I started this blog series a long time ago, then let it wither...but I've had this nagging feeling (thnx, H.S.) of a need to resume it. So, here goes! The naming is from my late and usually restrained father-in-law, who was asked to deliver a sermonette for some occasion. On recounting the tale, he practically snarled, "Sermonettes are for Christianettes!" Since I often feel like a baby-beginner Christian myself, stumbling and struggling along the path behind Jesus, please realize that these sermonettes are as aimed as much at me as at pick-anything/anyone-out-there in God's wide world. Oh, the sarcasm is definitely me, not my father-in-law.
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Why so much concern about legislating morality? Granted, we live in a far from perfect place.
But...I thought the first and greatest commandment was something about loving God? And the second was about showering love on those around us? Oh, and that "not judging others" thing?? ...oops.
Something seems badly out of focus... and a mixture of religion and politics seems to terribly blur our focus on the greatest commandments.
About all Jesus had to say about living in an occupied land, under the political/military/pseudo-religious thumb of an emperor and his jack-booted followers, was
"...Pay your taxes to Caesar."
Period.
And, howzabout that "loving your neighbor" thing?
Are your neighbors happy to see you?
Is your little world a better and more loving place because you are there?
If not, beware of the next mirror u pass--it might reflect a Pharisee!
[Hi, it's me!]
Ouch.
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The Greatest Commandment
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22: 36-39. NIV.
