Please, Won’t You Be My Neighbor: The Yellow Light

895 times, Mr. Rogers opened the door, declared that it’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood and invited, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” Over the coming weeks, we will consider the lessons imbedded in these children’s television shows – lessons for how to live together as neighbors. Mr. Rogers was a Presbyterian pastor; he was ordained by Pittsburg Presbytery to work with children and families through the media. He was ordained to be Mr. Rogers, to change out of his suit jacket and into his cardigan, out of his dress shoes and into his lace-up sneakers, to introduce us to the people who make up our community, to talk honestly about life, to feed his fish and to take us to the “Neighborhood of Make-Believe” where the characters listen to each other and try to be understanding. Mr. Rogers said that he had been profoundly influenced by the devotional writings of the late theologian and Catholic priest, Henri Nouwen, whose remark “Silence is becoming more and more of a luxury. I’d encourage everyone to have more quiet time” influenced Fred Rogers and the way he wrote his shows.

Mr. Rogers himself rose at 5am every morning for quiet time. He was a person who lived his life with intentionality and routine. The show moves slowly, to teach young children patience and self-control. Did you ever notice the traffic light over the fish tank? I always wondered why it was there.

And I remember the first time I watched the show in color and being amazed at all of the many bright colors on the curtains on the window with the window seat where the trolley came to take us to make-believe, but I don’t remember ever noticing that the traffic light was on. Do you know which light was on?

At the beginning of every episode, the light flashed yellow. Slow down. Notice the world around you, the people around you. Notice your life and how you are living it.

The same message that was sent to Titus in the Scripture we read this morning. As soon as he started reading the section we read, Titus would have been able to say the words without them being written. Scholars tell us that they are written in the form of liturgy. These were the words spoken at baptisms. They apply to every Christian: We ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, despicable, hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. This Spirit God pour out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Over the last 6 months, we have undergone tremendous upheaval in our lives. Nearly everyone I know has had something canceled, something changed, something in all of our lives has been affected by the pandemic. Perhaps the largest shift is yet to come as we move through this liminal space that seems to drag on forever and move toward the phase of reconstruction, we get to choose intentionally how to live our lives.

Will we return to normal, or will we adjust? I invite you to consider adjusting. I invite you to notice the flashing yellow light and observe it. Before the pandemic, we were mostly catching green lights, busy, running, days and nights filled with work and commitments and travel and accumulation and the culture around us continually told us to go faster, more is better, and it’s just around the bend, lean in, keep going.

And then the pandemic stopped us. Red light. And we sat, and we wondered, and we worried. And we spent time with the people stopped with us – the people we live with, our closest friends, our nearest family, ourselves.

As we move into a period of reconstructing our routines, we have an opportunity to be intentional, to slow down and reflect on our lives.

Many of us have lived lives much like the ancient baptismal liturgy describes: foolishly wasting away our days, lacking discipline to follow God’s direction for our lives, slaves to various passions and pleasures, hobbies, commitments, material hopes, worldly measures of success.

And yet, 6 months ago, all of that was put on hold. We saw so much of the way we lived our lives for what it is – temporal and transitory. And now, we have the opportunity to listen again to the promise of God in baptism to claim us and renew us for what is spiritual and perpetual.

The writer of Titus says that we are saved because of God’s goodness and loving kindness – not because of anything we have done or not done to deserve it and we are richly blessed to devote ourselves to good deeds and to live fruitful lives.

Every day as he entered the studio, Fred Rogers prayed, “Dear God, let some word that is heard be yours.”
Fred Rogers was never in a hurry. He once said, “It seems to me…that our world needs more time to wonder and to reflect about what is inside, and if we take time we can often go much deeper as far as our spiritual life is concerned that we can if there’s constant distraction.”

But, he wasn’t a loner. Fred Rogers was very engaged – in fact, as I researched his life, I found story after story of reporters who were assigned to interview him who became lifelong friends with him. Fred Roger saw “the purpose of life is to listen – to yourself, to your neighbor, to your world and to God and, when the time comes, to respond in as helpful a way as you can find.”

The Letter to Titus tells us, “avoid stupid controversies, arguments based on our family heritage, squabbles, bickering, and arguments because they are unhelpful and futile.”

It is counter-cultural, and it is not easy. A former executive with the Rogers nonprofit Family Communications recalls that “Fred was very controversial, for most of his career. There were always a significant number of people who just didn’t believe him…thought it was an act…..He was constantly having to persuade people that he was real.”
Anyone who met him, though, quickly learned that Mr. Rogers and Fred Rogers were one and the same person. A man of integrity who was kind and loving, accepting and compassionate. A man who saw the flashing yellow light and slowed down to notice the wonder of life and the wonder of neighborhood.

I invite you this week to slow down.

Get up in the morning and pray, “Dear God, let some word I say today be yours. Help me avoid controversies and live fruitfully.”

And reach out to your neighbor. Bake something, make something, pick flowers, purchase plants and take them to your neighbors, the people who live to your left and your right. Include a card that tells them that you were challenged by your pastor at Farmington Presbyterian to reach out in love to your neighbor and include the names of the people who live in your home and your phone number.

May we reflect on these words of Mr. Rogers, “How many times have you noticed that it’s the little quiet moments in the midst of life that seem to give the rest extra-special meaning?” and enjoy some little quiet moments, moments of wonder, moments of grace, this week. Amen.