LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
Jesus Calls Us to Love Our Neighbors!
Matthew 22:37-38
When asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus responded with “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment.” He didn’t stop there, he continued, “And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The command is so simple, love God and love people, but sometimes it can be challenging to carry out.
Let’s work together to show the love of God to the people on our streets, in our neighborhoods, in our town, in the world.
Try some of these ideas:
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Send handwritten notes
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Pray for your neighbors
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Invite a friend or neighbor to church
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Let someone go first in line, at dinner, in conversation
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Give up a good parking space
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Pay someone’s parking meter
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Pay someone’s bill at a restaurant or at the grocery store
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Shovel snow, rake leaves or mow the lawn for your neighbors
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Carry someone’s groceries
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Hold the door
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Invite someone new to dinner
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Get a haircut and donate hair to locks of love
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Do a food drive
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Organize a neighborhood party or dinner
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Make it a point to say hello and learn your neighbor names
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Pick up trash in your neighborhood
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Go shopping for an elderly neighbor
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Buy hard to find supplies (i.e. TP and clorox wipes) in bulk and share them with others
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Give blood
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Print out the Love Your Neighbor Hearts and Houses to celebrate.
The Art of Neighboring is an excellent resource to help us build better relationships
with our neighbors. “When we take the Great Commandment seriously, we become credible messengers who bring a message in both word and deed. As we love those around us we represent the kind of life Jesus wants us to live: the full life that Jesus describes in John 10:10.” (page 112)
