Fred Rogers first captured the hearts of Americans 50 years ago with his television show, and he’s recaptured their hearts 50 years later thanks to a new documentary about his life and legacy, titled "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" His message was one of basic kindness, and he communicated that message by teaching children to understand their own feelings so that they could be gentle towards themselves and others in the world around them.

It’s widely known that Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister in addition to being a television star, and you don’t have to watch for long to realize the Christian influence. The show itself has a ritual element to it, not unlike a church service. Every episode begins with the same theme song and Mr. Rogers entering his house, taking off his coat and putting on his sweater and house shoes. Each ends with Mr. Rogers taking those same shoes off and putting his jacket on.

In between, viewers enter a liminal space where Mr. Rogers starts by teaching children a real-life lesson that could be relevant to their daily lives, like what it’s like to eat at a restaurant. Then midway through, viewers spend some time in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, where they learn in a different way about the theme of the day.

Towards the end, the show transitions back to Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood before the closing theme song starts. This ordering mirrors, in many ways, that of a Presbyterian worship service: a hymn at the opening, readings and a sermon designed to teach important lessons for the Christian life, a hymn at the close.

But even more than the ordering of the television show, Mr. Rogers offered children a quietly Christian message. He taught them about basic human dignity. He told them they were special, a less clunky way of saying, in theological terms, that they had innate value or that they were made in the image of God. He insisted upon the value of all human beings, not just those with wealth or beauty or age or a coveted skin color, just as Christianity does. But unlike a Christian context, he didn’t teach those lessons through a sermon or through invocation of biblical passages or by merely talking about what it meant to be a Christian.

Instead, he quietly translated the message of Christianity into a language the secular world could understand. It’s the difference between invoking the Great Commandment to love your neighbor as yourself and to model, as Mr. Rogers did, what it means to be a good neighbor.

The timing of "Won’t You Be My Neighbor" couldn’t be more ironic: Neighborliness is at an all-time low. Vitriol cascades through the news media; rudeness seems to be rewarded; neighbors can’t seem to trust one another, never mind become friends. The message of Mr. Rogers is needed now more than ever, but it’s not just needed for its calmness or its kindness. It’s needed as a reminder to Christians that living out faith isn’t just about teaching the tenets of the religion to others.

It’s also about translating the Christian message into action. It’s about modeling faith for others, even if you never mention the gospel or Jesus Christ. It’s about committing to live by the fundamental message Jesus taught — love God, love neighbor, love yourself — not just on Sunday morning but on every day of the week.

As an adult who grew up watching "Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood," I’m left wondering what the world would look like if we all took his lessons to heart. What would it mean to be a lawyer whose practice was guided by love of neighbor? How would it transform the actions of a businessman, a doctor, a politician, a policeman, a spouse? One wonders, for instance, if #MeToo would have ever happened had more men valued the dignity of every human being the way Mr. Rogers did. That realization alone makes clear how much work still needs to be done for it to truly be a beautiful day in the neighborhood. But with models like Mr. Rogers to guide us, there is hope we can do just that.