Won’t you be my neighbor?

How well do you know your neighbors?

I don’t know mine well enough. But neighbors are more than just the people who live on your block. They are people you work with, whose kids go to school with your kids, who share your humanity yet maybe not your ethnic origin or skin color or buying power.

The elections last fall were just more evidence of our isolation from each other. In my own church, a vote last fall on a matter that proved controversial also proved we didn’t know one another as well as we assumed.

What is happening to us and what is the remedy?

When sociologist Robert Putnam wrote the book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community,” he pointed out the loss of social subgroups in the rhythm of our week that once provided sympathy for our neighbor and satisfied our need for belonging. We used to bowl in leagues; now we bowl alone (or only with friends and family). We used to have strong civic organizations like Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, Exchange Club, Masons, Shriners, etc. These still exist, but they find it harder to attract new members these days, especially younger ones.

When participation declines in groups that bound us together across demographic lines (yes, I know they once were bastions of segregation but credit efforts over time to change that), the tendency is to fulfill our need for community virtually instead. We spend more time on Facebook than we do face to face.

Facebook knows this and wants to be part of the cure, even as it acknowledges it has contributed to the disease. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has issued a lengthy manifesto laying out the ways it will seek to promote physical social encounters. “[L]arge percentages of our population lack a sense of hope for the future. It is possible many of our challenges are at least as much social as they are economic — related to a lack of community and connection to something greater than ourselves. As one pastor told me: ‘People feel unsettled. A lot of what was settling in the past doesn’t exist anymore.’

“Online communities are a bright spot, and we can strengthen existing physical communities by helping people come together online as well as offline. In the same way connecting with friends online strengthens real relationships, develop-

Worship

ANGLICAN

ALL SAINTS EAST DALLAS / allsaintseastdallas.org

Sunday worship 5:00 pm / Live in God’s Presence. Live Out His Love. Meeting at Central Lutheran Church / 1000 Easton Road

BAPTIST

PARK CITIES BAPTIST CHURCH / 3933 Northwest Pky / pcbc.org

Worship & Bible Study 9:15 & 10:45 Traditional, Contemporary, Spanish Speaking / 214.860.1500

WILSHIRE BAPTIST / 4316 Abrams / 214.452.3100

Pastor George A. Mason Ph.D. / Worship 8:30 & 11:00am

Bible Study 9:40 am / www.wilshirebc.org

Disciples Of Christ

EAST DALLAS CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 629 N. Peak Street / 214.824.8185

Sunday School 9:30 am / Worship 8:30 am - Chapel

10:50 am - Sanctuary / Rev. Deborah Morgan-Stokes / edcc.org

Lutheran

CENTRAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ELCA / 1000 Easton Road

Sunday School for all ages 9:00 am / Worship Service 10:30 am

Pastor Rich Pounds / CentralLutheran.org / 214.327.2222

FIRST UNITED LUTHERAN CHURCH / 6202 E Mockingbird Lane

Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am / Call for class schedule. 214.821.5929 / www.dallaslutheran.org

Methodist

GRACE UMC / Diverse, Inclusive, Missional

Sunday School for all ages, 9:30 am / Worship, 10:50 am 4105 Junius St. / 214.824.2533 / graceumcdallas.org

LAKE HIGHLANDS UMC / 9015 Plano Rd. / 214.348.6600 / lhumc.com

Sunday Morning: 9:30 am Sunday School / 10:30 am Coffee Worship: 8:30 am & 11:00 am Traditional / 11:00 am Contemporary ing this infrastructure will strengthen these communities, as well as enable completely new ones to form.”

I was not the pastor he mentioned, but I might have been. The church sees this unsettling and feels its effects, too. But religious communities continue to be places of belonging that can be a laboratory for community as unity-in-diversity. That is, if we don’t all hunker down only with “people like us.”

Genuine faith leads us toward others, not away from them. If we are moving away from people, it follows that our faith itself is weakening. If you want a vital faith, get engaged in a spiritual community that challenges you to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

George Mason is pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church. The Worship section is underwritten by Advocate Publishing and the neighborhood businesses and churches listed here. For information about helping support the Worship section, call 214.560.4202.

NON-DENOMINATIONAL

LAKE POINTE CHURCH – WHITE ROCK CAMPUS

Classic Service at 9:30 & Contemporary Service at 11:00 am lakepointe.org / 9150 Garland Road

Presbyterian

NORTHRIDGE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH / 6920 Bob-O-Link Dr. 214.827.5521 / www.northridgepc.org / Welcomes you to Worship 8:30 & 11:00 am / Church School 9:35 am / Childcare provide d.

ST. ANDREW’S PRESBYTERIAN / Skillman & Monticello Rev. Rob Leischner / www.standrewsdallas.org 214.821.9989 / Sunday School 9:30 am, Worship 10:45 am

Unity

UNITY ON GREENVILLE / Your soul is welcome here! 3425 Greenville Ave. / 214.826.5683 / www.dallasunity.org

Sunday Service 11:00 am and Book Study 9:30 am

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People

A Far East Dallas 5-year-old almost lost his life because his mother, Meredith (name withhed to protect medical privacy), couldn’t reach 911. The young boy, who has an aggressive form of epilepsy, had a severe seizure and wasn’t getting proper oxygen. When Meredith called 911, a technical glitch seemingly caused by T-Mobile put her on hold. Her son started to turn blue. After 4 minutes, she scooped up her son and rushed him to the hospital, where he stayed for several days. Meredith isn’t the only Dallas resident that the technical glitch has impacted. There were 360 emergency callers on hold Monday, March 6, waiting to speak to dispatchers, the city reported. Several city officials have said they are working with T-Mobile to correct the problem, which also has impacted emergency services in Denver.

Education

After winning the District 2 seat by 42 votes last spring, Dustin Marshall is fighting to retain his spot on Dallas ISD’s board of trustees. The Preston Hollow resident and CEO of Hazel’s Hot Shot is running against Lori Kirkpatrick , a Hillside resident, Lakewood Elementary parent and physician’s assistant at Parkland Hospital. “The main thing that hit me in the last year is that public education is under attack — nationally, at the state level and certainly, I feel like, here locally as well,” Kirkpatrick told the Advocate. Richard D. Young also is vying for the District 2 seat. Young is a former DISD employeewho now worksat Gateway Charter School.

Arts

One Thirty Productions celebrated its 10th anniversary season this year. The Bath House Cultural Center’s only in-residence theater group has produced eight original shows, two of which were published by Samuel French, Inc., the prestigious licensing house in New York City. Bath House manager Marty Van Kleeck established the group in 2007 to provide local seniors with an artistic outlet. “For a little company that you think is doing little theater for seniors, we’ve been very well regarded,” Van Kleeck says.