Exodus 22:21-27
Psalm 1
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that he 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.

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RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. IT’S O.K. WE ADMIT FAILURE AND TRY AGAIN. WE ARE ALWAYS FIXING THINGS FROM OUR PRAYER BOOK TO OUR SPACE SHIPS. WE ARE TOLERANT OF ERRORS.

AND THAT LAST ONE IS OUR FIXATION WITH "WHAT’S NEW." THE NUMBER OF NEW THINGS WHICH CROSS OUR PATHS EVERYDAY IS INCREDIBLE FROM AIRPORT RUNWAYS TO NEW TECHNOLOGIES. AND WE ARE FASCINATED WITH NEW GADGETS.

THINKING ABOUT THESE CHARACTERIZATIONS, I BEGAN TO WONDER WHAT THESE TWO MIGHT WRITE TODAY, AFTER 9/11. WOULD IT BE DIFFERENT? WOULD THEY SUGGEST THAT AN ELEMENT OF FEAR AND CAUTION HAVE BECOME INHERENT IN US. AND THEN I BEGAN TO WONDER ABOUT WHAT IT SEEMS TO ME THEY HAVE LEFT OUT. NO WHERE DO I READ A SENSE OF THE BELIEF IN GOD UNDERPINNING OUR LIVES, THE DIVINE PRESENCE OF CREATOR, REDEEMER, SUSTAINER. WASN’T OUR NATION FOUNDED ON BASIC BELIEFS IN HUMAN DIGNITY, CARING FOR EACH OTHER, A NATION UNDER GOD? REGARDLESS OF WHICH FAITH COMMUNITY WE CHOOSE, THE STATISTICS REPORT THAT A MAJORITY OF AMERICANS BELIEVE IN GOD. AND THIS FACT DOESN’T PLAY IN THIS BOOK. AND I ASK MYSELF, HAVE THE AUTHORS OVERLOOKED SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT OUR CULTURE, OR ARE WE LOSING OUR RESPECT FOR AND LOVE OF GOD AND OUR NEIGHBORS?

I SUPPOSE WE MUST FIRST GET THE WORD LOVE INTO FOCUS. THE GREEKS HAD THREE WORDS WHICH WE TRANSLATE INTO THE WORD LOVE, EROS, ROMANTIC LOVE, FILIA, LOVE FOR ONE’S FAMILY, AND AGAPE. IN THESE COMMANDMENTS, JESUS IS POINTING US AS WE THINK OF LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR, TO AGAPE, "CARITAS" IN LATIN, MEANING CHARITY. THIS LOVE IS NOT SO MUCH AN EMOTION AS IT IS A DISPOSITION, AN INCLINATION, A WAY OF BEING WITH EACH OTHER. IT’S NOT THE FEELING THAT EMERGES WHEN WE EXPERIENCE SOMETHING OR SOMEONE LOVEABLE, A PERSON, A PET, OR A PIECE OF MUSIC. THIS LOVE IS SOMETHING WE DO, A COMMITMENT WE MAKE THAT SHAPES HOW WE ACT TOWARD ONE ANOTHER. IT DOESN’T ALWAYS COME NATURALLY, AND WE DON’T NEED TO FEEL THE SAME DEPTH OF LOVE TOWARD EVERYONE, BUT IT IS A DEEP ATTITUDE OF THE HEART, A WILLINGNESS TO RESPECT, TO HONOR ALL PEOPLE, WHICH WE TRANSFORM INTO ACTION. AND OF COURSE OUR ACTION IS ONLY ONE SIDE OF THIS DISPOSITION. THE OTHER IS THE STRENGTH OF GOD’S GRACE.

THOSE OF YOU WHO LOVE SAILING AS I DO, WILL APPRECIATE THIS METAPHOR FROM ORIGEN, ONE OF OUR THIRD CENTURY THEOLOGIANS, SHOWING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN OUR EFFORTS AND GOD’S GRACE. HE SAID THE SAILBOAT REPRESENTS OUR LIFE. WE ARE THE CAPTAINS, PULLING ON THE SHEET TO CATCH THE WIND IN OUR SAILS, USING THE TILLER TO CONTROL THE RUDDER SO WE HEAD TOWARD OUR DESIRED GOALS. AND THE WIND IS GOD’S GRACE WHICH MOVES THE BOAT. THE SKILL OF THE CAPTAIN DOESN’T ALWAYS SEEM IMPORTANT BUT WITHOUT IT, THE BOAT WILL NOT SAIL ITSELF. PRAYING TO GOD THAT WE MIGHT BE CONSTANT IN OUR LOVE FOR GOD AND NEIGHBOR WON’T MAKE IT HAPPEN WITHOUT EFFORT ON OUR PART. BUT WITHOUT GOD’S GRACE IT WON’T HAPPEN EITHER.

I SPENT THE PAST TWO DAYS AT THE CONVENT IN AUGUSTA ON RETREAT. OUR SMALL GROUP HAD SOME TIME OF PRAYER, SOME TIME OF SILENCE, AND TIME OF SERIOUS DISCUSSION, MOSTLY ABOUT THE STATE OF THE COUNTRY. WE TALKED ABOUT THE FACT THAT THE SALVATION OF THE WORLD SEEMS TO REST ON THE ABILITY OF PEOPLE TO LIVE OUT THE CALL OF THESE TWO COMMANDMENTS, THAT ALL NATIONS MUST LEARN TO LIVE WITH AND RESPECT THOSE WHO ARE DIFFERENT, AND ALL PEOPLE MUST HONOR THEIR SPIRITUAL CALLINGS.

JESUS HAS CHALLENGED US TO THE MOST DIFFICULT OF TASKS, TO FOLLOW THESE COMMANDMENTS. BY HIS LIFE HE HAS SHOWN US HOW IT IS DONE, AND BY LEAVING US THE HOLY SPIRIT HE HAS MADE SURE WE HAVE SUFFICIENT GRACE TO HELP US. THE REST IS UP TO US.

Rev. Ruth T. Healy - Priest Associate

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