Love Thy Neighbor — A Poem for the New Year

I will be honest with you: loving my neighbor is something I continue to struggle with.

I know what Jesus commands. I know that “neighbor” means anyone other than yourself — family, friends, colleagues, strangers, even politicians. Everyone. And I know I need all the help I can get to actually live that out.

So when I find something that moves me, that calls me deeper into love, I hold onto it.

Recently, I had the gift of encountering a typewriter poet named Nika Renee. She writes poems on the spot, on an old-fashioned typewriter, customized to whatever you bring her. I told her about my favorite scripture — loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves — and after a few quiet minutes, she began to type.

I want to share what she gave me, because I believe it is a gift for all of us as we step into a new season.

She titled it “Love Thy Neighbor”:

To love your neighbor as yourself, you must first love yourself. Heal yourself. Trust yourself. Know yourself and want yourself. To harm your neighbor is to hate yourself, to hurt yourself, to bleed your self-harm on the world and make them pay for that self-hate. Be patient with the neighbor who has learned to hate themselves. Hold them in love as Christ loves us. Pray their pain will heal one day.

I have read those words many times since she handed me that page. They are a mirror and a challenge all at once.

As we move into this new season, may we go forth ready to care for the other — to love our neighbor as ourselves, to work toward a more just world, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Let it be so. Amen and amen.

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