Loading...Sermon October 29, 2017
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, LSW
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen, Newport, PA
Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost, Track 1 Year A Proper 25
He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39
Please be seated.
For much of my life, I’ve been connected to the City of Harrisburg. While I grew up in Mechanicsburg, I grew up in a Lutheran church in Harrisburg. This church was very active in what was happening in the city.
Then in 1982, I actually moved into the City of Harrisburg with my family. I became active in my children’s school through the parent organization. In 1987, I ran for school board and served for 7 years. I moved away in 1994, but returned in 1998 and stayed until 2006. I have memories from the 1960s until now, the majority of my life.
In the early 1990s, I began to learn more about the issues affecting people living in the City. I believed the City government and especially then-Mayor Reed was not acting in the best interests of many of the people in the city. I knew he loved the city and I greatly disagreed with many of his actions. In fact, in 1993, a group of us sued the Mayor, charging that he had misused funds. A number of years later, we actually won our lawsuit.
I saw so many things that broke my heart. I didn’t like the way some people were treated. I didn’t like some of the lies of politics. I disagreed with the ways people in poverty were ignored. Funds for neighborhoods went to build a baseball stadium. I love baseball and I always felt conflicted about going to the games.
Loving my neighbor, especially the neighbor who was the Mayor of the City was not an easy thing to do. I regularly prayed that God’s Will would be done. I regularly prayed for the Mayor.
In today’s Gospel, we hear that after Jesus silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees gathered to question Jesus. You see, Jesus had entered Jerusalem. It was the last week of his life. He had deigned to go into the Temple and teach. The religious establishment was not fond of Jesus. They were skeptical of him. They were trying to trap him. It was the Pharisees’ turn.
They decided to question Jesus about the law and commandments. And Jesus knew the teachings well. First he cited the verse from Deuteronomy 6:5: ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Jesus would have known this verse, because it is part of the Shema – a prayer that is to be said by people who are Jewish in the morning and in the evening. Shema Yisrael are the words in Hebrew for the beginning of verse 4: Hear O Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD alone. Then follows verse 5 about loving God.
The LORD is our God and we are to love God with all of our heart, soul and mind…with all of our being.
Then Jesus quotes Leviticus 19:18: You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
These verses were nothing new. They were known by the people. Yet, Jesus needed to come to earth to remind us how to truly live them. These were ancient wisdom about how to live with each other. They were ancient wisdom about how God wants us to live with ourselves and with each other. Yet, throughout the ages, these are challenging for we humans to live by.
Last week, I had the pleasure of hearing our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, preach. He reminded us that we are all…all of us…created in the image of God. That everything is created by God. Therefore, to honor all of creation…to honor ourselves…to honor all people is to honor God.
Yes, we humans have free will and we can decide against following Jesus Christ. We can decide not to love God. We can decide not to love ourselves. We can decide not to love our neighbors. We can go against this ancient wisdom from God.
Yet, when we love God, we love all that God has created. We pray that everyone have what we have or what we wish for ourselves. We pray that all of God’s creation have whatever is required for the best life. We pray that all of God’s people will live by this ancient wisdom of loving God, loving self and loving neighbor. We look for God in each person we meet. We remember that we are in God’s image.
This week, let us recognize and be aware of how we love God and love all of God’s creation.
Amen
