This Reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotion written by this blogger for Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD on October 25, 2020
Matthew 22:34-46
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 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.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
The New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
REFLECTION
+In the Name of our creating God+
In last week’s reflection, we touched upon the Trinity of Requirements derived from the prophet Micah’s question, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness (mercy), and to walk humbly with your God?” [Micah 6:8]. While throughout much of history churches have placed meeting such requirements largely on individuals, the prophets of Israel and Judah were addressing the kingdoms and religious systems in which they lived or where they were sent. In last week’s reflection we moved the needle of responsibility from the usual emphasis on individuals to how this Trinity of Requirements is met by the local church with their limited means in terms of the Trinity of Stewardship (time, talents, and treasure).
What does it mean to do justice and how is this accomplished by a small church? What does it mean to love kindness and mercy? How is it played out? What does it mean to walk humbly with our God and how do small congregations create such pathways?
How do we move from the idealized to the realized?
Today’s lesson from the Gospel of Matthew is good starting place to consider what both the Trinity of Requirements and the Trinity of Stewardship is premised on, which is loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds AND loving our neighbors as ourselves. As Jesus puts it, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Everything we do - absolutely everything - is to be rooted in this sense of loving God by loving what God loves. They are not separate laws. They are interwoven.
DOING JUSTICE
When we love what God loves, justice comes easy and naturally. The question is do we love what God loves?
God starts minimally by saying to love our neighbors as oneself. Do we possess enough healthy self love to see its connection with how we treat those around us? Do we see where our interests coincide with the interests of others?
Jesus expanded this sense loving one neighbors as oneself exponentially to include everyone and everything when he said, “Love your enemies.” That statement, “Love your enemies” is the basis for justice; the love of the other we find ourselves struggling with, the love of that which demands some effort; in short, the love of all that God created.
Justice is not merely a human issue, it’s a creation issue. Do we have enough self-care and self-interest to see the connection between caring for our kind and the care of the creatures we share this planet home with?
There can exist a false sense of security in areas that appear remote from the troubles often displayed in larger cities and more populated areas of the world. We can delude ourselves with a sense of false comfort by believing the social issues of homelessness, income inequality, race, and gender identity that frequently make headlines in the news are not significant problems in our community; that we’re just fine because no one is in our streets protesting or complaining about such things.
Have we considered the possibility that the reason people of color in our community (Asians, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans), people who are LGBTQI, the homeless, the jobless, and those scrambling to make ends meets are not complaining because they feel isolated, alone, and at greater risk in areas such as ours because they lack a community within our community that fully accepts and understands their situation?
It is easy to turn a blind eye to what we don’t want to see in our small communities. Passive injustice is prevalent in all communities and it’s not hard to find it if we choose to see it. No church is be able to fix these situations by itself, but any church committed to Christ cannot ignore them. Here are some basic questions for us to consider:
Do the poor have place in our church beyond being welcome to sit in a pew on Sunday mornings?
Are we willing to make an effort to understand and support people of color and the cultural diversity in our community?
Are we willing to open our doors and support LGBTQI individuals in our church and in our community?
Are we willing to divert some of our church’s time, talent (ministry), and treasure to meet the needs of these individual and their families in our community?
TO LOVE KINDNESS
To love kindness seems so easy and can sound rather platitudinous if we fail to appreciate the effort involved in being truly kind; to move beyond the facade of pleasant mannerisms and embrace the mercy implicit and necessary in creating a kinder world for ourselves and our posterity. The words that come to mind when talking about this sense of kindness are forgiveness, healing, and reconciliation.
Perhaps now more than ever in recent history we are faced with a growing culture of intolerance and victimization on a global scale. As a congregation bearing Christ’s name, are we determined to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who forgave sinners of every kind and make, who healed those sick in mind, body, and spirit, and who reconciled the outcast and those considered to be lost causes? Are we willing to divert a meaningful portion of our church’s time, talent (ministry), and treasure to ensure that Jesus’ ministry of loving kindness flourishes in our community and in the world?
TO WALK HUMBLY WITH GOD
Walking humbly with God has been interpreted in these reflections as forging pathways to love God with our all our hearts, our souls, and our minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves.
We cannot meet these requirement by ourselves. In addition to forging pathways to do so, we should seek pathways that are already being forged in our community; to join with those seeking to do justice and are fostering a community that is kinder.
Humility is not about the pride of ownership but rather a desire to serve for the sake of serving others. Which local organizations, which other churches within our community are doing justice and fostering kindness that could benefit from our assistance?
God is a creative minimalist who seems to take delight in starting small, encouraging growth, and tending the garden of creation; nourishing it and cultivating it with love so that it grows and flourishes. We are here to be a part of God’s creative minimalism; to start small, with what little we have, and to encourage new growth. Starting small begins with a conversation not about if we should do these things but how to do them.
I know there are members of our congregation who are committed to the Trinity of Requirements; helping people in our community, packing lunches for children, helping feed the hungry, and who belong to various service organizations in our community. They reflect the goodness of God in their lives, but as church family could we do more together?
* * * * * * * * * *
God of abundant mercy, look mercifully upon our small church family and small church families everywhere. Instill in us the mind of Christ that we may, with one accord, do what is required of us with committed wills and loving hearts. Help us reach out to those outside our church’s walls with the confidence of faith, an unwavering hope, and the strength of love for those in need of the same, that we, with them may walk humbly with you, to the glory of your Name. Amen
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