Rochester, MN UCC - "The Greatest Commandment" - Matthew 22:34-46

In this week’s text from Matthew, Jesus gives his condensed summary of the Scriptures. He claims that the entirety of the law and the prophets is contained within two great commandments- To love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind… and to love your neighbor as yourself. According to Jesus this is the entire point of all scripture; what we are meant to learn from the Word of God is to love God and love our neighbors. 

 Knowing from Jesus Christ himself that what God wants us to learn, more than anything else, is to love God and Neighbor means that we have a standard by which to judge all our actions as the church. Is our reading of a scriptural text encouraging love of God and neighbor? No? Then we must be reading it wrong, because we know that is what God wants to teach us. Is our worship leading us to greater love of God and neighbor? Do our acts of service, mercy, and generosity increase our love for God and neighbor? All of our ministry has these two commandments as their goal- we work to increase our love for God and neighbor.

 As we worship together this Sunday, try to pay attention to what stirs love for God and neighbor in yourself. Is it the child earnestly and intently lighting the altar candles? Is it a turn phrase in a hymn or in a psalm that strikes you? Is it hearing about God’s love for us in the sermon or feeling the presence of Christ in communion? This Sunday, and all the Sundays to follow, let us remember the aim of our worship and let us open ourselves to the possibility that each moment of worship may be a means of deepening our love for God and neighbor. 

 Pastor Andrew Greenhaw