Rector's Note: Who is my neighbor?-1.29.26

Who is my neighbor?

That biblical question is resonating with me as I shovel snow, watch the news, and pack leftovers for the community fridge. It’s the question that prompted Jesus to tell the story of the Good Samaritan, a title we now give any helpful person. Who is my neighbor? The one who helps you when the formal helpers walk by; it might even be the person everyone told you was your enemy.

Snowstorms are a particular measure of neighbor-hood. As Jess and I walked our dog each morning this week, we’ve stepped gingerly through and around the work of our neighbors. Many have cleared their sidewalks, the walks of those around them, and created little pathways so you can cross the street. Many have carefully sprinkled salt or cinders. And there are those spots that haven’t received that attention—the icy drifts to walk over, the sheets of ice to edge by.

I wonder what people who use wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, scooters, and canes are doing these days, as it’s impossible to get from porch to sidewalk to street in my city neighborhood, and few people have driveways. Snowplows may clear the roadways, but it takes the work of a street-full of neighbors to dig out the cars after the plow has passed by.

Neighbor also takes on new meaning as we witness what is happening in Minneapolis, where people are showing up in the thousands to protect their immigrant neighbors from ICE. In my own neighborhood, several of us gathered on a Zoom call recently to learn what to do to protect our own neighbors if a similar surge happens here. In Norristown and other parts of the region, which are home to immigrants, such work has been happening for several months. I learned recently from a clergy colleague in Norristown that 170 people have been detained in Norristown, many taken right off the streets or from places of work.

Our Community Fridge is a constant invitation to us at St Peter’s to welcome neighbors, work side-by-side with neighbors, and be a neighbor in a large neighborhood. This mutual aid effort means that more and more people are coming to our own food pantry. Rick DeKalb and Terita Reeve report that they are putting out twice as much food as they did in the past, especially as high food prices and the disruption of SNAP benefits generate more need. The food cupboard has always been stocked with the help of donations that arrive on Sundays and throughout the week. Volunteers also shop regularly to keep the shelves stocked.

In addition to asking you to bring a non-perishable item to the Annual Meeting on Sunday, I’d like to invite the entire parish to make a personal “food pledge” to the Food Cupboard and the Community Fridge throughout the year. It’s an act of year-round stewardship that doesn’t require a note on the pledge card in November. Rather, I recommend that when you go food shopping, you take an extra bag to which you can add items for the food cupboard. Over the years, our red Food Cupboard bags have been available for this use, but our supplies are running low.

Emergencies such as snowfalls, SNAP cuts, or ICE surges can really activate our acts of neighbor-hood. I am gratified to see it in such force when the spotlight is on the need. But it’s a skill that we need to maintain when the cameras are off and the news cycle changes. Over the holidays, as the last government shutdown was stretching on, our cupboard was overflowing with donations. Now that those have been depleted, our shelves have been hard to fill in subsequent months.

Lately, I’ve been dreaming about the future, of what our community and our country will look like under different leadership committed to the well-being of its members. This, I believe, is not far off, but I also know that it will take a great deal of work to repair what has been broken on all levels. We will need new commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. The powerful skill of being a loving neighbor to all will be essential in this civic work.

So keep practicing; keep building that muscle in your day-to-day acts of care for neighbors. There are plenty of opportunities at hand, from feeding our neighbors to ensuring their physical safety. The Gospel calls us to keep our definition and recognition of neighbor broad and inclusive at a time when the instruments of power keep the definition narrow and punitive. There is no end to the ways that we can develop the loving muscles now for the loving work that awaits when we get the chance to rebuild and repair our world.

If you want, I can also do a consistency-only pass (e.g., neighbor/neighbor-hood, Food Cupboard capitalization) or prepare a publication-ready version—just say the word.