Frederick Buechner Sermon Illustration: See Our Neighbors (Romans 13:8-10)

In our blog post every Monday we select a reading from the  Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday, and pair it with a Frederick  Buechner reading on the same topic.

Next Sunday we will celebrate the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.  Here is this week's reading from the book of Romans: 

Romans 13:8-10

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

The following excerpt was originally published in  Whistling in the Dark  and later in  Beyond Words:

When Jesus comes along saying that the greatest command of all is to love God and to love our neighbor, he too is asking us to pay attention. If we are to love God, we must first stop, look, and listen for him in what is happening around us and inside us. If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces, but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in.