Who is our neighbor, really? For over thirty years, Mr. Fred Rogers invited each one of us to be his neighbor, old and young alike. Many of us along with our children grew up hearing his song, "I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you. I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you…Please won't you be my neighbor." When said sincerely, it is an invitation that is long-term, respectful, and full of the implication of shared experiences regardless of age difference or status, background or even language. A neighbor is one who can be called on in time of need whether it is for a cup of sugar to complete a recipe or hedge trimmers to attack a stray branch or comfort in time of grief. For a child, having a neighbor means having a playmate for which no special "play date" arrangements need be made. Instead there is the ease and freedom to drop in or drop out as the mood suggests. Fred Rogers offered in his song a simple relationship of welcome and commitment, one that is hard to ignore even for adults.

When the lawyer tested Jesus by asking, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus quickly replied, "You must love God and love your neighbor as yourself." Anxious to put boundaries and limitations on the requirements, the lawyer then said, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus responded not with an answer but with a story. In the end, as you remember, it is not the man of law nor the man of religion who helped the roadside victim. They had their legitimate excuses. Instead, it was the outcast, the Samaritan, who saw the victim as a human being, took him to where he could receive help, paid for his care and checked in on him again later. The lawyer was willing to admit that this was the one who proved to be a neighbor. Jesus then said to the lawyer, "Go, and do the same yourself." Jesus did not, however, answer his first questions, "Who is my neighbor?" but implied that it could be anyone whose need comes into our awareness, to whom we have the ability to respond. It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. It can mean unplanned detours in our lives.

During the Season of Lent, which begins on Wednesday and leads up to Easter, we are invited to reexamine what it means in our own lives to be followers of Jesus. We are encouraged to ask ourselves again if we are willing to take those unplanned detours for our neighbors, whoever they are. We are asked to commit ourselves to a world vision as seen by astronauts in space of a world without boundaries, without fences or walls, a connected neighborhood of all God's children and adults. Historically, Christians have given up something during Lent, candy or meat or movies, to help us remember that Jesus gave his life for his neighbors. More recently, many people have added to their Lenten practice an effort to do for others in some way, for the neighbor or the stranger. As part of that effort, Presbyterians join in a special ecumenical offering during Lent that is called One Great Hour of Sharing. The offering focuses on three areas: first, fighting hunger worldwide, second, creating small business partnerships for income opportunities primarily in developing countries, and third, responding to disasters which displace people from their homes such as earthquakes and hurricanes as well as war. The condition of the 20 million refugees worldwide is a particular focus of the offering this year, people for whom neighbors are lost and the future is lonely and life is uncertain.

In an article written about neighbors just last year by Fred Rogers, Mr. Rogers, he told the following story. "A Few years ago at the Seattle Special Olympics there were nine contestants for the 100-yard dash, all of them so-called physically or mentally disabled. They all assembled at the starting line. As they took off at the sound of the gun, one little boy stumbled and fell, hurt his knee and began to cry. The other eight children heard the boy crying. They slowed down, turned around, saw the boy and ran back to him — every one of them ran back to him. One little girl with Down's Syndrome kissed the boy and said, ‘This will make it better.' The boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked arms and joyfully walked to the finish line. They all finished the race at the same time. When they did, everyone in the stadium stood up and clapped, whistled, and cheered for a long, long time."¹ Rogers reflected, "Deep down we know that what matters in this life is much more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win, too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then."

In today's scripture, the writer of the First Letter of Peter reminds us of the same. Directed to members of the early church in Asia Minor, people who were living on the fringe of the political and social world, on the margins of life, the letter offers consolation and encouragement. "Serve each other with whatever gift each of you have received. Welcome each other into your houses without grumbling." At a time when hospitality was the basis and mission of the church as it still is today, when communities met in homes and not in large sanctuaries, when Christians were often strangers and resident aliens, the letter focuses on the priorities of love, hospitality, and service. The focus is on being a neighbor in all the ways that it manifests itself. The writer had a sense of urgency. "The end of all things is near," he said. Yet, even then, he didn't suggest waiting for injustices to be corrected by God when the end times arrived. Instead, his letter challenges us to change relationships, provides new ways of relating that correct abuses of power within our community, our neighborhood, and our world. As one congregant said last week, "What is God's responsibility and where does our work start?" It is a question that often makes us squirm.

Last Sunday night, the first of Westminster's two medical mission teams returned from a week's work in the eastern part of Guatemala. One thousand patients were seen in four different villages and many were referred to surgical teams that will treat them this Spring in Antigua. One story you will hear about during the team's report on March 30 will be of nine-year-old Henry Estaban, cerebral palsey patient from Cabanas who was fitted with a wheel chair, leg braces and a walker and thanked the team and you with a smile and wave that touched our hearts. Tonight, Westminster's second team, a surgical group, will return. This congregation has been in relationship with the people of Guatemala for six years. I was saddened in October when I saw in the news that a Guatemalan immigrant, Jose Morales, had been arrested in the attempt to catch the sniper in the Washington, DC, area. He was later released but in the process was deported home due to his illegal status. Washington Post writer tracked him down in Estanzuela, Guatemala, and recorded his story. Some might call Morales an illegal immigrant, other would say he was an economic refugee. In any case, his story is similar to many. After years of struggling to make ends meet for his wife and children with part time work on coffee plantations or sugar cane fields, the draught and the catastrophic downturn in the price of coffee forced him to seriously consider following his brother to the United States in search of work. His brother connected him to a coyote, a smuggler, who would help him get to the U.S. for the price of 33,000 quatzales, $4,000. After he had approached several other people, his sister-in-law agreed to loan him the money at an interest rate of ten percent per month. It was Morales only chance so, after agreeing, the sister-in-law sold ten of her dairy cows and gave him the money. In mid-May, last year, he traveled twenty days by bus, walked across desert, and hung onto an inner tube kicking his way across the Rio Grande. Eventually, he ended up in Richmond, Virginia earning $8/hour as a roofer. Up before sunrise and working past sunset, he slept on the floor sharing a two-bedroom apartment with six other workers. Once a week he would pay $5 for a phone card at Ryan's Quik Stop that would allow him a 30-minute call home to his village. He was calling to check on his sick young daughter when police noticed a white van near the phone booth and moved in to arrest him.

Home now in Estanzuela, Morales wonders what will happen next. His hope for his family was tied to the income he could earn in the U.S. With interest he now owes more than $7,000 to his sister-in-law. I was relieved when I learned that this young Guatemalan was not the sniper that gripped our nation for several weeks last fall, but my heart goes out to him and many like him who are forced to risk their lives searching for ways to provide for their families.

In the past, the United States has been a very generous neighbor welcoming 70,000 to 80,000 legal refugees each year. However, with the fear of terrorism, the number invited this year dropped dramatically. By mid-year, 2002, only 10,500 people had been admitted. The others, approved for admission, are still waiting in refugee camps somewhere around the world, in Afghanistan, Palestine, Burma or Angola as we close up our borders. What kind of neighbors are we being? Even when refugees do arrive legally it is a tremendous struggle to adjust to a new home in the U.S. away from family, culture, and all that is familiar. Our friends the Vila family who arrived from Kosovo in 1999, continue to have serious difficulties. It is easiest for the younger ones and many of you have been involved in helping Reed School students, Eshref and Nesibe find playmates and sports activities and cope with a new lifestyle. You can read about the experience of a boy like them in this book written about the refugee camp where they lived for three months before coming to Fort Dix, New Jersey and to Marin County. I will leave it out on the narthex table.

How do we as a nation best welcome our sisters and brothers without grumbling? We may be preparing to receive refugees from Iraq soon. What are we willing to give up this Lenten season so that others might find new life, some of them in the United States? As the runners the 100-yard dash, how many of us are willing to stop the race and go back to help the one who has fallen behind. "Who is my neighbor?" the lawyer asked.

Well, I do have a few suggestions. You might have guessed that I would. First, there is a wonderful international opportunity right here in Marin. We can offer to help people weekly to practice their English which is the most important skill needed to get job. There is also an after school tutoring program that needs our time and love. You and your family can develop a relationship with a student or family from another country, be blessed with a new neighbor and learn many things about the world, receiving much more than you will give. That opportunity if offered through the San Rafael Canal Ministry.

Secondly, the Outreach Commission is planning a trip to Fresno during Holy Week to meet and work with Cambodian and Southeast Asian refugees providing fun activities for children and English help for adults. This is a trip for all ages from six to 96 and your neighborly skills are needed. See me after worship or Erin Findlay to let us know your interest. Deadline for inquiries is Tuesday so we can form the team and do our planning.

Thirdly, you might write a letter to encourage our government to fulfill its commitment to help legal refugees resettle in the U. S.

Fourthly, you can respond generously when the One Great Hour of Sharing envelop comes in the mail in the next few weeks. In Psalm 36 this morning we heard the words, "How precious is your steadfast love, O God! All the children of Adam may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. That lonely place in our own lives can be touched and filled when we reach out to the alien, to the stranger. As Presbyterian Minister, Mr. Fred Rogers is remembered this week and as the Lenten season begins, let us recognize ways that we can truly be neighbors to others, locally and in need throughout the world to all the children of Adam.

1. Rogers, Fred "Neighbor: Nourishing Our Life Together" The Living Pulpit, 2002, Volume 11, No. 3, page 1.