This article was written by Rev. Linda Elford , a Texas native and UT graduate

who has been the pastor of Crestview United Methodist Church in Austin since 2010.

The term “Good Samaritan” has entered our common vocabulary as a term for someone who stops to aid a stranger. But when Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan, his point wasn’t simply the importance of helping others. Jesus told the story to answer a question: “Who is my neighbor?”  Luke 10:25-37 describes a Jew beaten by thieves and then helped by a Samaritan, a member of a group considered heretical and unclean by most Jews. Jesus made his point: neighbors are not defined by physical proximity or shared religion or ethnicity. The neighbor relationship is defined by behavior showing care and respect.

At the church I serve as pastor, Crestview United Methodist, we have been trying to expand our practice of neighborliness. On March 4, we joined with two other nearby Christian congregations—Journey Imperfect Faith Community and Episcopal Church of the Resurrection—to host an event called “Building Community with our Muslim Neighbors.”

The event had its genesis a year ago, when we put up an outdoor banner that read “We Stand with our Muslim Neighbors.” Many houses of worship in the city have those banners—but ours happened to be seen by a Muslim neighbor who wrote to thank us for our support. He offered to help us learn more about Islam and told us about an Open House at the North Austin Muslim Community Center (NAMCC). After attending, we decided to offer a program on Islam at our church, involve other congregations and invite the community.

So it was that on March 4, over a meal of Middle Eastern food, we met Crestview and Brentwood neighbors and Muslim guests from around the city to hear a presentation on Islam. Mohammad al-Bedaiwi from the NAMCC spoke to the adults,  while his wife Bahia gave a presentation for the children. With over 90 in attendance, the question and answer period convinced us that there are questions enough for another meeting – maybe a panel discussion with some of the other Muslim community members we met at this event! We are also planning a joint project with Bahia that will involve children in aiding refugees.

The pastors who worked together on the event acted out of the conviction that the first steps of building community are to meet face to face and to learn about one another, rather than depending on rumors, generalizations and scare tactics. Our role model in this is Jesus, a master at making connections across boundaries set up by society. He talked about theology with women, sat down to a meal with a tax collector, spent time with “publicans and sinners” because he saw them as individuals rather than defining them by negative stereotypes.

Hate divides, but love multiplies, and when we reach out to others with care and respect, we experience the “divine math” of God.