Session 1

You Shall Love the Lord your God with all your Heart

 

In order two of the Holy Communion service as found in the book Common Worship, and in previous versions of the service the following is said, quoting Jesus,

 

“Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord;

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

And with all your soul,

And with all your mind,

And with all your strength.

This is the first commandment

 

And the second is like it,

You shall love your neighbour as yourself.

There are no other commandments greater than these,

On these two commandments hang all the Law

And the prophets.”

 

I suspect that for many of us these words are very familiar, as they may be said every Sunday during the communion service. But I know from myself, sometimes when we say the same thing every week, we stop thinking about them. They become so routine that if anybody stumbles on them and the rhythm is lost, we often can’t remember where we are. Words of the book going in the eye and out of the mouth, without touching the brain! And I suspect I am not the only one guilty of this.

The aim of this Lent course is to stop and look again at these words of Jesus and to try and work out their importance in our Christian lives, and the lives of our Churches. Why? Because there are no other commandments greater than these, and on these two hang all the Law.

So how is it going to work? Well there are six definite parts as I see it and each needs looking at again, but this is not meant to be a great long sermon, but rather raising some points as they appear to me. There are then going to be some questions for you to discuss. BUT there are not going to be answers given. I believe that there is nothing is worse than a lent course which has a final summing up and tells you what you should have answered. Your answers and discussions are right for you, and it is your answers that need thinking about prayerfully, so a time of quiet prayer is left at the end of each session. For this your host may need to play some quiet music (probably Instrumental is best) as many of us find silence a very difficult thing to cope with.

So let’s start.

 

“The Lord our God is one Lord

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.”

Well that’s easy enough, no problems there are there, or are there? Remember that this is Jesus talking and so he is talking from a background of the Jewish faith, based essentially on the books of what we call the “Old Testament” So what’s the problem? We all know that there is only one God don’t we? Well that’s not quite true! Look again at Elijah as he challenged the God Baal; also remember Jesus had had close links with Egypt and their many God’s, whilst Israel at the time was under Roman rule, and they had more gods than anyone else. And if you are still not sure, read Genesis where Adam and Eve are sent out of the Garden of Eden. Who is God talking to when he says that if Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the tree of life they will become like us! So Jesus is not saying that there is only one God, but only one who is worthy to be loved.

 

One group at the time believed that after the creation of the world happened the creator God was usurped by an evil God, and that is why there are so many problems in the world today, and Jesus will have heard of this idea, so who is his God? If we read the opening of John’s Gospel we see that Jesus is there at the beginning with God at the creation, so Jesus is saying that it is the creator God that is his Lord, inferring that he has selected that God from a whole selection available.

 

Jesus then goes on to say that you should love the Lord your God with all your heart. Well that’s fair enough isn’t it. We think of our heart as the organ that does our loving, we have our Valentine Cards with hearts on, Love Heart sweets, and little carvings on trees or doodles on books of a heart with an a arrow through it ,with our initials linked as a sign of our love. Interesting that last one Cupid’s arrow in our heart, Cupid was an ancient God of love. But I digress.

 

Jesus says our God is one Lord, and we should love our God with all our heart. Can you spot a problem? Well if God is Jesus’ Lord, and only one Lord should be loved, we must be very careful how we see the relationship between Jesus and His Father. Jesus never claims to be God, never wants to be worshipped, in fact, spends all his time redirecting worship away from himself. Jesus here is clearly saying that we, like him, need to love God, the one and only Lord. But what about the Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three. Is that what Jesus preaches, I am God, or does all the Gospel evidence point to Jesus clearly as the Son of God? If I read my history correctly the idea of the Trinity was a fourth century invention to pull together differing ideas of the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and form the “Official” version.

 

Ok, I think I have said enough for now, so I will explain what I would like you to do, and remember that there are no right and wrong answers. Just a chance to discuss in your groups, things that perhaps you have never considered before, or have had concerns about but never had the chance to talk about.

 

So the first thing is to discuss is this idea of one God. The church today suggests that there is only one God, but Jesus and history tell us that there are many, but only one true creator God. What are today’s beliefs, are Football teams and players considered as modern gods worshipped by followers in special temples called stadiums? Or is money our new God; or maybe a TV or singing Star? Are these God’s or not? Perhaps we need to expand the question to what makes a God a God? And what do we mean when we talk of our God, is he really all love, or do we struggle with this idea in times of illness, war, death?

 

Secondly, love your God with all your heart. Are we passionate about our creator God who we claim to love, or is that asking too much of us?. How can we show our love for our creator God? Does work get in the way of loving Him, even though maybe it is work for the church; Does money become more important, think carefully on that one, especially if you are the church treasurer. Does the dream of fame, or popularity, become the centre of our lives, the focus of our life and thus by default our love?

 

Thirdly how do you feel when you come across people who appear to be passionate about their God, Muslims, Hindus, Mormons, and Jehovah Witnesses to name but a few. Some have the same God, others different, some I am not sure about. How does our love for our God come over to them? How can we be a better advert for Christianity?

 

Fourthly in the time of quiet prayer think carefully of who your God is, and how much do you love Him?