The Good Samaritan

Just then a religion scholar stood up with a question to test Jesus. “Teacher, what do I need to do to get eternal life?” He answered, “What’s written in God’s Law? How do you interpret it?” He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence – and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself.” “Good answer!” said Jesus. “Do it and you’ll live.” 

Looking for a loophole, he asked, “And just how would you define ‘neighbor’?” 

Jesus answered by telling a story. “There was once a man traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way he was attacked by robbers. They took his clothes, beat him up, and went off leaving him half-dead. Luckily, a priest was on his way down the same road, but when he saw him he angled across to the other side. Then a Levite religious man showed up; he also avoided the injured man. “A Samaritan traveling the road came on him. When he saw the man’s condition, his heart went out to him. He gave him first aid, disinfecting and bandaging his wounds. Then he lifted him onto his donkey, led him to an inn, and made him comfortable. In the morning he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If it costs any more, put it on my bill – I’ll pay you on my way back.’ 

“What do you think? Which of the three became a neighbor to the man attacked by robbers?” “The one who treated him kindly,” the religion scholar responded. Jesus said, “Go and do the same.” (Luke 10:25-37, The Message)

This seminal conversation Jesus has and story he tells seems to leap off the page these days, as highly fevered immigration policies unfold in our cities. We have great passion around the politics of what’s going on and find ourselves in heated disagreement about what to do. What is the best way forward?

In the midst of our own political echo chambers we need to come together as Christian community and take up the way of Jesus; we need to find ourselves together in God’s Kingdom, where the mandate is clear: as Christians we prioritize mercy for human beings over legal and societal boundaries. Here in the parable of the Good Samaritan we find out marching orders. Jesus examples the one who stops, and stays, and binds up wounds, and gets the one beat up to a place of safety and healing — points at him, and says, “Go and do the same.”

And there are no loopholes to neighbor love, because the love of Jesus transcends political categories and policies. Our allegiance is not to a red elephant or a blue donkey, it is to Jesus Christ. His love causes us to see the image of God in all people, and to lead with kindness in our encounters.

The way of Jesus is apolitical; the Kingdom of God transcends any human empire. This is where we need to come together and show up on our city streets with concern, with mercy, with compassion, with love, seeking to contribute to what is just and right. We can and will argue about what is just and right in our nation’s treatment of immigrants and refugees. My prayer just now is that we will work together as Christians to lead with kindness and compassion in all encounters and circumstances.

Praying with you

Peter Hawkinson

“Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” (Philippians 1, the Message)

Well, I’m back! And maybe you weren’t even aware I was gone. I made my way out to my happy place, the Coachella Valley in southern California. I found there the warm winter sun, breathtaking desert vistas with majestic mountains surrounding, enjoyed reading two wonderful books, had a daily soak in the hot tub, and I welcomed my brother and his wife, who drove down for a visit from the state’s fogged in central valley. All restorative things!

Another renewing gift came in this time, and this was deep feelings of affection and gratitude for you who are my Winnetka Covenant Church family — and my home. Home, after all, is about both place and people. I can still hear my grandmother Lydia saying as she did so often “Borta bra men hemma bast”– away is good but home is best. With age comes a deepening understanding of its truth. When away from home we have a chance to reflect on all the blessings, all that we take for granted, and return with a grateful heart.

I first visited WCC in the summer of 1988, now 38 years ago. I was 24. The place and you the people have been my spiritual home now for more than half of my life. The ups and downs of life have been ours to share together, the hellos and the goodbyes. Like loving family members do, you have embraced me warts and all, and we have and continue to work through the problems that come. Most of all, the community that you are has shaped me into a grace-centered understanding of a God who loves unconditionally. I have experienced that grace and love of God many times through your own.

Last week I had time and space to consider how blessed I have been and continue to be, and latching onto Saint Paul’s oft repeated greeting, “I thank my God every time I remember you…” or as Eugene Peterson translates it, ” Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God.” So as much as leaving the warm sunshine for a polar vortex doesn’t suit me the best, I am so grateful to be back at home.

I’m back at it, and with a thankful heart. Borta bra men hemma bast!

Peter Hawkinson

It has long been a WCC youth group tradition to write a letter to oneself at the first youth group after the new year and open one’s letter from the year that is now behind us. I’m not exactly sure when this tradition began, but it’s been going on for likely over a decade. If you’ve been a student or volunteer within that time, the chances are high that I have an unclaimed letter of yours (still sealed) in my desk drawer! Coupled with writing our actual letters– which the students fill with things like, “I predict the Bears will be good next year,” “I hope I grow 3 inches by this time in 2026,” “is 6-7 still a thing??”, as well as other aspects like their prayers, goals, excitements, and trepidations for the year that is ahead– we spend some additional time reflecting on the year that is behind us and praying for those things we deeply hope for in the year to come. 

I have seen a lot of chatter this year about how January 1st is a terrible time to try and start anew with new year’s resolutions and goals, because it’s still the dead of winter. Perhaps we ought to wait until spring, some people say, as that’s the time in which new life begins to bloom. Yet, for the students, and for me too, each new school year marks perhaps the most natural time to begin again. So, winter, spring, fall, let’s throw summer in there too– all of a sudden there’s a chance for a fresh start every season! Thank God!

As I was participating with the rest of the church in our time of confession in the service on Sunday, it struck me how fresh starts, trying again, new chances, and forgiveness are central tenets of our faith. And the good news is, God offers these opportunities to us every second and all the time, not just at the start of each season. Let us not underestimate this amazing gift– the gift of being able to begin again. Lutheran minister, Nadia Bolz-Weber, posted on instagram yesterday with a similar sentiment, that it takes much courage to try again or start over, but it is a profound grace that we are able to. 

I am wondering, if along with us at youth group, you might take some time to reflect on 2025 and identify your hopes and prayers for the year to come, to mark this opportunity for a fresh start & begin again. 

Here are some of the questions we used to reflect on Sunday:

• Over the last year, where and how did you notice God?
• When did God feel far away and when did God feel close by?
• As you look to 2026, what is bringing you hope & what do you want a chance to let go of?
• When you think about the year ahead, what do you hope for in your relationship with God, with family, with friends, with your church community?

I leave you with these profound words from the writer of the book of Lamentations– “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.” May we have the courage to begin afresh. 

With love, Pastor Lynnea