The document is a collection of passages that discuss themes of compassion, mercy, and caring for others, especially immigrants and strangers. It includes the parable of the Good Samaritan, which tells the story of a Samaritan helping a injured man, in contrast to others who passed by without helping. It also discusses how in Worthington, Minnesota, tensions have risen over the town's growing immigrant population, though the local bus driver who transports immigrant children to school opposes immigration.

1. Divine Judge,
you framed the earth with love and mercy
and declared it good;
yet we, desiring to justify ourselves,
judge others harshly,
without knowledge or understanding.
Keep us faithful in prayer
that we may be filled with the knowledge of your will,
and not ignore or pass by another's need,
but plumb the depths of love in showing mercy. Amen.

2. July 10

3. Who is my neighbor?
Luke 10:25-37

5. The Good Samaritan
By Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

6. Immigrant kids fill this town’s schools.
Their bus driver is leading the backlash.
By Michael E. Miller
September 22, 2019
The divide can be felt all over Worthington, where “Minnesota nice” has devolved into
“Yes” and “No” window signs, boycotts on businesses and next-door neighbors who no
longer speak. A Catholic priest who praised immigrants was booed from the pews and
has received death threats.
The driving force behind the defeats has been a handful of white farmers in this
Trump-supporting county, including Brink, the bus driver.
Even as he earns a paycheck ferrying undocumented children to and from school,
Brink opposes the immigration system that allowed them to come to Worthington.
“Those kids had no business leaving home in the first place,” Brink said. “That’s why
we have all these food pantries, because of all these people we are supporting. I have to
feed my own kids.”

7. The Parable of the Good Samaritan (NRSV)
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 neighbour as yourself.’ 28 And he said to him,
‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

8. 29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my
neighbour?’ 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 travelling 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 neighbour 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.’

9. Luke 10:25-37 Co-travellers
People from countries such as the USA,
South Africa, Namibia, Rwanda and
Burundi and other countries racked by
racial and ethnic divisions have a special
appreciation for this story of the travellers.
It deals with racial harmony and what it
means to be human and humane, or to be
someone with ubuntu, that is, someone
who is welcoming, hospitable, warm and
generous, with a servant spirit that affirms
others and says ‘I am because you are; you
are because I am.’

10. Perhaps the simplest reason that we, as
Christians, should care for the migrant is that
she or he is our neighbor – both figuratively
and, increasingly for many Americans,
literally. When a legal scholar asked Jesus
what the most important command of
Scripture was, Jesus indicated that there are
two commands that sum up all of the law
and the Prophets: to love the Lord with all
our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our
neighbor as ourselves.

11. Our natural tendency when we read this
commandment is to apply the narrowest
possible definition of a “neighbor”, seeking to
justify ourselves. In this, we are like the legal
scholar, who pressed Jesus for a more
precise, probably limited, legal definition …
Of course, Jesus proceeded to tell the
inquisitive lawyer the parable of the Good
Samaritan, where we find that our neighbor
might be a person of entirely different (and
maybe even disliked) culture, far away from
her homeland, with serious needs.

13. The Silver Lining of Fish by Joel Passey
An hour of listless fishing
off the pier at Farmington Pond
ends when a stranger
speaks through the smile of dark
enigmatic eyes,
“My name is Angel Rivera,
let me help you.”
His caring tone voices
the interest of a brother.
He takes my pole, clips off
the old lure and treble-hooks
a bobbed, gossamer leader–
“Try this, my friend, it will
work well for you.”

14. I cast out into deep water.

15. On a nearby bench
Angel’s ill wife waits patiently.
He moves like grace to her,
whispers, comforts a touch
of his hand to her face
she regards with a smile.
The echoing splash of canyon springs
from the east bank fades
into a vision of life beyond the pond–
where there are no more
weeds to pull, nor pain to bear
or loves to leave, and then
a startled tug on the line–
a fish silvers to the surface.
In the blush of the early sun
a cloud-dapple sky shimmers
like wings on the water.

16. The Good Samaritan
By Rick Koestler, 2014

17. O God, who hast taught us to keep all your commandments
by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your
Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole
heart, and united to one another with pure affection;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.