Serve your neighbours without expectation of reciprocation.

I have cleared the snow from my neighbour’s driveway for as long as we have lived in our current house. Every so often, my neighbour would bring over a loaf of bread as a thank you. It was such great bread. In the last few years, we have new neighbours, and I have had to work with myself to cheerfully serve them even though they don’t bring me the occasional loaf of bread. For me it’s about answering the question, “Would the neighbourhood miss me if I was gone?” It’s the same question we ask of our church but made personal by identifying our “neighbours” as the actual people living in our immediate proximity.

Lastly, as the younger generations see us taking genuine interest in the lives of those we meet, we give opportunity to them to grow into a worldview that allows them to see the world through the eyes of others and ultimately see their neighbours through the eyes of God.