Article April 6, 1992 Issue

A heart for community

It's natural to care deeply about community. Real love for family extends to neighbors—and overflows for the whole of society. This occasional column tells of how a spiritual perspective has been helping Sentinel readers help others and make a contribution to healing some of the collective challenges facing communities today.

My next-door neighbor told me she thought there was a crack house across the street. There were people and cars coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Another neighbor said that he was going to turn them in, but people told him, "Be careful because those people are dangerous. They might kill you."

My first thought when I heard this was going on was, "Not in my neighborhood! Not where I live." But then I thought, "We're not going to have this. I don't have to be subject to the idea that the neighborhood has deteriorated. 'We live, and move, and have our being' in God, as the Bible says, and God is ever present. And if that's so, then we are situated in God, and that can be demonstrated, be evident, in our human experience. There is no place in God for illegal, destructive activity to take place."

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Love your neighbor as yourself