If Only…

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greatest commandment, love one another, love the Lord, love your neighbor as yourself, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel reading from the lectionary is one of the most familiar to many of us. Some may not know where to find it in the Scriptures but most can usually recite a reasonable facsimile when pressed to speak about the greatest commandment. As often as we hear it, we should heed it and it seems to me there is no better time than now to take it to heart. If only we would all write it on a bulletin board or pin it on the door leading to the exit of our house or – better yet – make sure it is written on and in our hearts and keep it there until it becomes an automatic practice — for our lives and the life of the world.

Having been asked: “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Jesus answered, You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments. (MT 22)

If only we would learn that short paragraph, teach it to our children and observe it ourselves, what a different world ours would be. It remains, however, like a ship passing across our field of vision until we jump off and dive into the depths of its meaning.

Are we willing to dive deeper today?

Go Deeper

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coronavirus, injustice, Jesus, love, love your neighbor as yourself, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel reading from Matthew (5:43-48) is one that many of us could probably recite from memory, do a cursory survey of all the people in our lives and come at the end to a conclusion of our innocence. But what if we expand the search for enemies to people we don’t know personally but of whom we have heard through the media or in some other way? Jesus is clear in his directive about relationship. It’s all about love. Have you guessed the text I’m considering?

Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be children of your Heavenly Father, for he makes the sun rise on the bad and the good and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. If you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?…“

These are difficult days in our country and around the world. Protests of racial injustice are continuing everywhere and police brutality seems to increase daily. Republicans accuse democrats of all manner of collusion with the enemy and the democrats vilify republicans for their unwillingness to compromise on any of the Congressional agenda. Good people are swept up in crowds of looters and fights break out over the refusal of some to wear a mask to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

I have read this gospel many times and although I get to a place of sadness for all the dissension and enmity in the world, I never end up thinking that I lack a degree of love for everyone, abstract as it may be. Today I know that to be the point of what Jesus is saying. Love is never an abstraction. It’s the ability to dig deep down and consider why people act as they do. What are their life circumstances? (Were they abused as children? Are they starving for food? For love?…) Who has loved them in their lives?

Until we have faced our own lack of love for even one person, we are not “perfect” in God’s eyes. It isn’t about being perfect in our work or our talents. It’s about perfection in our willingness to love even the most unlovable. The good news is, I believe, that God does love all of those striving toward that love. We may never reach perfection in it. Quite frankly, I doubt that we ever will, perfectly. But it’s our effort toward the goal that seems to count the most. And right now, we need to put more effort into that goal than ever before and look to ourselves rather than to our enemies as we live into each day. (But don’t forget to pray for those whom you call “enemy.”)

Two In One

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all, commandments, love your neighbor as yourself, Mark, social distancing, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today in Mark’s gospel we find one of the most important questions ever asked, for which we get a double answer that really is a single if we know how to see. It’s the long answer to what we have been given elsewhere. Today it seems so important to go that extra mile; it isn’t a time for shorthand. So consider every clause — even every word of the answer to “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus begins to answer with a declaration of who this God is to whom we owe allegiance and then with what is contained in our covenant toward this God. Waking up the audience with an imperative, Jesus begins:

Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!

What follows is a list of all the superlatives that speak of the totality of what is expected: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. (We might wish to ask ourselves in this time of challenge: Am I ready to give up all activity that might pass along the infection running rampant now in our country and the world? Is there anything that I want to do today that will be dangerous to others or myself? )

The second part of this “great commandment” (because we really cannot do one without the other) is: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Clearly that means today: Don’t go out anywhere that you might encounter another person unless it is necessary for the good of the whole.

How close are we to following the command contained in this gospel reading? Can we see that what we do or don’t do for God is also the way we love one another? This is perhaps the most important work of this day. Let us be about loving.

Can You Really Hear It?

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Christ, love, love your neighbor as yourself, neighbors, Romans, St. Paul, The Golden Rule, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

St. Paul is very direct in his letter to the Romans today about what is necessary in the following of Christ. (ROM 13: 8-10) He starts right out this morning with a clear imperative saying “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.” A rather shocking statement, I would guess, in that place and time – or even now. Then, as if they may not have understood, or in case they were distracted, he reminds his readers what he means by enumerating the tenets of the Commandments given to Moses on Sinai. After saying what is not allowed by the commandments (killing, stealing, coveting) he sounds like a parent saying “and whatever other commandment there may be…” as he shifts to the affirmative by saying what we must do. It’s the second half of what we know as The Golden Rule: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

I keep thinking of how this message must have been received – and how we ourselves receive it today. Unless we stop and allow it to enter deeply into our consciousness we will certainly miss the depth of meaning. The word “love” has become devalued in our day. We say we love our houses and our cars and our jobs and our new clothes…all possessions. It’s much more difficult sometimes to love our co-workers or our teenagers, or the driver who cuts us off on the highway…or even those who commit unspeakable crimes. Have you ever heard the saying;”Hate the sin but love the sinner?” All of that is included in Paul’s message, also known as the teachings of Jesus…All of it.

Some serious reflection necessary here.

The Essential

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greatest commandment, love, love God, love your neighbor as yourself, Matthew, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

There is never a question for me when the reading from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 34-40 shows up in the daily lectionary. The answer to the question that Jesus had been asked by a scholar of the law to test him is all we need to know to order our lives and relationships. At least that’s how it seems to me.

Question: Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?

Answer: You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.

Most of us can recite it from memory but do we remember it as we go about our day?

I’m OK, You’re OK.

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holy, love of God, love your neighbor as yourself, neighbor, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Lent is often a time of deepening for people who are trying to live a good life yet finding themselves less “holy” than they desire to be. (You can, perhaps, intuit how I would know this truth…) Anyway, there was a small paragraph on the franciscanmedia.org site this morning that I saw while reading the “saint of the day” section. I found it consoling, knowing that today would be a day for me to recommit to my Lenten mindset and spiritual practices. It’s the last sentence that spoke a kind reminder from God to me.

Saintly people show us that the love of God and love of neighbors are two sides of the same coin. Love of God strengthens us as we take small but concrete steps to express our love of neighbor. Our inability to do everything needed should not stop us from doing what we can.

Love Is (Still and Always) the Answer

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heart, love, love God, love your neighbor as yourself, Mark, mind, Moses, neighbor, soul, strength, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, truth

From the mouth of Moses to the gospel of Mark the Scriptures repeat the same message about how we are to live. We hear it today, not in a long diatribe but rather a brief directive about love. When asked what is the first and greatest commandment, we can all likely reply – at least with the short form of “Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.” The deep impact of what that effort calls out from us, however, is in the almost staccato list of capacities that follows. We are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. In other words: Give it all you’ve got!

What occurred to me as I typed those last two sentences was that if we are to give ourselves so completely in loving God, what can be left for our neighbor whom we are supposed to love as ourselves? But that, it seems, is the mystery, the wonderful truth of this life of loving. In the love of God, everything gets transformed so that there is always enough love to go around – for ourselves and the neighbors everywhere who have become our other selves. Love begets love wherever it is found. That’s just the way it is. And it’s up to us to prove it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Integrity, Part Two

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blameless, integrity, love your neighbor as yourself, salvation, synchronicity, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

One of the interesting facets for me of this blogging activity is the ability to track not only numbers of “hits” but also where readers come from. The numbers range usually somewhere between 20 and 40 readers in a day and generally the majority are residents of the United States. Last fall there was a period where – for a few weeks – numbers were consistently between 60 and 80 each day before they settled again into the 40 – 50 range. It all seems random to me but interesting nonetheless.

You may imagine my surprise when I checked yesterday and found that on Thursday, when the title was Integrity, the readership number spiked to 184 views by 171 visitors! (Sometimes people read more than one post on a particular day.) The previous top number had been somewhere around 85! Not having time when I saw that fact yesterday to check on what prompted the spike I assumed it was the topic and was overjoyed that so many people are obviously touched by the determined response of the young survivors of the latest school shooting in Florida.

This morning I was determined to follow up with this theme and was happy that the lectionary readings agreed with my choice. Then I just happened to look again at the statistics and found that only ten of all those readers had chosen to read the post about integrity! So what do I do now?! I asked myself. Using the statistics under false pretenses for my purpose would cause at least a small chink in the armor of integrity, wouldn’t it? Undoubtedly…but who would know? And who would be hurt by it? It’s just such thoughts as these, perhaps, that start us down the slippery slope of using information incorrectly for our own purposes.

While taking note of the reminder in the paragraph above, I prefer to think of this whole incident as one of synchronicity and to leave you with a few of the most powerful lines from Scripture that I find to be lessons in the lifelong quest for integrity.

1. Today the Lord is making this agreement with you: you are to be a people peculiarly his own as he promised you…DT 26
2. Blessed are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord…PS 119
3. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation…2 COR 6
4. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…MT 5.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry, Anyone?

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healing, Jesus, love your neighbor as yourself, Mark, ministry, needs, pray, recharge, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel (MK 1:29-39) finds Jesus very busy. The text recounts his ministry in this manner: he goes to synagogue (likely to preach) with some of his disciples, then to the house of Simon Peter whose mother-in-law lies ill. He heals her, eats a meal, maybe has a little respite and then spends what appears to be a very long time healing all those who came to him with various maladies. Hoping for a little time to himself and God, he gets up before dawn the next day and goes to a deserted place to pray where, hopefully he got a brief chance to recharge. Nevertheless, he was interrupted by his friends who found him and said, “Everyone is looking for you.” His response sounds immediate and affirmative. “Let us go on to nearby villages,” he said, “that I may preach there also. For this purpose have I come.”

I often feel sorry for Jesus who always seemed to be at the mercy of others – often large crowds – as he performed the ministry of itinerant preacher and inspired teacher. But then I think of what ministry is about. I’m not just thinking of people who work for a church or a charitable organization. Rather, ministry engages those who follow the dictum of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself knowing that ministry isn’t always easy or conformable to a schedule. Responding to needs can be a messy business and sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish what is correct action in the moment. In the long run, however, the example of Jesus is quite convincing that following his lead is its own reward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where Is Your Heart?

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law, love, love your neighbor as yourself, my voice, practice, Romans, shouting from the rooftops, solution, St. Paul, Texas shootings, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, theory, victims, violence

Our first real frost today has its effect on arthritic limbs even for those of us who feel it only in tiny places (one finger perhaps). It seems an appropriate metaphor for our  state of heart after seeing the 26 faces of those killed in church on Sunday in a small town in Texas, victims from 17 months to 77 years old. “Frozen with shock,” disbelief and overwhelming sadness at this latest outrageous act, I read again today from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Whatever other commandments there may be are summed up, Paul says, in this saying, namely, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. (ROM 13:10)

This is a time when “shouting from the rooftops” to get the attention of the masses seems the only recourse. Theory must move to practice in the face of such tragedy that seems to be escalating too rapidly to ignore any longer. What am I called to do to add my voice to a solution? It is not enough now to lament the violence. What is possible right now to me? To you? To us, in fulfillment of the law?