05.04.2026 | Monday in Eastertide

​LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
 
The little Doodle Girl and I walk our neighborhood just about every day, usually several times a day. She is a very active presence in our community. I always carry my phone with me for several reasons, but mostly because I am taking pictures of interesting things along the way. One of the many churches we pass regularly had a new sign up the other day: “Love thy neighbor. No exceptions.”
 
Unfortunately, my first thought was “how brave.”
My second thought was “how true.”
I wish my first thought had been the truth of it, full stop. But I am an old man with a lot of baggage, and the world we are living in has such anger toward so many of God’s people for reasons that make little to no sense.
 
We were given ten commandments to live by. Simple, straightforward rules that make sense. Even those ten were distilled down to two: love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor. No wiggle room. No buts or ifs or qualifiers. Love your neighbor. No exceptions.
 
I stood there taking the picture and let it all sink in. I have been thinking and praying about it a lot lately. Imagine a world where we loved our neighbors without exception. Imagine how different our news feeds would sound. Top stories of people helping each other instead of harming each other. Of course there are countless stories of kindness, but they get drowned out by the noise of hatred, anger, war, genocide. The list goes on.
 
Here is the part that hurts. So much of the anger, war, hatred and genocide are done in God’s name. The very God who told us to love our neighbor. No exceptions. There used to be a bumper sticker that said, “When God said love thy neighbor, I think He meant do not kill them.” I think God meant exactly that. Do not kill them. Love them. Feed them. Clothe them. Help them. Love your neighbor. No exceptions.
 
Imagine.

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​May the God who calls us to love without exception
soften what has grown hard in us
and steady what trembles with fear or weariness.
 
May the Spirit widen our seeing
so that every face becomes a neighbor
and every neighbor becomes a reminder
that we belong to one another.
 
And may Christ, who loved us first,
teach our hearts again and again
the simple, difficult, beautiful way.
 
Go in peace to love your neighbor.
No exceptions.