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On Sunday, May 17, my Sunday morning sermon was taken from the parable of the Good Samaritan. It was for that theme that I wrote the following article, but it was preempted by something else. I wanted to share these thoughts, at any rate.

The question has been asked thousands of times, "Who are our neighbors?" A lawyer even asked our Lord, in Luke 10:29, "Who is our neighbor?" Your neighbor might be anyone, even someone you didn't previously know.

In my years of working in hospitals, there was one thing that always struck me. The intensive care waiting room is a different world. No one is a stranger. When we come in contact with others in a crisis equal to our own; that's when the walls come down and everyone is on equal footing. Everyone helps one another. They all grieve with each other and shed tears of, both, anguish and joy together. There is no distinction of race or class. Vanity and pretense vanish as one prays for all the patients and family members even though it's obvious that he or she is not a regular, praying person.

Everyone's need is the same. Everything focuses on the next doctor's report or the next telephone call. Here in this anxious stillness it becomes clear that loving others…supporting others…caring for others is a large part of the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10). Why does it take the intensive care waiting room to teach us to forget our hang-ups and love one another?"

It is by our hang-ups and the way that we insulate ourselves as we pass by on the other side of another's need or grief that we avoid the needs of others. It is then that a crisis provokes us and reminds us once again of our need for God to find affirmation through remaining in Jesus' love and loving our neighbors. After all, it is the second greatest commandment of God…"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."