Won't You Be...?

In Acts 20, we see where the apostle Paul is preparing to go to Jerusalem, and he met with the elders
at Ephesus. He said:
22 And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,
23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.
24 But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

He also stated, later in the chapter:

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.

We are appointed to be ministers of the grace of God - not all are ordained, but we all have been given a ministry.  Jesus has equipped us, calling us into a love relationship with our Heavenly Father, and instructing us to love Him and to love others.  The commandments, as He said, are wrapped up in the vertical relationship with God and the horizontal connections we have with others.  Christ gives us the capacity to walk in His ways and to demonstrate His love.

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In Colossians 4, we find Paul describing the ministry that he is desiring to do and asks for prayer. He writes:
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,
4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
"It's always a beautiful day in the neighborhood..."

That, of course, is from the opening song of the classic television series called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which featured the beloved ordained minister creating warm feelings and communicating principles that have a somewhat familiar sound to believers in Christ.

A Religion News piece published yesterday highlighted a documentary film about the life of the late Fred Rogers, the host of the television show:

Over the weekend, the film, having expanded to 893 screens across the country, topped the $10 million mark at the box office, passing “RBG,” a documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, to become the highest-grossing documentary of the year, according to Aspiration Entertainment. Initially opening on 29 screens on June 8, it nearly doubled its reach from 350 to 650 just before the Fourth of July holiday.

The filmmaker Morgan Neville, according to the story, said that from the time when audiences first started viewing the film, "it took on a life of its own..." He said, "This has only happened to me once or twice in my career, where a film hits a nerve where it no longer feels like your film. The audience takes ownership of it and feels that it says something personal to them. It’s kind of magic when it happens.”

A friend of Rogers, a minister named George Wirth, said, "This word ‘neighbor’ wasn’t something Fred came up with out of nowhere. It was biblical..." The story notes:

It came from Jesus’ words “love your neighbor as yourself” and the parable Jesus told in response to the question “Who is my neighbor?,” in which the so-called good Samaritan cares for a man who had been beaten and left by the roadside.

The article added:

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” the books Rogers wrote and the speeches he gave all came from that core — “the spiritual center of Fred Rogers,” according to Wirth.

Junlei Li, co-director of the Fred Rogers Center at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, said, “I think Fred was very adamant that he didn’t want any viewer — child or adult — to feel excluded from the neighborhood.”  The Religion News article stated:

Ultimately, “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” was a show about hope and reconciliation, a word Li said meant a lot to Rogers. He wanted to mend broken relationships: between people, between humans and the environment, even — though he never made it explicit — between humans and their creator.

God has placed us in the neighborhood of humanity, and ordains opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ.  We can be sensitive to that overriding purpose and minister to others with love and grace.

We should be about the business of reconciliation: men and women to their Creator, and of people with one another - vertical and horizontal.  If we get the vertical right, the horizontal will fall into place more effectively.  And, sometimes that stance will involve speaking hard truth, bringing correction or exhortation into a person's life so that they can walk in a way that pleases God.

Gentleness and civility are qualities that we can seek to express.  When you read the listing of the fruit of the Spirit, you see words like kindness, goodness, and gentleness.  The Bible can propel us to develop a gentle spirit that reflects the nature of God.  Sure, you can be gentle in approach and firm in conviction.  But, we should always approach others with the compassion of Christ.