Every day is full of opportunities to live out Jesus’ summary of the law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
This summary is found in all four Gospels and is based on Scripture from the books of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Micah and Isaiah in the Old Testament. Loving God and taking care of others has been a part of our faith tradition for thousands of years.
This kind of loving is not a feeling, it’s a decision to act with the other person’s interest in mind. Simply, it is to act with kindness just as we wish others would act towards us. It’s next to impossible to share what we don’t have, so we need to be kind towards ourselves first. This means we need to take care of the bodies we have been given, we need rest, have good nutrition, and make time in our days to be restored in body, mind and soul.
As a flight attendant says before the plane takes off, “In case of an emergency, put your own oxygen mask on first, then help the person next to you.” Why? We can’t care for others if we run out of oxygen and pass out. Jesus’ summary of the law requires us to access what gives us life beyond the basics of oxygen. We have the life-giving force of God’s presence within us that brings health into our hearts and souls.
Just as our physical health needs attention, so does our spiritual health. The follow are basics for our life with God; prayer or conversing with God privately and by joining with others, Sunday worship, receiving Communion, being in nature, and spending time reading or listening to works that encourage our Spirituality. To live out Jesus’ request of taking our faith out of our minds and hearts and acting out our faith in the world takes a commitment. This can be challenging, or we can choose to see all the opportunities arounds us that aren’t so hard.
We can pray for all the people at St. Anne’s and those on our parish prayer list. You don’t need to know any personal details, just offer them up for God’s loving care. Share your time volunteering with those in need and give some money to organizations that provide help. Pick up the trash you see, go ahead and engage in the few minutes of conversation at the grocery check-out, smile, say hello, sit with someone you don’t know during coffee hour, follow the tug of your heart. If you are motivated by science, neuroscience research confirms that we can change our own brain chemistry and improve our mood by practicing kindness and generosity.
Following Jesus’ summary of all God’s laws requires we do our best to take care of our physical and spiritual selves so we can live out our faith through love, through kindness and generosity. We have been giving the opportunity to continue Jesus’ mission and ministry by committing to be the self-sacrificial love of Jesus Christ in our world.
~Annie+