Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017, Pentecost 21 (full size gallery)
Earlier in the week the maples began to change color as weather became more seasonable. The church’s camellia was also in bloom on Sunday.
This Sunday we had both the 9am Holy Eucharist Rite I and 11am Morning Prayer with 9 at 9am and 30 at 11am, somewhat lower than earlier months. We celebrated Woody’s 80th birthday.
For both services we kicked off Season of Giving 2017. This takes place over Nov and Dec 2017 and is a way to organize end of year giving for a number of causes – Samaritan’s Purse, United Thank Offering, the Village Harvest and Episcopal Church Men (ECM). A schedule is provided for each cause of when collection begins and ends. It is hoped we will surpass last year’s totals as the need intensifies in the communities we serve. There is a mixture of international (Samaritan’s Purse) and national (United Thank Offering) and local causes (Village Harvest, ECM).
The first charity kickoff, Samaritan’s Purse, the creation of shoeboxes which will be collected on two Sundays, Nov. 12 and 19. Last year we created 22 boxes. There are some new restrictions on what can go on into a box this year including no candy or toothpaste. UTO and ECM kickoffs are on Sunday, Nov. 5.
Today’s readings highlight love as the greatest of God’s commandments. In Leviticus God’s commandments demonstrate a priority of justice and compassion. Chapter 19 echoes the Ten Commandments. Special attention is given to the needs of the disadvantaged. The gleaning of field and vineyard is left for the poor and the resident alien. Each member of the community has the responsibility to correct a fellow-member in love.
Matthew’s passage is on the Greatest Commandment. Jesus has been leading up to this pinnacle teaching in his parables and teachings about the kingdom or reign of God. This passage represents the third of three attempts to entrap Jesus, after he has entered Jerusalem in triumph, riding on a donkey, with a large crowd spreading cloaks and branches on the road as they shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David.”
After the Pharisees and the Sadducees have questioned him, a lawyer asks him which is the greatest commandment. And Jesus sums up the commandments in the recitation of the Shema, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and with the call “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” He was the first to place both of these side by side.
Both of these commandments sum up the Ten Commandments, for the first four are about relationship with God and the last six are about relationship with each other in the community. But Jesus goes further in saying, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In Jesus’ day, the Bible that the Jews knew had the Torah, the Law, the first five books–and it contained the books of the prophets (the Psalms and other writings were still being compiled). Basically, Jesus is saying that this is the point of the whole Bible. Everything else hangs on it. All other laws, codes, rules, ordinances and such fall under these two commandments. This is the point of the whole thing.
After answering this question, however, Jesus poses a question to the Pharisees about whose son the Messiah is. Jesus is trying to emphasize that the Messiah is the son of God, not just of David–in other words, the Messiah, while prophesied about in Hebrew scripture and understood in Jewish culture, is a Messiah for the world, not just for the people. Jesus is not just the son of David as a descendant of David, but Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore a Messiah for all people. And therefore Jesus’ teachings about loving others and loving God are beyond the community present but are teachings to be lived out by all who follow Jesus. They are beyond the law and culture of one people, but for the whole world.
The sermon considered both the Leviticus and Matthew readings using a practical example – marriage counseling situation. "How we relate to one another is probably one of the most challenging parts of being alive on this earth. "
"Today’s passage makes clear that our relationships with one another should be fair and just, that our relationships should be grounded in respect for the other, and that others are not to be used for our own benefit. Hate has no place in relationships. Holding grudges, and taking revenge have no place, but instead—You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”
"Think of a doorway. A door is useless unless it hangs in place, and to hang in place, at least two hinges are necessary. Hinges are also necessary for the door to swing open."
"If we love God with our whole hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves, then we are able to open the door of love for God and neighbor and to move out of a world in which disrespect for one another, holding grudges, taking revenge, or using the other for our own pleasure and benefit are norms. Instead, we can choose, with the help of the two great commandments, to move into a way of life that allows us to keep God’s laws and to live into the message of the prophets—and that message is to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God."
After the story of the marriage encounter, the sermon concludes "So I challenge you today to remember that love changes things.
"Choose love—actively choose love in your marriage, in your relationships with your children, with your families, with your friends, with your co-workers, with the people you meet in public. Choose love in the ways you think about people, and talk with and about others. Choose love by respecting the dignity of the natural world that God created, in all its complexity and beauty.
"Take the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to heart. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”