October 29th Virtual Worship
Music Ministry Team: Kristin Petty, Dwight Huntley, Jenna Crafts
Worship Team: Sarah Haas, Marc Hayden
Technology Team: Michael Kendall, Mark Raker, Jerry Weissinger
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Key Notes from the reading & sermon:
The Compassionate Life
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.”
[Reading above - Matthew 22:34-40]
The debates we watch in Matthew’s telling of the final days of Jesus’ life are not against Judaism but within Judaism. Like Christianity, Judaism is not monolithic in belief and practice. Right up to his death by Roman execution, Jesus is clarifying his way. This passage gets to the heart of Jesus’ way, in fact it is the common denominator that transcends sectarian and even inter-faith debates. Love is the core of a meaningful, purposeful, and joyful life. This truth is proven in our daily lives and our common human experience. Jesus speaks broadly for the wisdom of sacred traditions—love emanates from the Divine, love is reciprocated to its Source, and love spills over into all relationships. Love is the Way.
Questions for Reflection:
Jesus relies on his religious training to answer this question of the greatest commandment. Read Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18. What other wisdom do you know and what personal experience supports the essential importance of love?
Read Matthew 5:43-44. How does Jesus expand the idea of being a neighbor?
Apply the demand of love to the divisions in our national life and to worldwide divisions that produce war. How does Jesus’ way of love offer an alternative path forward?
A Spiritual Practice to Try
Love of God and neighbor is only possible if we first accept Divine grace—God’s unconditional and accepting love. Try beginning each day of the coming week with the simple and profound affirmation: I am a loved and loving child of God. Speak that affirmation first thing in your day and anytime you feel anxious. This might be a practice you will want to continue the rest of your life.
A Practice to Deepening Discipleship
Incorporate a faith journal in your spiritual practice. Use the journal as a way to:
jot down needs and blessings with words or drawings or pictures, respond to the questions for reflection in the sermon notes, make notes about the weekly scripture lessons and sermons, create a to-do list of discipleship actions, list questions you want to explore, write prayers, stories, poems, or letters, be creative!
If you need some guidance or support, you may reach me at pastormarc.friedensucc@outlook.com