The New Meaning of Neighbor

July 5, 2023

Beloved:
           A man young enough to be my son moved in across the street, meaning I am no longer the newest resident in my little pocket of the neighborhood.  I invited him to our 4th of July dinner* but he had another invitation, I suppose.  I hope I can be as welcoming to him as the others have been to me in the last half-year.
          People with dogs get to know each other quickest.  I remember the dogs’ names better than their owners’.  Carson, Jewels, Alexander the Great, ChiChi, Pongo, Rolf, Cora, and Buck belong to people whose names I know.  But I’ve completely forgotten the human names attached to Sophie, Olive, Sage, D.O.G. and the German Shepherd that my dog, Birdy, is so intimidated by she pretends not to see him.

          I found another knitter in our patch of neighbors, and a quilter too.  I’ve heard there is a book club as well, but haven’t gotten the deets** on that yet, but will.  My closest next door neighbor and I share gardening interests almost daily.  The deer eat her cucumbers and my sunflowers, keeping us on a mostly failed campaign to send them elsewhere.  Today I have to break the news about a mole on its way from my flowerbed to hers.
          All of which is to say neighbor took on new meaning for me when I was the new one, the outsider welcomed in, the one accepted by people who were intentional about including me.  I’ve come with personal baggage and not a single person has asked to see it.  They’ve simply welcomed me as I am, no questions asked, apart from what I need to get settled into my new situation.  My experience with my neighbors has turned out to be entirely positive.  To the one, they are intentionally decent human beings, good people even, watching out for one another and pitching in as needed.  Whether we are spiritual kin is less relevant to me than whether we are ethically, morally related to one another, literally bearing one another's burdens for the sake of everyone’s well being and happiness.  We need not label it Christian gospel for it to be so.  We need not call ourselves church to do right by one another and by the community in which we live.
          I’m not so naive that I don’t realize our personal privilege provides the time and opportunity for such extended care for one another, opportunity not afforded to every neighborhood everywhere.  But what we do with what we have at any given moment is what God cares about, I think.  I hope.  As you go about your day, I pray you have a good opportunity to welcome and include someone into your own realm of care — in word or deed as God allows.

~ peace & prayers, 
pastor annette

                    ** Deets = details.  I am trying to stay up on modern slang.

*Oven BBQ Ribs ~ these take 4 hours, so plan accordingly.
Ingredients & Supplies

• 3lb rack of meaty baby back ribs
• Salt, pepper, dry rub seasonings of choice
• 1 bottle barbeque sauce — I use Sweet Baby Ray’s
• Large, lipped cookie sheet
• Heavy duty aluminum foil
• Cooking Spray

 

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Overlap two pieces of aluminum foil about 50% longer than the rack of ribs.  Spray with cooking spray.
• Rinse and pat dry rack of ribs & center on the aluminum foil.
• Coat both sides of the meat with salt, pepper, and dry rub seasoning, rubbing it in with your hands (I wear gloves).
• Fold foil together around meat, closing it up like a package, & lay on a greased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 3 hours at 325 degrees F.
• Remove from the oven, open foil package and cover top with barbeque sauce, spreading with a brush, picking up drippings in the pan too.
• Return to the oven for 30 minutes, with the foil package open.
• Add another round of barbeque sauce, spread well and return to oven for another 30 minutes.
• Rest meat  for 10 minutes before cutting apart. Serve from the pan.​

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