Our beliefs frame our actions -- we do what we believe is the right thing to do, and then when we reflect on our actions, it reinforces what we believe or it forces us to change our beliefs.
In the same way, this passage is framed by the same idea -- doing good in all circumstances. In the beginning of the passage, the recipients of the letter are doing good to strangers, which is a hard, hard thing to do. It's easy to do good to those you know -- it's like helping family. There's been interesting articles I've read talking about how this is one of the challenges the US faces -- because the country is so large and so diverse, it can be challenging for people in one part of the country to help people in another part. We readily help our neighbors, but those on the other side of the country are more challenging to encourage people to help. There are plenty of valid criticisms of the Christian missionary movement, but when it is at its best, its traveling to distant places and helping locals build hospitals and schools. Christianity at its purest is helping people, even strangers, by doing good, because this is exactly what Christ does for us -- even though we were enemies of God, God reached out to us in love and offered forgiveness to us.
And so the question before us today is: Who will we help today? What good will we do?
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