*I couldn’t go through with spelling neighbour incorrectly in the title of this blog post.
I believe the most powerful witness to the Christian Faith that I have been exposed to in the past year has been Fred Rogers. Here is a man of faith working quietly and humbly in the public eye for decades showing children the way of Jesus.
The Documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbour” highlights Rogers priorities in speaking to children about their very real feelings. This affected me. I speak to children, older children – but still children, all day long. They guard their feelings quite well. How attuned am I to how they might be feeling? How gentle? Am I sharing my own feelings with them?
Now more recently, Tom Hanks puts on Mr. Rogers character and exhibits the most loving and Christian care for a hurting reporter. Rogers’ witness of daily praying for people by name is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that could not be contained or kept secret to the point that film makers have actually monetized the story!
The challenge of the saints is important for Christians to reflect upon. Jesus life is vital for reflection, but it can be distant and familiar. The lives of saints is the testimony of Jesus Christ. Reading about Mother Teresa’s life as put forth by Malcolm Muggeridge a few years ago had the same effect on me.
So, in this moment, I praise God for Fred Rogers faithful witness. He wasn’t perfect, but he was Jesus to multitudes of children.