Some of us grew up watching the afternoon television program, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood." Others of us may be reluctant to admit that we sat down with our children and watched it too. I think Mr. Rogers exemplified in a gentle way what Jesus wanted to teach us about love and what it means to value each other. When Mr. Rogers changed into his sweater and took off his shoes, it was a biblical gesture of self-emptying humility and a welcome to all of us in TV land. Then he sang the litany we loved to hear, "It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, would you be mine? Could you be mine? Would you be my neighbor?" Even Mr. McFeely, the postal carrier, went around from house to house making a neighborhood out of what would have been a bunch of separate houses divided by hedges and picket fences. The family values we saw in Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood were courtesy, kindness, and curiosity. In one episode, Mr. Rogers took us to a sneaker factory where there was an assembly line of workers. He watched one woman working, and he wondered out loud if she ever thought about the people who would wear the shoes she made. The values of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood came right through that television screen and into our family room. That woman making sneakers became my neighbor, as well as the unknown people buying the shoes she made.

You and I may differ on definitions of family and what constitutes family values, but we all know, we can learn something indispensable from Jesus. He teaches us to put God first. When you fall back into the habit of loving flesh and blood more than God, don't worry too much. God is always at work redeeming and expanding our earth-bound loves to make them heaven-sent.