I often think of this as the good neighbor and love thy enemy parable: from Luke. 27:  “Love your neighbor as yourself” and from Matthew 44: “Love your enemies” . We’ve had quite a year of being good neighbors in the most unordinary ways. To protect our neighbors from the modern plague of COVID-19 we have been asked to stay away and wear a mask. This has been and is hard. Being in community and coming to the aid of those in need is part of our DNA as Christians. When a traveler was assaulted by thieves while on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho and left naked and severely beaten on the side of the road a priest and a Levite pass by without stopping, then a Samaritan stops and offers aid and comfort. The victim, the priest, and the Levite are all Jews. Samaritans and Jews despised each other at this time in history yet that is who aided the traveler.  He put his humanity and that of the half dead man ahead of that cultural conflict. The story of the Good Samaritan is also a good analogy for staying in communication with those who differ with us on the political stage.

George Sykes Wallen, who lived from 1862 until 1933, is memorialized in this window. The maker is not known but is assumed to be American ca. 1933.  This window, which is two frames but considered one window, is one of the Clerestory windows; it is the middle window on the west wall of the Nave. Its more modern style is unique among all of the Christ Church windows. The detailed portrayal of the Samaritan tending to the injured man on the side of the road is best seen in the sanctuary through binoculars. The colors are vivid from the blue sky to the rich reds in the robes of the retreating Levite and of the kneeling Samaritan. I learned from our in-house stained glass windows expert Lynne Smith that this was former Rector Jack Bishop’s favorite window.

The parable in full is in Luke 10: 25-37.

Karen Royce