Pat Deckert, St. Luke’s member 1987, Lifetime 6 Others
Leviticus 19:34
But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.  

 Reflection:  

Passages in my life were pretty smooth and seamless for the first twenty-two years.

  •         Two houses and one church in a small community,
  •         Moving from one school level to another on the same campus,
  •         Attending a junior college in the same town,
  •         Jobs in high school until the magic age of 18 and the “big” job in town,
  •         Marriage,
  •         Waiting at home for the return of my soldier husband from Europe

 The first small “wrinkle” in those smooth passages was a transfer to a small country town over an hour away. Not so bad, though, since we could go “home” for the weekend to family and friends and “our church.”

 Then a “bump” in the form of a question: “Is this what we want to do the rest of our lives?” So, off to the university, four hours away, and the “huge” campus of 18K students to finish degrees and become parents. Still not so bad with week-end trips home still possible and a dear childless lady, wife of Texas Chief Justice Hickman, BEING a neighbor to the lonely wives of the husbands buried in the books. 

 Then came the big passage taking us a thousand miles away, over several state lines, to the world of the unknown where this scripture kicks in and where I learned lessons in what it means to BE a neighbor, only it wasn’t me BEING the neighbor.

 We rented a house and soon after moving in a friendly woman from down the block came by welcoming the young couple and their little girl and inviting us to church. An invitation from my husband’s work for a dinner/bridge night and an invitation to church and later, teen babysitters. The landlord, not a churchwoman, checked on us weekly or more. Through her, we met an older couple who had tragically lost a son who would have been our ages and they became our parent figures, babysitters, grandparents, pinochle players; and through Circle my Corsicana soul sister and our children playmates. 

 I have given you labels for each neighbor not connected to each other (all who are still living and still my friends) hoping that you can read between the lines and imagine the many ways they each were BEING a neighbor to me; just us trying not to be lonely, showing me how to be a neighbor. It was IN each of them to treat me “as one born among them,” I would hope that I may have loved my neighbors as myself more than I didn’t in those years, and through the passages that followed us back to Texas and our roots and on-going that I learned what it truly was to be a neighbor.

 Prayer:  

Father God, I may not have many passages left on this Earth, but I pray that before I make the last one I find ways to love all as ones born among us.  Amen.