The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost-The Rev Melanie Lemburg
23rd Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 26B
October 31, 2021
Our readings for this Sunday for both
Old Testament and the gospel are quite familiar. Both readings articulate and encapsulate what
are the key teachings of both Judaism and Christianity: “Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as
yourself.” Most of us have probably been
able to recite these since our childhood Sunday school days. And
yet, a colleague helped me see these old commandments with fresh eyes this
week.
She shared a reflection from Steve
Garnaas-Holmes from his blog Unfolding Light. It is titled: “First Commandment.”
God,
you know how I put other things first:
to
be right, to be safe, to belong.
I
confess. I repent.
I
already belong to you, eternally, absolutely.
I
am safe in you. I need not earn your love,
or
prove my worthiness, or have others approve.
I
only need to let the love you give me
become
all of me: to love you with all of myself,
every
little thing I do an act of love,
and
to pass that love to others,
always
and no matter what,
to
never compromise my love with anything else.
Oh,
stand for justice, speak the truth,
say
the hard things, prohibit abuse,
but
only with love, not anything else,
anything
else.[i]
This colleague then asked us to reflect
upon the question: What are the
commandments that we really live our life according to—like being right, being
safe, belonging? How do those
commandments that we really live our lives according to compare or contrast to the
commandments to love God and love our neighbors? What are the ways that we try to earn God’s
love rather than living into the love God already has for each one of us?
I invite you to think about a specific
time in your life this week when things just felt wrong or out of sorts. Reflect on what commandment you were
following at that time. Was it a
commandment to appear perfect? Was it a
commandment to give up so much of yourself in service to others so that there
was nothing left of you? Was it a
commandment to look or be successful?
Was it a commandment to be understood in a world that doesn’t understand
you? Was it a commandment to try to have
all the answers? Was it a commandment to
be safe in an unsafe world? Was it a
commandment to try to find your own fulfillment in new experiences or
entertainment? Was it a commandment that
you had to be “top dog”? Was it a
commandment that above every thing else, peace must be kept?
What was the commandment that you were
following in that time when things were wrong this week, and where did that
commandment come from? How did you go
astray from loving God and loving your neighbor in that moment? What might you have done differently? What might that moment have looked like if
you had been more attentive to the commandment to love God, love your neighbor,
and love yourself? What might it have looked like if you had been able to let
God’s love speak through you in that moment—either to yourself or to someone
else?
Today, as you hold out your hands to
received communion, know that you are receiving the love of God, offered to you
over and over and over again. Take that
love into your body, heart, soul, mind, and strength, and let it empower you to
share that love with all you encounter this week.
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