If you want to know how to neighbor
You must first know who your neighbor is
But before you can even begin
the neighborly process of neighboring them
You must first comprehend
the neighborhood of your own skin
See we were the worst of neighbors, waging cul-de-sac wars with our transgressions
Furnishing our habitats with our inhabiting sins
We were residing in hate,
as if brick of emity formed our residences
Walling ourselves off,
as if selfish deeds were our addresses
We were disgruntled neighbors of the Almighty
We were drowning in the mortgage of our fleshes home
Knowing no wages we could ever earn
could pay off our wager
But now we can actually love other
Because God himself showed us how to neighbor
We adopt the orphans because we were first without a family
We were cut off from our true father
We love the lonely
Because He who is LOVE became loneliness for us
And because HE who is God was forsaken by God
When he cried out on the cross
We reconcile the races,
Because we were of the wrong race
We were child of Adam
By nature Children of Wrath
And because of the color of our sin stained skin
We deserved all the horror of our racism
We empower the poor
Because we were once homeless
without roof wall or door
We thought we had the comforts of earth
But hell was all we actually had in store
We do all this and more
But not because we are trying
to somehow be on our best behavior
We do it in response to and because of
The true one who taught us how to neighbor.
So who is your neighbor?
It’s anyone who has been in your place
Which is everyone.
Because we all need to move
into God’s neighborhood of grace
So may the orphan be embraced
May the lonely be loved
May the races be restored
And may we empower the poor
Because all this and more was first done by our savior
The God man know as Jesus
Who taught us how to neighbor
