Nebraska Synod ELCA

By Deacon Timothy Siburg

The commands for neighbor love in our faith are clear. In meeting a lawyer on the road who has questions about eternal life, Jesus invites a lawyer to sum up the law. He does by quoting the Shema, “You shall the love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength,” and acknowledging “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the why behind neighbor love. The what rests with what comes next in that story, as Jesus tells a story about a man in need on the side of the road and a Good Samaritan who not only sees that need but does all he can for him. When connected with Jesus’ new commandment that he gives to the disciples on Maundy Thursday, “you are to love one another,” it becomes clear what we are to be in relationship and to love one another.

We are freed in Christ to do this. And we do this, not for our own sakes but for the sake of our neighbor who God calls us into relationship with. But what might this look like today? What might it look like to live out neighbor love in action?

It starts perhaps first with acknowledging we have neighbors, and then by recognizing our relationships or building relationships with our neighbors. When we do this, we choose to live out the things we say and hold to be commands, and we do as Jesus calls and invites us to do. To accompany and meet our neighbors where they are at.

This theme has been at the center of the work of the Vitality Initiative for Congregations this year, as the focus of the second phase of the initiative. The eight congregations in the cohort have pondered, “Who is our neighbor?” And, “who are our neighbors?” Congregation teams have explored what this means in the context of vocation, and particularly the vocation of their congregation. Each congregation has discerned different answers to those questions based on their context, but collectively they have done the good work of listening, wondering, and looking out. To meet their community. To join in conversation. To grow relationships. To be neighbor with their neighbors, meeting them wherever they are at.

This has led to conversations and the growth of partnerships and relationships between congregations and nearby schools, community groups, neighboring churches, and companies in their cities and towns who have a shared interest in the health and well-being of their communities. It has led to expanded concepts of neighbor, and greater imaginative wonder about what God might be up to and doing through, with, for, and in God’s people.

This process of looking and listening out, followed the first phase focus on discerning more inwardly in the congregation who it is. Pairing this with discernment about the congregation’s neighbors invites a deeper reflection of who a congregation is and wondering about what God might be inviting next. This discernment will lead to experimentation. To exploring in what ways each congregation may lean into its unique identity and live out its vocation for the sake of the larger community and world that it is a part of. It is holy and exciting work. Each congregation team is learning lots and beginning to invite its whole congregation into this process, and the synod as a whole is learning too.

These acts of listening, experimentation, learning, and growing are part of living out neighbor love in action. It’s living out our lives as disciples and stewards and as faith communities as Christ’s body, hands and feet in the world today. Responding with joy and gratitude for all that God in Christ has done for us, and for all that Christ frees us to do.

I’m excited to see what’s next for the congregations in this cohort as they are about half way through their work in this process. Beginning in August they will begin to synthesize learning, and start to experiment with their learning to see what God might be inviting them to do or be.

If you or your congregation are interested in being part of this experience in your own context, please reach out to me and stay tuned for how and when to apply. A second cohort will be forming and beginning its work in 2023. Perhaps God is calling and inviting your congregation to be a part of this too.