I’ve heard of parents who ask their school-aged kids, “Who were you kind to today?” and “Who was kind to you?” rather than just, “How was your day?”

We place a ton of emphasis on how children treat others. It’s in character lessons and storybooks and kids shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and its successor Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood. Kindness is so central to children’s formation that it can become confined there. (I would never, for example, catch up with a friend by asking, “Who have you been kind to lately?”)

But adults need lessons in kindness just as desperately. We do not outgrow reminders to reconsider our fear of others and demonstrate neighborly love. I think so many folks have been happy for the Mister Rogers renaissance because it roots us back in kindness and community.

“Fred Rogers’s return to the mainstream comes at a time when the political, ecclesial, and ethnic schisms in our lives have left us looking for help in navigating divisive days,” wrote Ryan J. Pemberton for Christianity Today. “The solution must be complex enough to address the malformation of our hearts and minds: we no longer know who our neighbor is, because we’ve forgotten what it means to be a neighbor.”

His model and words—which Ryan describes as the rituals and liturgy of the show—echo so much of what we hear in Scripture, particularly the parable of the Good Samaritan and the commandment to love others.

Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister, and while his ministry proved exceptionally influential and lasting, many faithful servants have also taken neighborly love into all sorts of real-world contexts beyond the Land of Make-Believe.

Take the work of French missionaries in the Rivieria region, who choose to support and fellowship with the Arabic-speaking immigrant working class. Dale Hanson Bourke recently shared their story:

When the Derieuxs first moved to the region they asked, “Who would Jesus befriend?” Instead of the rich and famous, they sought out those who are largely invisible: the workers who clean the hotel rooms, haul the garbage, and sweep the streets. “Jesus spent his life living among the marginalized and the poor,” says Vincent, whose own grandparents were evangelized by American missionaries who came to France after World War II.

Some of their most meaningful ministry work comes from tutoring children and providing activities and programs for them outside of school, while parents are working.

Jesus, like Mister Rogers, invited the little children to come to him. His command to have faith like a child should push us to remember the lessons of our childhood—to feel deeply, love each other well, and not underestimate the significance of kindness.

Kate