{"id":10,"date":"2007-12-05T15:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-05T21:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/05\/uncomfortable-love-your-neighbor\/"},"modified":"2007-12-05T15:59:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-05T21:59:00","slug":"uncomfortable-love-your-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/05\/uncomfortable-love-your-neighbor\/","title":{"rendered":"Uncomfortable – Love your neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Well, you know it is time to leave a church, when you get your stomach all in knots, just thinking about going there. Then when you are there, your whole attitude changes. Then when you run into people that have hurt you, you want to forgive, but have problems fully doing so. Humans have a difficult time of fully forgiving, however, God does fully forgive, through Jesus.<\/p>\n

I use to think that God sending Jesus down to earth, was a plan B. However, I was wrong on this. Jesus is the Word. The Word is mentioned right from the start in Genesis. God had this plan from the start. From the beginning. There is much we do not understand, but hopefully sometime we will.<\/p>\n

Now to jump around. Here I dread going to one Church, but so much look forward to another. I really look forward to Trinity and Hosanna. My family and I are searching for a new home Church. Now, for me, I will put my membership in at Trinity, so I can re-apply for Deacon through our synod. However, the rest of the family is still searching. My wife has been doing the initial visits and reporting back. Some have been good, other not so. She recently went to a Church of about 500, that was really crammed for space. Members did not greet her when she came in. The Church had only one Cross that she could see. I have had a past Pastor who use to say “If a Church has no cross, you have to wonder what they worship?”<\/p>\n

Had advent supper and service today. It was a really nice time to be greeted by so many people and so openly. Pastor spoke of loving our neighbor. Who is our neighbor? Just the person next door? Just the person next door you want to talk to? When you love your neighbor, it is everyone. In passing, when you ask someone next time, how are you? When they respond “Good”, “Great”, “OK” or something else, how about you show a real love for them and ask them. So, what is going on today to make you feel “their response”. This will start a conversation that will let them know you really do care, and not just ships passing in the night.<\/p>\n

Tis<\/span> the season to care and love one another as we would love Jesus.<\/p>\n

Peace and blessings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, you know it is time to leave a church, when you get your stomach all in knots, just thinking about going there. Then when you are there, your whole attitude changes. Then when you run into people that have hurt you, you want to forgive, but have problems fully doing so. Humans have a … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-10","6":"format-standard","7":"category-uncategorized"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2m6h5-a","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1699,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2017\/01\/19\/forgive-us-our-sins-as-we-forgive-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":0},"title":"Forgive Us Our Sins as We Forgive Others","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"January 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever stopped and really thought about the Lord's Prayer? \u00a0Even beyond that, have you ever thought about what you are asking God to do? \u00a0Especially when we are asked to be forgiven of our \"Debts\", \"Sins\", \"Trespasses\", whichever format of the Lord's Prayer you pray. Below are two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bible"","block_context":{"text":"Bible","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/bible\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/d\/dc\/Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Lord's_Prayer_(Le_Pater_Noster)_-_James_Tissot.jpg\/170px-Brooklyn_Museum_-_The_Lord's_Prayer_(Le_Pater_Noster)_-_James_Tissot.jpg","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":922,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2014\/04\/29\/fear-and-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":1},"title":"Fear and Love","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"April 29, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Link Acts 2:14a Acts 2:36\u201341 Psalm 116:1\u20134 Psalm 116:12\u201319 1Peter 1:17\u201323 John 20:19\u201331 I have secrets and do not care to share them. I have had secrets that I dare not share at the time. Some secrets we have may be related to self-perception. Some related to others perception\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Love"","block_context":{"text":"Christian Love","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/christian-love\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cruzblanca.org\/hermanoleon\/sem\/a\/pasq\/2\/07pascua.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cruzblanca.org\/hermanoleon\/sem\/a\/pasq\/2\/07pascua.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cruzblanca.org\/hermanoleon\/sem\/a\/pasq\/2\/07pascua.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1910,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2017\/09\/11\/911-remembered-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":2},"title":"911 Remembered, 2017","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"September 11, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"September 11th, each year is a difficult time. \u00a0Although I personally did not have someone die during these events, I like so many others, was affected deeply, and still am. \u00a0I can tell you my exact location and my exact response initially upon hearing the devastating news. \u00a0The people that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Calling"","block_context":{"text":"Calling","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/calling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/jesus-on-the-cross-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1356,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2015\/06\/21\/gods-work-and-the-mystery-of-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":3},"title":"God\u2019s Work and the Mystery of Grace","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"June 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/youtu.be\/yeAPBWLE860 Audio version Psalm 92:1\u20134, 12\u201315 Mark 4:26\u201334 I am sure by now that you may have heard that God lavishly extends God\u2019s grace upon us. The grace of God is showered upon all, the undeserved grace given freely to all. Grace is a word that encompasses so much, yet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discipleship"","block_context":{"text":"Discipleship","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/discipleship\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/yeAPBWLE860\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":599,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2013\/10\/06\/what-is-faith-can-it-be-measured\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":4},"title":"What is faith? Can it be measured?","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"October 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Audio Version found on Sermons Page. Video of Sermon and Children's Sermon Habakkuk 1:1\u20134 Habakkuk 2:1-4 Psalm 37:1\u20139 2 Timothy 1:1\u201314 Luke 17:5\u201310 Increase our faith!\u00a0 Who wouldn\u2019t want that?\u00a0 I know I have asked for more faith on more than one occasion.\u00a0 I wonder how many of you are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Faith"","block_context":{"text":"Faith","link":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/category\/faith\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.robinjaunt.com\/Sarayu...-1c-V.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":251,"url":"https:\/\/www.messy-spirituality.com\/wordpress\/2012\/07\/30\/christian-doormat\/","url_meta":{"origin":10,"position":5},"title":"Christian Doormat","author":"Douglas Dill","date":"July 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant Matthew 18:21-35 (NIV '84) 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, \u201cLord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? 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