October 26, 2008
Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 22:34-46

The conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees is deceptively simple. The rabbis and lawyers who were contemporaries of Jesus' calculated that there were 613 laws to be known and obeyed by conscientious Jews. Of the 600 plus, 248 were positive commandments like "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy," "Honor your father and mother." Three hundred and sixty five laws were negative prohibitions (one for each day of the year), you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet and so on. There were multiple interpretations of so many laws, keeping and observing them was a full-time job for any good Pharisee or Sadducees.

With remarkable precision and confidence, Jesus reduces a complex and almost impossible system to two and embraces the Shema. " Love the Lord your God with heart, soul, mind, strength, and love your neighbor as yourself."

We could boil things down just a little further, regarding this thing called love; Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus did not give priority to one law over the other, he sees the two as one, as branches bursting from the same tree. The Epistle of John says it like this: "We love because God first loved us." When we return God's love for us, we become intrinsically involved in loving others.

So let's start at the beginning. The text takes it for granted that we love ourselves. This is often harder than we want it to be, but it is also easy for us to get caught up in modern anxieties concerning self-esteem and self-respect, self-love and self-care. I recently saw an article entitled: "How do I love me? Let me count the ways." Our modern temptation is to work toward our own self-fulfillment and individual happiness and leave it at that. Just go to any magazine rack in any supermarket and read the headlines on the shelf:

"Twenty minutes to a strong, slim YOU!"

"Want to make him love you? Eat less."

"Feel good wardrobes essentials. The no.1 rule for successful women."

"A little minty fresh body wash is all the courage we need."

If we lose sight of the other and the needs of others, we risk becoming noisy gongs and clanging symbols. For those of us who follow the spiritual path, our daily work is the discipline of bringing into balance the love of self and others to our lives. There are dangers in both directions–if we spend too much time on ourselves and our own interests, we run the risk of selfishness, but if we forget the self and think only of others, we risk losing our footing in our own life.

The Great Commandment is a call to profound unity of heart, mind, body and spirit. God, God's people and we ourselves are made a part of this thing called love. Henri Nouwen wrote in "The Diary of His Final Year" that it all comes together as one, we become a part of the all embracing divine love of God made visible in our daily lives with each other. When we direct our whole being toward God, we discover our neighbor and ourselves right there in the heart of God.

Who then, is our neighbor? We've been practicing finding that out lately. Our neighbor is the gay or lesbian person hungry for marriage equality. Our neighbor is a young woman making her way through college in South Africa. Our neighbor is a homeless young woman with the potential for a GED and the desire to study. Our neighbor is sitting on Death Row in San Quentin. Our neighbor is being outsourced and tortured somewhere in the world. Our neighbor is a young college student trying to meet the demands of CAL. Our neighbor is living in Kenya and walking 13 miles a day to get water.

Ours is not only about seeing others as a neighbor; our calling is also to become the neighbor we would like to meet. Growing up in the suburbs in the 1950s was not a very glamorous or wild life. But it did teach me about neighborhoods and what it means to be a good neighbor. I recall my mother taking the two very young children of another woman who had to go on complete bed rest until her baby was born. My mother was pregnant herself, with three kids, but she received the other children easily. When my grandmother died unexpectantly, my mother was inconsolable, except for the women who baked cream puffs and made us Campbell's soup. There was a guy across the street, who occasionally mowed all the front lawns in the neighborhood and another who fixed every toy, no matter how broken. How would it be if we as a country or as political parties, as citizens, even as a congregation became the neighbor we would like to meet?

On this Reformation Day, it's good to remember the saints that have gone before us. Dietrich Bonhoffer was a Lutheran pastor and theologian who lived in Germany before WWII. Dietrich Bonhofffer wrote about the demands of being the neighbor, saying that those whose lives are lived in love are being Christ to others. He reminded us that Luther called this being transformed through Love. Bonhoffer made the ultimate sacrifice for his neighbor. He became part of the plot to assassinate Hitler because he believed that God works in us for courage and compassion to bring God's love and justice into being. If he stood by as millions died, he could not be part of preparing the way for God's love to enter the world. The plot was discovered and Bonhoffer was thrown into prison and eventually executed by hanging. Few of us would have the courage to be that neighbor.

As we enter into a time of celebration and thanksgiving for the ministry and mission of this congregation and as we contemplate the many gifts and the One Spirit seen in so many ways throughout the year, it's clear to me that this is not a business as usual moment. In our stewardship committee meetings and in other conversations around the church, it is clear that this is a difficult time in our country, our world and our communities to be talking about money. It's clear that some of us are anxious about our stocks and savings and how we will fair in the coming year. For some of us, work has slowed down considerably because of the economy. Some are worried about keeping their jobs and students are even more worried about finding those jobs when they graduate. So it's not a great time to be talking about money.

But it is a good time to be talking about being neighbors and friends in each others lives and in the world. I don't feel optimistic about the financial future, but I feel hopeful about what we can do and be together. I don't feel happy about what is happening to many folks around the country, but I celebrate the wellspring of the joy of living together in community. In times like these, we may be tempted to pull in and protect ourselves, but the Gospel reminds us that we must never pull in so far as to forget to love God and our neighbor as ourselves. For this rule to live by, I am incredibly grateful.

"Won't you be my neighbor" Fred Rogers told this story once at a Pastors' Meeting I attended in Iowa years ago. At the Seattle Special Olympics there were nine contestants for the 100 yard dash, all of them disabled and gifted in particular ways. They assembled at the starting line and took off at the start of the gun. One little boy stumbled and fell, hurt his knee and began to cry. One little girl immediately stopped and said, "If I kiss it will it make it better?" A kid started crying in sympathy. Another child heard her and stopped to watch and as soon as that happened, everyone else stopped running and as a group came back and linked arms with the other kids. Together, all nine of the kids walked to the finish line, laughing and giggling with each other. Rogers recalled that the stadium went wild with cheers and laughter. He reminded us that deep down we know that what matters in life is not so much taking care only of ourselves, what really matters is helping others as well, even if it means slowing down, changing our own desires and holding on for dear life when you'd rather let go.

In a way, we are like those kids in the Special Olympics in Seattle. We start out together and if one falls, another will stop and kiss the scratched knee or the bumped elbow. Another will sit down and see how we are coming along. Maybe someone else will find a Band-Aid and another bring some water to refresh the spirit. Sooner or later, everyone gets to be together as we come to the end, with each other, holding on for dear life, upholding each other in the power of community and the presence of God. No one, not even the least of these will be forgotten or ignored. As Frederick Buechner has written, humanity is like a giant spider web. Touch it anywhere and the whole thing trembles.

We are given many gifts, but One Spirit of Love binds us in such a time as this and always.

Amen.