By Wendy Choy-Chan

Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
Luke 10:29: And who is my neighbor?

“Love” is a transitive verb that needs an object. I [subject] love [verb] my neighbor [object]. In speaking of love, all too often we look at the object to decide whether I should love it or not. Chocolates are yummy, therefore I love chocolates. Spiders are scary, therefore I do not love spiders. 

In Luke 10, however, Jesus did not focus on the object of love. He did not define neighbor [the object of our love] as someone who is near us, therefore we should love him/her; nor did Jesus define neighbor as someone in need, thus giving reason for us to love. Instead, Jesus focused on the subject — “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36)

The good Samaritan [subject] loves [verb] the man who fell among the robbers [object], making the man his neighbor by his love. That is exactly God’s love — “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). We were separated from God and we didn’t even know we were in need; yet God loves us, loving us to become not his neighbors next door but his own family, and the Spirit transforms us to be like Christ, making us to be lovely and lovable.

“Therefore sinners are attractive because they are loved; they are not loved because they are attractive.” (Martin Luther, Heidelberg Disputation [Thesis 28])

What a different outlook! 

I admit that there are people whom I find difficult to love. But instead of crossing them off my “neighbor” list, there is a better way. God’s love is powerful and redeeming. It has power to soften my heart towards them, thus freeing me from the prison of selfishness to give myself to them. When I love them with God’s powerful and redeeming love, they become my lovely and lovable neighbors.

“God’s Love does not find, but creates, that which is loveable to it.” (Tuomo Mannermaa, Two Kinds of Love: Martin Luther’s Religious World [p1])

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Wendy became a Christian while attending Queen’s University in Canada. She graduated from Fuller Seminary in 2016 with an MA in Theology, and from Multnomah Biblical Seminary in 2023 with a DMin in Heart-based Spirituality and Christian Formation. Wendy lives in Seattle with her husband and two daughters, and serves as a minister at Evangelical Chinese Church of Seattle.

By Tina Teng-Henson

In a Facebook world
Who is not my neighbor? 

I find myself buying my college friend Aaron’s little daughter’s clay-made jewelry.
They’re clear across the country 
in Pennsylvania
But we’re in touch
Because her dad and I still connect
Once a month
To pray for Harvard 2004 alumni friends 
Who once were neighbors
In Cambridge, Massachusetts
20 years ago.  

By Emi Iwanaga

”Those who are loved by God, let his love continually pour from you to one another, because God is love…Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then ‘loving one another’ should be our way of life! No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us.“

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬, ‭‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭TPT‬‬

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR

Call received.
The next door neighbor,
Her ring camera shows a package on the doorstep.
Sure, I’ll get, hold it until her return.

Favor granted.
Closing spoken.
Her words flow, 
Naturally, sincerely and with ease, “I love you”.
My attention captured, set back a bit,
Heart touched.

Conscious pricked.  
Our first meeting over 25 years ago,
Her son had died, she had a need, I had my intentions.
Life happened, I did nothing.
Action failed.

Conclusion reached.
Never a time spent together,
Yet, apparently my consistent prayers, greetings and respect.
Because of God, suffice.
Neighbors love.

Emi Iwanaga served thirteen years as a missionary in Amazon Valley in Brazil, over 20+ years as a children’s ministry director, women’s ministry director, and pastor’s wife, and is currently a spiritual director.

By Jerrica KF Ching

Learning that I was going to be reflecting upon “Loving Our Neighbor” for this week’s AAWOL blog brought back memories of hearing the telling of the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) in my Sunday School class.  At a younger age, the message I received through this teaching is that as a Christian, I should always be prepared to help those in need.  Perhaps it was my interpretation that “the one who had mercy on him” (Luke 10:36) equated mercy to help.  I remember a surge of pride when I was able to help another student at school with homework, or when I assisted a different classroom with cleaning. 

But pride is not to be mistaken for demonstrating a capacity of loving our neighbor.  As I got older, and maybe with the assistance of more lived experience and more interactions with others, I realized that another message within the telling of the Good Samaritan is that we do not need to wait for someone to be in need before we help others, nor do we need to wait to show our care and love towards others.

By Melanie Mar Chow

In living for God, it is important to understand how to respond to the Holy Spirit’s invitation. A new year, 2024, just started. We should employ our best gift of Christmas, Jesus. 

As I write I realize that the end of January means many well-intended resolutions will also end. Friends mentioned they were looking forward to February when the crowds lessen at their gyms. The desire to do something and stay with it, for many of us, is not just related to working out, balancing checkbooks, and housecleaning, which all falter without intention.  Our spiritual life also begins to become inactive, quenching our intention to live by the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19). 

By April Yamasaki

As I reflect on the Spirit’s leading, I first think of some of the larger movements in my life. My marriage to my sweetheart when we were both just twenty-one and both still in university. My conviction to keep submitting my first book proposal in spite of rejection after rejection. The unexpected call to pastoral ministry that took me from not even thinking about being employed by the church to becoming curious and then excited about the new possibilities for service and learning. My resignation years later from my position as a full-time pastor to focus on my writing beyond the local congregation. I journalled, I prayed, I consulted with others, I sensed the leading of the Holy Spirit.

At other times, I’ve sensed the leading of the Spirit in smaller, more specific ways. Like suddenly feeling moved to pray for a friend in another part of the world. Or being prompted to call someone only to discover they were wanting to talk through a difficult situation. Or wrestling with a given scripture text that suddenly takes on new meaning for me. In these small and unexpected ways, there too I sense the Spirit’s leading.

By Ajung Sojwal

It’s now twelve days of a two-week visit to my parents in Nagaland, India. Conversations left unfinished the last time I visited them a year ago picked up as if we had merely been interrupted by the deafening sound of an airplane flying overhead. Life has changed no doubt since the last time I was here. My parents seem older, there’s been a couple of deaths within the extended family, cousins have gotten promotions in their jobs, there’s better Wi-Fi connectivity and there are taller and bigger buildings all around.

As I sat with one of my cousins catching up on the many relatives and mutual friends we know, I was struck by how often the phrase “he/she hasn’t changed at all” came up. The phrase could be the best compliment or the worse indictment about someone depending on who we were talking about. It got me wondering what change looks like and feels like within me. 

By Angela Ryo

Happy New Year, everyone! We just celebrated Epiphany last Sunday, and I have to say, it’s one of my favorite Sundays. Epiphany comes from the Greek word that means “to reveal.” It’s the celebration of divine revelation and all the ways in which God reveals Godself to us and transforms us. I believe seeking for God’s revelation is one of the ways in which we live a Spirit-led life.

We have entered a new year. We know very little to nothing about what this year holds for us. We seek for God’s revelation. And that’s probably why we have New Year’s resolutions — to guide us through the new year and hopefully open our eyes to God’s revelation. But are New Year’s resolutions really an effective guide for us?

By Leona Chen-Wong

When I entered college, it was a whirlwind of uncertainties, decisions, and the constant fear of missing out or fear of making wrong decisions. As an international student, the weight of choosing the right path felt heavier and steeper, with the need to learn the new environment, and new systems around me, and make new friendships. The stress of controlling every aspect of life became overwhelming, leading me to a pivotal prayer: “Lord, I give you my ‘yeses’ to the plan you have for my life. Would you show me your good and perfect will for this world and let me be part of it?”

There were no thunderous revelations or crystal-clear plans unveiled. Instead, a profound peace settled within me as I relinquished the reins of my life to the God I know to be all-knowing, all-powerful, and wholly loving. In the wake of this surrender, a series of what seemed like coincidental moments began unfolding, effortlessly guiding me toward the right people and faith opportunities that shaped my journey in ways I couldn’t have orchestrated on my own.