Over the weekend, I attended a conference on the biblical perspective about justice. Its theme was "Love thy Neighbor."  The obvious question is of course:  who's my neighbor? You have no doubt heard of Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan.  It tells the story of a man who, while traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, is set upon by robbers.  After beating and taking most of what he had, the robbers depart.  Soon, a priest comes upon him.  He quickly passes by on the other side of the road.  Later, a Levite appears on the road.  He, too, crosses to the other side of the road and keeps going. 

     Finally, a Samaritan, one despised by the Jews of that day, comes upon the injured man.  He stops immediately, tends to him, and takes him to an inn for rest and further help.  And when the Samaritan leaves the next day, he leaves money with the innkeeper to pay for the continued care of the broken man.
     Jesus' point is that our neighbor is anyone whom we encounter in the course of our lives.  It can be someone hailing from a people group with which we are uncomfortable; it can be a person whom we find repulsive; it can be someone with whom we would rather not deal; it can be someone who openly hates us.
     And that's the challenge:  to love even when we see no reason to.  Why?  We are all made in the image of God.  We all have dignity, we all have worth.  We are all valuable. Denying someone's humanity means denying oneself and, broadly speaking, God.  It's never right, it's never acceptable, and it is certainly never true.
     Take a chance today.  Love in a way that you least want to.  Love people for who they most deeply are (bearers of the image of God), not what they do.
     Love as God loves us.