Living in the Spirit
October 28, 2023
Scripture Reading: 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.’ –Matthew 22:34-40
Truly loving God must be a choice. There is no way to force or command anyone to love Thus, I strongly support the part of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that Congress makes no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. Choosing to love the Lord leads us to initiate the Kingdom of God, the Beloved Community for which God longs. In Matthew 25, Jesus laid out the factors by which he judges the nations. I thought we might need to review those requirements as we make changes in our government. Jesus indicated when we practice these services, we are following his desire for us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves:
1. Feed the hungry
2. Provide clean, safe water for the thirsty
3. Welcome the stranger
4. Clothe the naked
5. Care for the sick
6. Visit those in prison to restore them
These basic needs could be met first by assuring that workers are paid a living wage with appropriate benefits indexed to the cost of living. Beyond that, services must be available to assure that persons with disabilities and the aged have the resources to live meaningful lives, prisoners can be restored to wholeness, and strangers can become strangers no more. These requirements are some of the very services targeted on Congress’s cutting block: food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, and immigration resettlement. The creation story teaches us that all humans were made in the image of God and are good, capable of loving and being loved. There are no borders in the Kingdom of God. Perfecting our welcoming the stranger prepares us for living in a loving, borderless world.
Prayer: Commune with us, O, Lord, so that we are in sync with you as we strive to build the Beloved Community. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.