. . . you shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:18)

In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. (Matt. 7:12)

One Saturday evening, I was watching a football game with four-year-old eyes and my brother with his two-year-old eyes. We took a little football into the dining room and in the back and forth, I laid a very fine tackle on him. Blood came bursting from the corner of his eye, so furiously we couldn’t even see his eye. My mother phoned our neighbor Mrs. Conrad, and she came running from across the street. My dad wrapped my brother in a towel, flung him over his shoulder, and ran two blocks to the hospital with my mother. I was scared.

That’s when Mrs. Conrad filled the room. She was grace dressed in a blue, pearl-buttoned sweater. She cleaned things up, got down on the floor with me, and paid attention to what I was thinking and feeling. Simone Weil said, “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity”_—and she never even knew Mrs. Conrad!

I write to challenge you to pay attention to and love your neighbor in three concrete ways.

Pray and consider a gift to the Emergency Solidarity Fund

I know many are hurting in the church and the world God so loves. Today I am prayerful and mindful of immigrant communities. A few days ago, I turned on the furnace for the first time this fall. You can imagine that winter brings economic challenges to many, but in this moment, immigrant communities in particular are suffering. Immigrants may be afraid to go to work, visit food pantries, or take their kids to school. Roll the tape forward and imagine how hard it will be for those who miss work but must pay the rent, buy medicine, cover winter heat and fuel, and make ends meet.

Attention is a form of generosity. Please pay attention with your prayer life. I ask you to pray and consider a gift to our new Emergency Solidarity Fund. It will help primarily Hispanic/Latinx people (and other immigrants) who are increasingly vulnerable.

To donate, use the link on this page. 

People served by our churches’ ministries or living in our towns and neighborhoods may request help from this fund and clergy can recommend support for needs they know about. Requests will be reviewed by a small group that includes clergy within immigrant contexts, laypeople, and conference staff.

I trust this team and will monitor its work, as will the Conference Council on Finance and Administration.

Get out of your bubble

Leaders summon our best and aim us toward godly vision. That said, this moment is so full of division, retribution, and pain that we must protect our spirits at times.

I asked a nationally renowned congregational development expert, What is the top thing United Methodists can do to increase a church’s vitality? She said, “Make authentic relationships outside of your church. Care for the people around you. Invite someone to your next cookout; take an interest. Check in on others. Give someone a ride. Divide your hostas and share.” (Please, I am not asking for hostas.)

Get out of your social media bubble and into relationships, which are always more complex and difficult than being fed by an electronic algorithm. The algorithms know what enrages you. They know what confirms your prejudices. They are making us angry, divided, and easy to influence.

If your church is like most, it has 35 or fewer in worship. Now is the time to send a delegation to worship with another local UM church, share an Advent service, or pray together. What might God call forth from us? Love your neighbor by getting out of your bubble. Reflect on this theologically: how might I be the hands and feet of Jesus in this moment? How might our church pray for what God can do through a new partnership?

Finish strong in apportionment giving

Apportionments come from our covenant life together as United Methodists. The covenants of the UMC are based on one value: we share for the good of the whole mission. We share pastors. We share resources. We share our buildings.

This is not a tax or an add-on; apportionments embody the essence of our connection. Your apportionments are helping to support Hispanic clergy as they navigate how to lead their congregations, extend the gospel in hurting communities, and live well. We are engaging our anti-racism goal with gatherings and partnerships. We are enjoying a laser-like focus on paragraph 601 in The Book of Discipline, which asserts that the role of the annual conference is to support local church vitality and to make connections that churches cannot make on their own. Those connections include things such as credentialing clergy, starting new churches, and creating clergy cohorts for networking experiments and innovative learning.

We are training laypeople. We enjoy a gifted United Methodist Men and United Women in Faith network, United Methodist Committee on Relief, disaster response . . .  and the list goes on. Please love your neighbor by finishing strong in your apportionments.

My brother didn’t lose his eye. Mrs. Conrad made other visits to expand my view of neighborliness. Jesus taught me how to be changed by neighborliness.

May the peace of Christ be with you. Thank you.

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For more information or questions about the Emergency Solidarity Fund, click here or contact the Northern Illinois Conference Connectional Ministries Office.