The Rev. Jim Rushton
First Lutheran Church, Glenville

Don’t you just love the summer? I do. And, like just about everything else, I enjoy putzing in the yard. I call it good therapy — the fresh air, the sunshine and a sense of accomplishment looking at a freshly mowed lawn.

Yeah, I love the summer…well at least for the most part.

You see, there is my neighbor, Pete.

Pete thinks being neighborly is about borrowing stuff from your neighbor. All sorts of stuff. And, I’m Pete’s neighbor.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I don’t mind lending out my garden tools, but it would really be great if I got my tools back in the same condition I loaned them out. And sometimes they don’t come back at all!

And, Pete has another habit that annoys me. He sometimes comes over and borrows tools right when I’m in the middle of something and when I’m getting ready to go to worship.

Like me, Pete could wait until the afternoon to putz around.

And worship, boy, do I ever look forward to worship and the time spent afterward with my friends.

At worship last Sunday we heard these words from the Gospel of Matthew.

“So, when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and sister and then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24

That kind of stops me in my tracks.

I guess I could have been more considerate of Pete.

He couldn’t be happy about all the times I cut him off in the middle of a conversation or sent him home empty handed. I’ll drop something over after worship.

Maybe he could even use some help weeding his huge garden this afternoon.

And Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”