I, the Theology Pirate, visited Our Savior’s Lutheran in San Clemente, CA today during the children sermon.  I had heard that followers of Jesus had to, “Love their neighbors as they love themselves.”  So I though it was pretty important to find a place to live where I could love my neighbors, I needed to find a good neighborhood!  I asked the kids what was cool in their neighborhood: parks, the beach, friends, etc.  I was looking for a place I might be able to move to.  They didn’t seem too thrilled about having a pirate move in to their block, but some of them were.  They told me that the cool things in their neighborhood was a guy who build soap box race cars that they race on the 4th of July.  Another said the park was cool because there are monkey bars and swings!  Some said they liked their neighborhood because their friends lived there.  One boy said there was “nothing” cool in his neighborhood.  I said that might be nice because then there would be nobody to dislike! 

When I asked the children if this is what Jesus wanted, for us to find the perfect neighborhood in order to love our neighbors, they said, “no.”  They told me that what God wanted was us to be good neighbors wherever we lived.  We don’t have to move to be good neighbors, in fact we can all show the love of God in whatever neighborhood we live.

I was very happy to be corrected and educated by such smart and faithful young people.  Thanks kids!