It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
If you’re of my generation, there’s a good chance you logged some hours watching the Mr. Rogers show. You perhaps can even hear his trademark song, “It’s A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood” running through your mind.
And the catchy tune asked this simple, yet profound question. “Won’t you be, won’t you be, please won’t you be my neighbor?”
Initially educated to be a minister, Fred Rogers was displeased with the way television addressed children and made an effort to change this when he began to write for and perform shows dedicated to youth. Over the course of three decades on television, Fred Rogers became an indelible American icon of children’s entertainment and education, as well as a symbol of compassion, patience, and morality.
Rogers who died in 2003 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, some forty honorary degrees, and a Peabody Award. Not bad for a minister turned neighborhood advocate.
So,what kind of neighbor are you? If honest, most of us lack neighboring skills. Often busyness stands in the way of engaging our neighbors — busy with work, busy with kids activities, busy with church — busy with “US”, leaving little margin to offer a friendly wave or word, much less share a meal.
We could learn a lot from Mr. Rogers!
Neighboring can be messy. — We don’t get to choose our neighbors, much less their values or religious beliefs, or skin color, or language, or how loud they play their music. Given these lack of choices and compounded by our overburdened calendars, many opt out of the neighboring thing. This is sad — AND dare I say, even un-Christian.
Jesus words to love our “neighbors” (literally those to our left and right) calls for a recalibration of our priorities and time. John the disciple gives us a narrative of how Jesus lived out this neighboring way of life:
“The Word [Jesus] became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 The Message
I want to be a good neighbor and my prayers are that others would too. For this to happen I need to rethink my time, yes even rethink my spiritual activity. One way to consider this “good neighbor way of life” might be to ask ourselves questions like these: How often do I offer my life to those closest too me — offering a wave, a word of hello, a conversation, borrowing or lending a tool, or eating a meal together?
This week I am reflecting on the words of Mr. Rogers (and Jesus), “Won’t you be, won’t you be, please won’t you be my neighbor?”
Loving Community,
Jim
