I remember a touching story about Jennie Todd. At age 17 Jennie found lots of faults with the church--from the teaching methods to the time the minister scheduled worship. She resented her parents for forcing her to go to church and Sunday School every week. She would sit in her class with her arms folded across her chest, slumped in a folding chair in the back of the class. Jennie refused to make friends or to participate in class discussions. It was clear to everyone Jennie did not want to be there.

One night, though, Jennie came home to find her parents huddled in the driveway in their bathrobes. Fire had engulfed their house. They watched all their worldly possessions go up in smoke. It was a tragedy she would never forget.

Then shortly after the fire, something happened that took Jennie by surprise. Some young people from her Sunday School class came to visit her. One young woman handed her an envelope. Jennie opened the envelope with trembling hands to discover that they had filled it with money. "It's from everyone in our class," one of them told her, "We took up a collection." The love and affection of Jennie's Sunday School classmates overwhelmed her. She never really wanted to be part of the class, but the class showed her how much they cared for her. "I received a lot more than money that day," she reflected, "I received unconditional love and a fresh realization of what it means to belong to the church." This is what loving our neighbor is all about.