11/15/23 - 2016: Won't You Be Our Neighbor?

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Martha: We are your hosts, Jim and Martha Brangenberg, and our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field. So what does that look like in your workplace? Well, let's find out right now.

Jim: You know, Thanksgiving begins the most wonderful time of the year. It makes me want to start singing. It's the beginning of the holidays. Eggnog is on the shelves and I'm super excited. It's a time where families gather and together we celebrate all the great things that God has done during the previous year.

However, for Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving, some, it's just a miserable and lonely time. Is there a solution to eliminating the loneliness and the misery of people being alone for the holidays? There is. It's called the power of neighboring at Thanksgiving. You can Wow. Now I've done it.

Martha: He said, I am not gonna start over.

Jim: Right, so I'm not gonna.

However, for some, Thanksgiving and the rest of the holidays are just a time to be miserable and lonely. Is there a solution? There is a solution. The power of neighboring at Thanksgiving can bring joy and happiness and a new level of friendship to some of your neighbors that you live near and you work with.

Thanks for tuning into a special iWork4Him, Thanksgiving edition. I would say that was probably the roughest open we've ever had Martha.

Martha: Hey, but I'm thankful for you.

Jim: I'm thankful for you too. And for the power of editing, but we're not going to edit that stuff because you guys just need to know that we're real. You know, we wanted to spend time today talking about Thanksgiving and how you can transform Thanksgiving.

It's just one of those holidays that, you just, for crying out loud, shouldn't be alone. So where did this idea come from, Martha? This idea of the power of neighboring?

Martha: Well, I think, Jim, over our marriage, for a lot of years, it's been a very important part of the fabric, really, of our marriage and our family.

And then it really culminated this fall when you actually got to preach a sermon at our church on the power of neighboring, where you were able to really look at all God has taught us through the years and put it into a format.

Jim: Yeah. And we really learned a lot of that. I mean, both of our parents - growing up in our parents also, they did some neighboring things.

I think your parents did a really great job of instilling the power of neighboring at Thanksgiving time. And so I love that, but you know, I got this idea of the power of neighboring from the good Samaritan story and Jesus just had a lot to say about the power of neighboring. I mean, that one religious ruler came up and said to him, You know, how do I, you know, how do I get eternal life?

And he says, you know, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself and obey all the commandments. And the guy goes, well, I've done all that stuff. Well, then get rid of all of your. No, then he says, well, who's my neighbor?

That's what it was. Did I just totally blow all of that?

This is iWork4Him unplugged today, that's what this is. I mean, the guy says the says, who's my, well, who's my neighbor? It's kind of being a smart mouth about it. Well, because he says, love your neighbor as yourself. Well, who's my neighbor? And so Jesus says the good Samaritan story, which turns out, the priest comes by and the guy that got beat up, he walks on the other side of the road and then the Levite comes by, which is also a religious worker comes by.

He probably owns his own 501c3 and he, he walked away on the other side. Then the Samaritan who is a despised half breed Jew that they hated and they actually walked around the part of Israel that was Samaria because they didn't even want to be associated with those people, that's the guy that took care of the guy that was the hurt Jew.

That's neighboring. So who's my neighbor today?

Martha: Well, that's a great question because...

Jim: you're my neighbor. We are, yes. Won't you be my neighbor?

Martha: We are each other's neighbors, but it's so much more than that because I think a lot of times people only think about the people that live near them. But if the Good Samaritan was being neighborly to somebody, he didn't even know that person, nor did he know where he was from.

I mean, he didn't take him home, Jim. He took him back to, he took him somewhere to be taken care of, to an inn. And so he didn't even know where he lived., but the whole point is, is that we don't even, we know they didn't live near each other because they were of different breeds and they, you know, didn't get along, but he cared for him.

Jim: They were human beings. They were different cultures, different nationalities.

Martha: Yes. I think everybody understands what I'm saying, but a lot of times we think about our neighbors, just being the people that live on each side of us and in front of us and back of us. But in the context of iWork4Him, we love to think about the neighbors that we work alongside. So whether we're on the phone with people all day, or we actually are in cubicles near each other or down the hall from each other. I mean, all those are people are our neighbors, because God has put us in proximity to them to have relationships.

Jim: Or maybe you work in a store and your neighbors is somebody that's taking care of the aisles two aisles over, or maybe you work in a used car dealership and it's the guy that's working in detailing. I mean, you don't, you don't know your neighbors are those people that you're around during the day.

Martha, we learned about the power of neighboring personally in our own marriage when we lived in Florida for 20 years. We lived in two different homeowners associations, which that's a whole nother story for a whole nother podcast.

Martha: They could listen to your sermon. I'll put the link in the show notes.

Jim: That's right. That'd be a good idea. But needless to say, homeowners associations, they really help you to learn how to never want to go to prison. Okay.

Martha: They mature you.

Jim: Yeah, they do mature you. Okay. So what we saw, we lived in a homeowner's association, 30 townhouses right near the beach in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. And the people that were in charge of the association, they enjoyed the power. And the neighborhood was really divided. And there was a lot of angst. And, and we just decided we wanted to change our neighborhood. And so one of us had to run to become president of the association. And I volunteered Martha because she's way more full of grace and could tolerate a whole lot more stupid than I can.

And so Martha ran for president and I said, I'll do whatever I can to help you. I just won't have an office. And we then made a point to know every person who owned every townhouse. We made sure we knew all of them. We got a chance to pray with them.

And basically with Martha as president, eliminating rules that were ridiculous and supporting things that were really pro neighborhood, we transformed that neighborhood by loving our neighbors, didn't we?

Martha: We did. And I think, I don't know, maybe this is just my personality, but what I want to point out is we didn't move in there and go, we're going to change this neighborhood. It was out of a desire to have a place where, you know, people were waving at each other and friendly to each other. You know, sharing the cup of sugar when you need to make chocolate chip cookies, right? Because that's really important. So having those relationships and we just desired that.

And so we just felt like the Lord said, you know, do what you can to be neighborly and to help this actually feel like a neighborhood and that's that's where what those actions came out of.

Jim: And it was so important to us to get that done and we were able to get it done just by loving on people and getting to know their names and other kids names of their grandkids names or whatever it was.

When we left that neighborhood, I cried like a baby. It was the greatest time ever in a neighborhood because we really loved people. I don't know. Was it weird though? They all helped us pack our truck to move. They were ready for us to go.

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Martha: So let's talk about how all of this power of neighboring, Jim, applies to Thanksgiving because that is really the question because we're talking right now just a little bit before Thanksgiving so that we can have a conversation so that we don't miss it. You know, there's nothing worse than going Oh, I didn't tell you about that sale that was last week.

No, it's about oh i'm telling you we're having this conversation a little bit ahead of time so we can actually make some changes in what we do even this year.

Jim: You know, Martha, one of the things that I always - okay It bothered me a little but now I look back and it was very very cool. But your parents were really good at this. They were really good at inviting people over for Thanksgiving who were going to be alone.

They were really good about Looking and whether it was people they worked with, people they went to church with, whether there was neighbors or somebody that we were in a Bible study with, we had lots of different people over. I mean, Martha and I have been together, we've been friends for 40 plus years.

We've been married for 37 plus years. And so we've had a lot of Thanksgivings together and your parents were just really good at inviting people over.

Martha: You know, I was thinking about the fact that Thanksgiving is kind of a safe holiday because you're not gift giving. So it's not this weird, Oh, I'm inviting you over, but you've got to give gifts, you're all just eating right and being thankful.

And it's not, at least in my experience, it's not a divisive holiday. It's not one, you know, we, we go to the historical truth of our country, and we love Thanksgiving. Well, because I know some people try to make everything divisive and, or, you know, and get angry about things. But the fact of the matter is Thanksgiving is a holiday to be grateful.

 My mom always said, put a little more water in the soup, right? You can make it go a little further to invite more people in.

Jim: I never saw your mom do that.

Martha: She did. Yes. There was always plenty of food at the Hains household. There's no question about that. This is really not an excuse to say we're not going to have enough food. Like my 15 pound turkey won't feed enough people or whatever. How many of you have ever not had leftovers after Thanksgiving?

Jim: Always have leftovers. You always have leftovers. Always. In fact, you cook for the leftovers. That's part of the deal.

All right, so the question is, who do you live near or work with that's gonna be alone at Thanksgiving? And do you even know?

Martha: How do we find that out, Jim? What do you think?

Jim: Hi, I'm Jim. I'm your neighbor. Are you going to be alone at Thanksgiving? What are you doing for Thanksgiving? Oh, or you can do that at work that maybe you peeking over the cubicle and go so what do you do over Thanksgiving? Yeah, I mean, just find out. I mean, there are people that we know - all of us colloquially - that are going to be alone at Thanksgiving. Now, honestly, there are a few people that may actually want to be alone, but most everybody, if they're alone, they're not doing it because they want to do it.

They're doing it because they, their family's gone, or they're alienated from their family, or it's a recent divorce, or they're too far away geographically from their family to go home for a short weekend. So, you know, find out who's gonna be alone and then invite them to your family. It's going to change things.

Honestly, I grew up in a household where inviting strangers or inviting people that weren't family over for Thanksgiving, it just didn't happen. Martha's family was really good at it. My, my dad just didn't.

Martha: Well, just think about it this way, is that you can tell all of the family stories and you have a new audience.

Jim: Yeah, this is joke number 74 again and maybe that new person will laugh. Your grandpa Frank would be so proud.

Martha: He would love that. But, you know, really, it's really about just shifting that perspective and saying. You know, how can we bless this person? And they're going to bless us in return. It's that whole give to get thing because you just you're you're together.

Jim: And it really transforms Thanksgiving Day because I mean think of, the conversation is gonna be fresh and it's really gonna be an encouragement to so many people to actually invite them. You're inviting them into your world and it's powerful because it gets you a chance when you love on people like that It gives you a chance to tell them about Jesus, whether they know Jesus or not. You're going to pray for the Thanksgiving meal. You're going to have, it's going to come up in conversation. You're going to change somebody's life. If you invite them over for Thanksgiving, and that's why we're doing this podcast this week. We want to challenge you, invite some people over for Thanksgiving who are going to be alone. And maybe you don't find anybody, but at least you tried.

Martha: You know, so one of the things that I think about in context of that, Jim, is just the fact that as a child, when we had different people over in our home, like, they just became a part of the family. Like, not like, oh, now I got to get him Christmas gifts and stuff, but it just was an extension and it felt really good. And to just, I don't know, have that camaraderie and that fellowship with additional people was a special thing. So just want to think about that.

Jim: I mean, it's, Thanksgiving is just a great, it's a great time.

Martha: Well, Thanksgiving is, like I was alluding to earlier, really is a holiday that is at the root of how our nation was born.

And something else that really celebrates our nation's roots is Patriot Mobile, which is a conservative wireless carrier that actually supports our God given right for freedom. So we recently switched to Patriot Mobile, and we're so grateful that our dollars are fighting for freedom and not against it. So you can check out patriot mobile by going to patriot mobile. com forward slash. iWork4Him. I'll have that in the show links as well, and you can support the work of iWork4Him while getting great service.

Jim: They got access to all of the towers of all the major carriers And frankly since we've switched it's just been, it's been pain free. Love it. Patriot mobile. com forward slash iWork4Him.

So what kind of Thanksgiving traditions do you have that will promote being thankful? That's something around the Thanksgiving table we recommend you gotta at least ask one question. I know Martha's mom was one of these. She would always ask. Well, what are you thankful for for this year?

And of course, I always, if you're really a smart guy, you'd say, well, I'm thankful for my wife. Cause he'd be smart. You'd be an idiot if you didn't do that. Try to encourage conversation like that around the table. As much, as much as I give your parents a hard time about this, Martha, it's a good thing.

Martha: You know, but it was good. You were probably wishing that we could have dessert. And they maybe did it before dessert or something.

Jim: Never make those questions before the pie. Never before the pie.

Martha: And then have the conversation. But you know, I think it's, it's almost, it would be sad, it would be sad though, if you didn't have that conversation.

 You're together, you're gathered with people that you care about. You've had a wonderful meal, no matter what it is, whatever your family traditions are, for the food and the menu and the dessert that you really do spend some time being grateful. You know, I have a journal that I've started using in the last year, and a lot of people I've talked to do this as well, where every day they write three things down in their journal that they are thankful for or grateful for, and then three different things the next day and three different things the next day.

And if we are really, truly digging deep, we'll never run out of things that we can be thankful for. So you know, Thanksgiving's just one of those times where we finally articulate it out loud to the other people in our families and, or those gathered around the table.

Jim: Yeah. A caveat, when you're inviting people over for Thanksgiving dinner, a lot of times people ask, Hey, bring over your favorite dish. If they can't cook, don't ask them to bring something.

Martha: Just ask them to Go to Village Inn and get a pie, right?

Jim: Oh, if there's a Village Inn nearby, make sure you get a French silk pie. That'd be good. That's not Martha's favorite, but it's mine. But you can give them something that's easy, like the dinner rolls, get them squishy Hawaiian ones or, you know, like the pies or the cranberry sauce in a can.

Martha: You're just like you could have your own little DIY show here.

Jim: Have them bring the stuffing. I don't know, but

Martha: Not the stuffing. The stuffing's hard. In fact, I'm glad my mom's coming this year because I told her you got to walk me through making this stuffing.

Jim: The family stuffing recipe. It is pretty good.

Martha: I don't have it down.

Jim: No. Alright, but be thankful this year and help others to be thankful by inviting them over for Thanksgiving dinner. This really helps to fulfill number three on the iWork4Him nation pledge. Remember the iWork4Him nation pledge is just, how do you activate your faith at work?

Number one is to start praying for your coworkers and employees by name each and every day, because when you pray for people, your heart starts to change towards them and it gives you an opportunity to have conversations with them. Number two is look for ways to serve them over and above what your job requires you to do.

That's great, do that at work, but number three is get to know them, befriend them outside of the workplace. Thanksgiving dinner is a great way to do that because you can invite them over into your world and love on them and feed them because food is the international language of love. But feed them and and really get to know them.

Let them experience your family, even if it's dysfunctional. Oh, yeah, all families are dysfunctional. Let them see it all. It's okay. You're just being real. Jesus never expected any of us to be perfect. He just expected us to be loving on our neighbors. So make sure you do that. But remember the number four part of the iWork4Him Nation pledge.

When you see somebody come in that they're normally up, and you know what their regular demeanor is, and they just seem a little down and out, just ask them how they're doing. And when they respond I'm fine. You say, really? Freaked out? Insecure? Neurotic? And emotional? Really? How are you doing? Then shut up and listen.

And when they're done sharing, say, hey, thanks for sharing that. Can I pray with you about that right now? Nobody's ever told me no. And that'd be a great way to invite them over for Thanksgiving. I'm sorry that you're having a bad time. Want to come over for Thanksgiving? We're having a crowd of people and We'd love to have you.

Martha: You know, I was thinking as you were explaining that too, Jim, is spending Thanksgiving with some people that maybe you work with gives you a new level of relationship.

Like, you know, them in a different way outside of work with their hair down a little bit, maybe around their cooking. Maybe they're a foodie, maybe they actually, you know, going to introduce you to some new things that you've never had before. You know, then Monday morning you have something new to talk about with them. And you can tell if their demeanor was different if you saw them in a different way than you've ever seen them at work, you're going to know them differently now going forward. These are all just little tips to help us when we're in our workplace to better be able to relate with those people that we work with so that God can open the door for that conversation to go further into Jesus Christ.

And like you were saying, Jim, you know, praying over the food, giving God the glory, being grateful, those are all things that maybe other people haven't had modeled in their own home. We have no idea what other people's experiences have been like, but getting them to see our experiences helps them to see the light of Christ no matter how imperfect we may be.

Jim: And you know, we do know this one thing, we've all watched Thanksgiving movies where everything falls apart. Even if that's at your house and you end up throwing food at each other, they'll have something to tell about. And then you'll have those inside stories. You'll have that, you know, you'll have that bond, the common bond over thrown mashed potatoes.

It's just, it's a great thing. Well, I just, our biggest encouragement is this: you got neighbors, whether you work with them, you live near them. Somebody's going to be alone. Invite them into your home for Thanksgiving or wherever you're going to have Thanksgiving and include them in the day. Don't let them be alone.

That's just the worst. It's, what did I say in our, our daily power thought that we've got going out this week? I said, that's just a big fat bummer. It just really is. But we are grateful for you, our listeners, super thrilled, ten and a half years of doing this podcast and radio broadcast, and we're grateful for you.

Thanksgiving isn't the only time for us to let you know this, but it's a great time for us to remind you that we are grateful for you. Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday right after Thanksgiving, and we could use your support. It's a time when our country focuses on supporting work that we believe in.

Consider giving to iWork4Him.. Go to iWork4Him. com forward slash donate during this giving season. Remember the thousands and thousands, now it's tens and tens of thousands of people that have been impacted by this ministry, help us to impact more in 2024. Oh, that's a good one - Help us to impact more in 2024! Go to iWork4Him. com forward slash donate And we are thankful for you.

You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers. Our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately, iWork4Him.

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Did you know that God has a calling on your life? It's true. He's called you to bring Jesus to the world. For some, that may look like a pulpit or a foreign mission field, but for most of us, it looks like a construction site, a cubicle, a hospital, or a classroom.

Wherever it is that you work, live, volunteer, and invest, that is your mission field. To learn more about integrating your faith into your work and retirement, check out our books, iWork4Him, sheWorks4Him, and iRetire4Him by going to iWork4Him.com/bookstore. Thanks for listening to the iWork4Him Podcast with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg.

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