Loving God by Loving your Neighbour - Voices from the Edge
I am not preaching this week. So here are some extended thoughts on our readings.
On
Sunday at St. Georges we join the ancient celebrations of All Saints and All
Souls. These are days that allow us to celebrate both the great saints and
those we have known and loved and who, for better or for worse, have helped
shape who we are. We give thanks for their lives and acknowledge our grief at
their passing. It is a moment to be still and to know our loss and to give
thanks. A friend posted this quote on Facebook, “Suddenly all my ancestors are
behind me. “Be still” they say. “Watch and listen. You are the result of the love
of thousands.”” (Linda Hogan) Thanks Franciscan Action Network.
We
are not using the All Saints readings. Enough of Lazarus I say. It just confuses
what we might say on this day of marking our hope in resurrection. Instead we
are using the readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time. They
are such great stories. Firstly Ruth – written as a voice of protest to the
policies of racial purity espoused by the leaders of those who returned from
exile. It reminded people that the grandmother of David the great king was a
despised Moabite. In this time of growing nationalism and xenophobia this is a
really important voice to hear. The violence inherent in these attitudes is
swirling deeply around us. We need Ruth more than ever.
Then
Mark, and Jesus' great summary of the Law. We know it so well. I suspect we don’t
really hear it very often. While Jesus is often portrayed in the gospels as
basing his understanding of his mission on the Prophets, particularly Isaiah;
here he shows his deep understanding of Torah. His use of the Shema from Deuteronomy
6:4 with Leviticus was not original, but it was knowledgeable. While we as
followers of the Triune God have been very good at hearing the command to love
God, we have been pretty rubbish at loving God by loving our neighbour as ourselves.
Too often this has been an optional extra. It still is.
I
am about to go on a clergy school to learn about leadership in these strange times.
Our maps no longer work. We don’t know what to do. We will learn how to lead in
these unmapped times, because even how we used to lead no longer works. All
good stuff. But I wonder what are we leading to or for? Often we are trying desperately
to reach out and bring people back to church. We want to save our churches. We
can describe this as worshipping God. But too often we fail to see that unless we
are loving our neighbours then all our efforts will be futile. It seems we are
too often focussed on keeping the church going rather than joining the
crucified and risen Jesus in mission, the mission he so eloquently described to
the scribe in Mark 12 – Love God, love neighbour.
Francis
of Assisi is often quoted as saying “Preach the gospel at all times, use words
when necessary.” Lots of people do not like this. Preaching is about words and
our words are important, they say. What good are actions?
I
would suggest that we don’t love people by words. We might convince people of
our point of view, but that is not loving them. Love needs actions. Loving
often means joining the Ruth’s and Naomi’s of today, of being an active voice
from the edge, proclaiming in our actions, and in our words of protest, God’s
deep love for all people and God’s desire that we join in that ongoing action
of love.
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