Sermon for January 5th, 2020
Contents
Luke 10:25-37 (NT p.71-72)
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Faith & Film VIII - A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
Three Minute Film Synopsis
The film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, begins and ends just like every episode of the famous children's Television show, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood--with a kind man singing a song, speaking to us in simple language, inviting us to be his neighbor, while changing into (and then out) of a cardigan sweater and sneakers. But this film has been described as an episode of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood for adults, and its central character, Fred Rogers (played by Tom Hanks) is not the main character, not the protagonist of the film. Instead, Mr. Rogers introduces us to his "new friend" and shows the audience a picture of a man who is clearly injured, hurt on the outside but also with an expression that betrays a deep wound on the inside as well.
This man is Lloyd Vogel, a hard-hitting investigative journalist with a bad-boy reputation and a strained relationship with his father, who has been assigned the task of interviewing and writing a story about the "nicest man in the world."
The film follows the development of their relationship, and its positive effect on Vogel's relationship with his father, his wife, and his own infant son. The character is loosely based on the real-life journalist Tom Junod, whose 1998 article on Mr. Rogers in Esquire magazine began a life-long friendship between the two and made a significant impact on Jonod's life and subsequent writing.
