Month 1, Week 3: The Fruit of Love: Loving Our Neighbor
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
“ We don’t go to the margins to make a difference.
We go to the margins to be made different.”
Fr. Greg Boyle, Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles
INTRODUCTION
Scripture talks about the fruit of love a lot. A LOT. For our first month in The Neuma Project we want to look at four specific ways Scripture calls us to love:
Love of God
Love of oneself
LOVE OF NEIGHBOR
Love your enemy
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Description text goes hereSome of you might choose to do it all in one sitting. Some of you may do one section per day. Some of you might work through it multiple times. We truly want this to work FOR you! Our prayer is that you’ll feel a sense of joy that comes from spending time in communion with God and then with others as you live out the “practices” you’ll be invited to each week. If your participation ever feels burdensome, then take a break! The Neuma Project exists to assist in your discipleship - both individually and communally with others at FPC, and in your neighborhoods. It doesn’t exist to guilt you into time spent in the word and community. (though if you need a little push, we’re fine to allow this to do that)
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Our vision is that this will be something your family can do together. We will always include a “Neuma Kids” section that you can do with your littles.
We also believe teenage kids can participate in all of the content as well as adults, bringing their own insights and questions. HOWEVER, we are well aware teens + parents + faith conversations can be tricky. For this reason, during Act II on Sunday mornings teens will have the chance to engage this content with each other and their leaders. If all you are able to ‘accomplish’ is a check-in with them on Sunday afternoons, consider it a win! If you are able to sit down and go through the materials together, then you deserve an award and come teach us your ways :)
Start By Stopping
(If you aren’t in a place where you can do that, set a reminder to come back. But please don’t try to cram this in while getting kids ready for school, or replying to emails, or watching Netflix)Don’t talk, don’t move, don’t do anything except breathe. Look around, listen, smell… and be still until it’s uncomfortable. Say a prayer- no agenda, just whatever you want to say directed toward God. If praying isn’t something you do often- give it a shot. Just talk/think/share. In fact, we encourage you to pray aloud! It might feel odd at first, but again, there’s no pressure to do it “correctly.” Just fill God in on your heart & enjoy the quiet.
Storytelling
You probably know Maisa Abudayha from Feast World Kitchen, but you may not know her story of coming to America, starting a business and what it was like to be a new immigrant in Spokane. Listen to the podcast below (produced by the Barton School) to hear her story, and the role of neighbors in her experience.
Maisa Abudayha
RESPONDING TO SCRIPTURE
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.
And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us,
for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
1 John 3:16-20
Settle in and get quiet. Take a few deep breaths. Ask the Spirit to illuminate the scriptures for you.
After you’ve slowed yourself down with silence and breath, read the scripture again.
Then slowly work through the prompts below. Use your neuma journal to write down what comes to your heart and mind.
Think of a time when you needed “good news” and got a sermon or Christian cliche instead. What was that experience like? How does it affect the way you interact with others?
Think of a time when you received “good news” in some form of loving act. What was that experience like? How does it affect the way you think about others in need?
Why do you think love is such a defining mark of the true disciple of Jesus?
What, according to these verses, are the components of true love? Why is true love sacrificial in nature?
Why is true love always demonstrated and not just verbalized?
Instead of seeing ourselves as the generous benefactor, and others as the poor recipient of our generosity, ask the Spirit to help you start seeing each person you meet as a beloved child of God, precious in God’s eyes, created in God’s likeness, just as you are. What biases do you recognize in yourself when you see a neighbor in need, or someone asking for help? How does remembering their belovedness affect the way you see them?
Who in your community is most challenging to love like this right now? What are some tangible ways you can practice this kind of love?
NEUMA KIDS
For Younger Kids
Consider reading “Maybe I can Love My Neighbor Too" together. Even if you can’t read the book together, use the bingo card to think about ways to love your neighbor. Work together as family to get a BINGO this week. Bingo Card
For Older Kids
Find time in the next couple of days to read “Refugee” with your kid(s). Talk about the experience of reading the poem both ways and why it’s written this way. Refugee Poem
PRACTICE: LOVING YOUR NEIGHBOR
Each month during The Neuma Project you will be invited to try an experiment. Some of the experiments will be really simple, while others will stretch you out of your comfort zone. Just like an experiment at school, we want you to try them all. There’s no judgment if it doesn’t work, and since we’re all learning together, no one is an expert!
Bring Good News to your neighbors
St. Francis said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words.”
Sometimes we can over-think what Good News really looks like. In fact, we have often heard that Good News is something we say rather than something we do. As our scripture this week reminded us, Good News to a person who hasn’t eaten for two days isn’t someone coming to preach to them. Good News is a warm meal and shared conversation. In this way, the Good News of the Kingdom takes tangible form. It is a reflection of the heart God has for his people. As followers of Jesus who have taken on his mission, we must step deep into the stories of our neighbors in order to know how to be bearers of Good News.
This week we will practice bringing Good News to our neighbors through actions not words.
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Open heart
Open mind
A little bit of courage
A little bit of time
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This week, we are going to ask you to be/bring good news to your neighbors. Not through words as much as action—some small act of help, kindness or care that might make a difference for them.
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Think about your neighbors—these can be your literal neighbors or another kind of neighbor (immigrant, refugee, folks you pass each day on the way to work, etc.) Try to think of folks who are not your close friends.
Write down their names if you know them (including children, pets, etc.)
For each neighbor you listed, write down what might be “good news” to them this week. A warm meal? A tank of gas? A friend to talk to? An hour or two of childcare? A mowed lawn? Raked leaves? A ride to an appointment? Someone to go with them to the doctor? A bag of groceries? Walking their dog?
If it helps, think of a time when you have been the recipient of “good news” from a neighbor, and what made it feel like “good news.”
Now write down ways that God has shaped you to fit in your neighborhood, or city to be a bearer of “good news.” What gifts/interests/resources/connections has God given you?
Pick at least one neighbor and the item you listed as “good news” for them that matches with how God has made/shaped you, and do that for them this week.
Still stumped? Call the church or a local non-profit (Thrive, Feast, Side by Side, etc.) to see what needs they have and how you might meet one or two.
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Continue working down your list of neighbors and “good news” and try to be the bearer of “good news” to each one as you are able in the days and weeks ahead.
Consider engaging other neighbors as well…i.e. is there a team of neighbors that can rotate shoveling snow for a neighbor who could use the help?
NEUMA GROUPS
(small group guide)
Get To Know Each Other
Share your favorite local spot to take a walk, grab a coffee, shop, or meet a friend.
If your group includes young kids, feel free to include them by asking each other questions like: what is your favorite animal? Would you rather play in big puddles or a big pile of snow? How old do you think Pastor John is? What is your favorite color of fall leaf?
The Fruit of Love Discussion Prompts
In your scripture study you thought of a time when you needed “good news” and got a sermon or Christian cliche instead. Share about that experience with your group.
In your scripture study you thought of time when you received “good news” in some form of loving action.
Share about that experience with your group.What was the easiest part of being “good news” in the neighborhood? What was the hardest?
Father Gregory Boyle works with gang members in Los Angeles. One his aims is something he calls “radical kinship”:
“We inch ourselves closer to creating a community of kinship such that God might recognize it. We imagine, with God, a circle of compassion. Then we imagine no one standing outside of that circle, moving ourselves closer to the margins so that the margins themselves will be erased. We stand there with those whose dignity has been denied. We locate ourselves with the poor and the powerless and the voiceless. At the edges, we join the easily despised and the readily left out. We stand with the demonized so that the demonizing will stop. We situate ourselves right next to the disposable so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.”
Imagine together what a community of kinship like this would look like. What would it require of us? Of our church? In what small ways can we begin to move to the margins in order to erase them?
Group Prayer
Have someone in your group read “A blessing for your great, big, dumb heart” aloud.
Songs for Reflection
Please use these songs to supplement your time this week. Listen as you pray or as you drive to work. Listen as you respond to the reflection prompts or as you do homework. Listen as you get ready for bed at night or don’t listen at all!