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The Neighbor Is Not an Abstraction – The Formed Future · Still, Here

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is still here.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: A quiet moment to remember what is true.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Listen to these words from the book of Luke, chapter 10, verses 25 through 37.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, Who is my neighbor?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answered,
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho,
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he fell among robbers,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: By chance a certain priest was going down that way.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: In the same way,
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But a certain Samaritan,
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: as he traveled,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: came where he was,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: When he saw him,
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: he was moved with compassion,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: He set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: The lawyer asks Jesus, Who is my neighbor?
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: It is a question about limits.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: How far does love have to reach?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Who must be included?
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Where can responsibility end?
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus answers with a wounded man on a road.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: He begins with a person instead of a category.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: A man has been beaten, stripped, abandoned, and left beside the road.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: The issue becomes visible in flesh and blood.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is where love becomes concrete.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can care about humanity while overlooking a human being.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: When we love someone, we see them.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Their concerns become known to us.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: Their needs matter.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: Their story receives room.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: Their face becomes harder to dismiss.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: They cease being an example, a problem, a label, or a position in an argument.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: They become a person entrusted to our attention.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: The priest and the Levite saw the wounded man and moved away.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: The Samaritan saw him and moved toward him.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: That is the difference love makes.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Love closes distance.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: The future will give us more ways to speak about people from a distance.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: It will also give us more ways to turn people into data,
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: profiles, categories, customers, users, enemies, and causes.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Christ forms in us a love that refuses to lose the person.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who is near you today?
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: Not humanity in general.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Not the whole world.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: Who is the person love asks you to see?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: You may not be able to solve their problem.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Mercy may simply mean listening longer,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: asking a better question, speaking with warmth, or helping with one practical need.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: The formed future is shaping through mercy offered on the road we are already walking.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Take a moment for this prayer of presence.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, open my eyes to my neighbor.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Free me from distant concern that avoids concrete mercy.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me to see the person in front of me with your love.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: Give me courage to move toward need with patience, kindness and compassion.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Amen
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: As you turn again toward your work and responsibilities, carry this prayer with you.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to my neighbor.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me mercy where I stand.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to my neighbor.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me mercy where I stand.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to my neighbor.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me mercy where I stand.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Open my eyes to my neighbor.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Teach me mercy where I stand.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, stay steady, stay open, stay present.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: You are still here.