Photo: Maribel Hinojosa speaks during adult worship on Friday morning. Photo by Vada Snider. 

Friday adult worship continued to explore the reach of “Love as a Verb,” emphasizing love for neighbors and strangers.

Springs of Water, a drama troupe from King of Glory Tabernacle in Bronx, New York, performed a spoken word play focused on the many meanings of love: what love is and what love is not and how love is shared with our neighbors.

“Neighbor, I won’t let you burn, especially if I have water. I will run into your inferno, stare down flames. My purpose is wrapped up in your purpose,” they read.

Referencing the story of the Good Samaritan, the group named times Mennonites have helped provide aid in situations around the world, after genocide in Rwanda and an earthquake in Haiti.

“But when a hoodie wearing boy next door got shot by police, we were looking for our neighbors. Where were they?” asked Devonne Lila.

The group ended the section by listing a variety of identities: The neighbor who lives next door and for whom English is not their first language, someone who’s done time in prison, someone who receives food assistance funded by tax dollars and someone who “prays to a God whose name is different.” They asked the question, “Do you love me now?”

They also listed a variety of offensive actions: “You spat in my face. You called me the ‘N word.’”

“I decided to get back up. Love means I got back up for you,” they said. “Christ’s love means he got back up for me.”

Maribel Hinojosa

Maribel Hinojosa, a clinical psychologist in College Station, Texas, continued expanded on the theme of loving your neighbor. Hinojosa attended her first Mennonite convention 20 years ago in Orlando and said that “being on this stage and talking about this topic is an answer to prayer.”

Sharing stories from her years growing up as part of a Mennonite church in central California, Hinojosa talked about the ways “immigrants get the job done” (a reference to popular musical, Hamilton). She gave examples of how people in her community love their neighbors in tangible ways, such as providing transportation, food and other support. She compared this tangible support to the care shown by the Good Samaritan.

“The one demonstrating love wasn’t the one who had political responsibilities or was concerned with reelection. The one demonstrating love was the one who felt moved into action.”

Hinojosa talked about the current political climate in the United States, where news and media coverage often contribute to the perception that our communities and strangers are a threat. She encouraged those gathered to find ways to move past their fear of the other.

“Are you going to limit your experience of God by limiting your interactions with your neighbor out of fear?” she said.

Hinojosa emphasized that we can substitute the word “neighbor” to stand in for anyone who is downtrodden. She quoted Dr. Cornel West’s popular exhortation that “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

In the 1990s, Hinojosa chose to become a United States citizen, a choice that meant she had to relinquish her Mexican citizenship. This was not a decision she took lightly or found easy to make, but she chose to take on U.S. citizenship in order to “express God’s love by voting for just laws.”

Hinojosa said that since she has become a citizen, she has never missed an opportunity to express her care for her neighbor through voting, even driving home from college one year when she forgot to request an absentee ballot.

“I was raised in a Mennonite church that taught me that being a Christian meant advocating for peace and justice,” she said. “Are you loving your neighbor? Are you advocating for peace and justice on our planet?”