Who Is My Neighbour?

Available for 29 days

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with the Reverend Canon Dr Mark Clavier. Good morning. Eighty-one years ago today, the Charter of the United Nations came into force. It was born from the wreckage of World War 2, when the destruction of cities and the slaughter of millions had exposed what horrors human beings can inflict on one another. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights followed three years later. These weren’t specifically Christian documents. People of many faiths and none helped create them. Yet some of their framers were deeply committed Christians. Both documents speak to the inherent dignity of every person, which no state confers, and which also calls us to treat one another in a spirit of brotherhood, strangers included. That conviction is easy to affirm when the world feels secure. It becomes harder when we’re anxious, when resources seem scarce, or when the people beyond our own communities feel remote or threatening. Perhaps that’s why anniversaries such as this matter: they remind us of our nobler selves. Jesus was once asked, “Who is my neighbour?” He answered with the story of the Good Samaritan. The surprising thing is how he expands who counts as a neighbour. Jesus shows us that true neighbourliness involves our recognising another person’s need and crossing the boundary that divides us to help them however we can. Let us pray. Gracious God, who has made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, widen our hearts beyond our own horizons. Give wisdom to those who govern, humility to the powerful, and to us the courage to love our neighbours near and far; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.