All the world is now my neighbour

Jesus tells us that the second most important commandment is "love your neighbour as yourself". And who, asked a Smart Alec questioner, is my neighbour? Jesus' reply was the parable of the Good Samaritan. Your neighbour is the last person you might imagine: your neighbour might even be your enemy.

When an engineer describes two components in a machine as "neighbours", he means that they affect one another. So the pistons in your car engine are neighbours to the wheels, even if they are at opposite ends of the vehicle.

One of the great discoveries of modern science is that all the world is inter-connected. The tropical forests provide the oxygen needed by the polar bear. The distant oceans moderate the climate of the continents. Europe's over-use of fossil fuels means that Bangladesh is subject to higher risks of flooding, perhaps that hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico become stronger and more frequent.

Indeed, all the world, every person, every beast and every tree, is now my neighbour, and Jesus calls upon me to love my neighbour as myself. That is going to mean going to some trouble for all these neighbours, just as the Samaritan put himself out for the Jewish man journeying to Jericho.

Ian N. James is Diocesan Environment Advisor