"Love is the highest virtue.  It is neither called forth by anything that someone deserves nor deterred by what is undeserving or ungrateful. And no creature toward which you should practice love is nobler than your neighbor---that is any human being especially one who needs your help. This person is not a devil, not a lion or a bear, not a stone or a log.  This is a living creature very much like you. There is nothing living on earth that is more lovable or more necessary.  The neighbor is naturally suited for a civilized and social existence. Thus nothing could be regarded as worthier of love in the whole universe than our neighbor. But such is the amazing craft of the devil that he is able not only to remove this noble object of love from my mind but even to persuade my heart of the exactly opposite opinion. My heart regards the neighbor as worthy, not of love but of the bitterest hatred. The devil accomplishes this very easily suggesting to me: "Look, this person  suffers from such and such a fault. The neighbor has chided you, has done you damage."  Immediately this most lovable of objects becomes vile. My neighbor no longer seems to be someone who should be loved but an enemy deserving bitter hatred.  In this way we are transformed from lovers into haters.  All that is left to us of this commandment are the naked and meaningless letters and syllables: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Martin Luther. Lectures on Galatians. 1535.

How do you relate with your neighbors?  Callous indifference.  Ignorance.  Fear.  Rational rejection.  Self-absorption.  These are some typical ways in which we relate with neighbors. We may also be friendly, generous, kind, supportive, and respectful. Our disposition toward others is determined by many factors. The behavior, attitudes, and actions of others along with personal prejudices of varying kind and degree trigger our reactions.
Today, I think ambivalence toward our neighbors is more prevalent and more deadly than hatred itself.  I do not hate anyone, but I am ambivalent about them.  I am apathetic toward their life circumstances.  As they are to mine. I am unaware of my neighbor's needs. I prefer not to know them.
As a Christian, I am invited and expected to acknowledge and show compassion for my neighbors.  Another word, used by Luther, is help.  I am encouraged to help my neighbor.  In his small catechism, a teaching tool, Luther writes about the ten commandments; in response to the commandment, "You shall not murder," he writes, "We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life's needs."  I am afraid that,as a people, we have chosen to ignore both the negative and affirmative aspects of this commandment. Basic morality has denounced murder for thousands of years. But television and film continue to glorify violence and murder.  We are bereft of an ethic that truly values the life of another.    
As a Christian, any morality is grounded in the person, teaching, and work of Jesus.  Jesus, in the gospel of Matthew, rejects both "an eye for an eye" and "you shall not murder" as sufficient standards of respect for human life.  He rejects retribution of any kind and he suggests that anger (the underlying potential cause of violence) is itself a murderous act.  Intention to act violently is as deadly as the act itself, according to Jesus. Self-defense at the expense of the other is replaced by self-sacrifice and denial. One is encouraged to give one's life for others.
So, church, we are expected to exercise a counter cultural high esteem for other persons to the extent  that we must condemn violence and demonstrate a concern for the neighbor that can be characterized as love.  Love does not harm.  Love helps.  Churches are commanded to help people.  When Christians have been helpful, really helpful, they have experienced changed lives that might be understood as conversions.  Demoralizing ambivalence and apathy have damaged the reputation of Christians in the U.S. and around the world.  To turn this around, churches in the U.S. must begin to find ways to care for and help their neighbors in real, tangible, authentic ways.  People are hungry.  Feed them. People are anxious and afraid.  Give them peace.  They are sick.  Bring healing. They are grieving.  Bind their wounded hearts.  Be present.  Do what no others will do.  Bear their burdens.  Stand with them in time of trial or suffering. Pay what they owe.  
There are many churches out there that do nothing to care for their neighbors or neighborhoods.  They are content to assemble for worship in whatever form they deem right. Their religious habits and piety blind them to their Christian vocation.  They receive from their pastors the gift of cheap grace.  They are encouraged to reject sin and enjoy the free gift of forgiveness.  But they are neither invited nor challenged to take up the cross of Christ, to love and serve the world.  They are eager to sing beloved hymns  and songs, to enjoy the means of grace, and to embrace one another with the peace of Christ.  But they care not for those who do not assemble, for those outside of the church's walls of sanctuary.  Martin Luther again admonishes the church in this way:
"Humans do not live for themselves alone in these mortal bodies to work for their bodies alone, but they live also for all of humanity on earth; rather, they live only for others and not for themselves.  They cannot ever in this life be idle and without works toward their neighbors.  People, however, need none of these things for their righteousness and salvation.  Therefore they should be guided in all their works by this thought and contemplate this one thing alone, that they may serve and benefit others in all that they do, considering nothing except the need and advantage of their neighbors." From "The Freedom of a Christian, 1520.  
I am convinced that where love is given away, Christ is present.  Where Christ is present, there is salvation and peace.