beagoodsamaritan

It's amazing how quickly our lives can become overly complicated; and soon our spirituality and faith journey seem to get lost on that same complex highway.

What are the simple essentials of living that will bring us fulfillment and joy in this life and the next? A religious attorney asked Jesus a similar question, "What must we do to gain eternal life?"

In typical fashion, Jesus tossed the question back into the attorney’s court for an answer, and then confirmed his was correct, Jesus tells him, "You should love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. And you should love your neighbor as yourself."

"Just for clarification then, who is my neighbor?"

Jesus answered him with what is now a very familiar story to many, "There was once a man on a journey who came under attack. He lay on the roadside, beaten and left for dead. The next morning a priest walked by in a hurry and crossed over to the other side avoiding the situation. The next passerby was a religious scholar, who also avoided the obviously messy scene. Then came along a socially-marginalized outsider who had heartfelt compassion on the hurting man, he bandaged his wounds and took him to a local caregiver with directions to take care of the man until he was well. He set up a tab that he would pay a few days later.

Jesus asks, “Who do you think the true neighbor was?” The attorney responded, "The one who showed mercy.”

By telling this story, Jesus reveals to us that the critical component to the peace we seek in our life is found in how we love one another. Our social status and our professions don’t count as much as the state of our heart and soul; supported by how we follow up with our actions.

When life and relationships get complicated we can feel as if we’ve lost our locus of control; we can’t find that anchor that kept us grounded. We lose hope, our life feels like it’s spiraling out of control. These are the times when we need each other the most. Be encouraged that there IS hope in the midst of seeming hopelessness.

Our first step toward healing and wholeness is to Love God with All that we have and All that we are.

We are then called to Love the Person that we happen to be interacting with at any given moment for THEY are our neighbor.

Church of the Good Samaritan is a worshiping community in the Franklin West Corridor of Williamson County. If you are a person or family that is looking for a faith community to participate in, perhaps you'd be interested in learning more about the vision of Church of the Good Samaritan. Please continue your visit through the site and call, or just stop in!

God's grace is indeed sufficient for all that we face with our families and in our lives!
Click here to Learn more about the Episcopal Church.