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s him about the greatest commandment it s the ultimate gotcha question which is the great commandment in the law would they finally catch him or trip him up would they confirm that he s actually on their side against the sadducees jesus gives a two for the price of one answer you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the great and first commandment and a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself the two go together hand in glove love your god and love your neighbor what does this mean bible commentator frederick bruner gives a helpful picture when jesus gives this love command as supreme bruner says he opens the hearts of believers like flowers to the sun to their living posture we were made for love jesus does not so much give us an activity that can be calculably done as he gives a direction to face churchbook 794 when our lord commands us to love our god and love our neighbor he does not so much give us things to do he gives us a direction to face of course that direction to face bears fruit in things to do where does your love face in the first and greatest commandment jesus says your love must face god ward that s easier said than done though you see you and i are so accustomed to looking in the mirror and taking selfies we re quite efficient at looking out for number one martin luther used the latin phrase incurvatus se being curved in on oneself we might also call it navel gazing or belly button itis and what happens when you walk around in life with your face directed toward your belly button you run into lots of things and get hurt we are accustomed to the love god command showing us our sin as our catechumens learned last week when god gives his commandments he demands full compliance perfect completion no exceptions whatsoever in god s grading scale 100 is the passing grade everything else even 99 99 is a failing grade we do not love god as we should because we cannot it s rather difficult to face god ward when we are so prone to facing self ward when jesus says love god he says with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind we can also say with all your will with all your emotions and with all your reason if you love god with your whole heart you make god s will your will if you love god with your whole soul you fully desire god more than anything else if you love god with your whole mind your every thought is continually directed toward god whoever loves god with the heart but not with the whole heart is straddling the fence that s not love for god because god wants to fill a person s whole heart whoever loves god with the soul but not the whole soul has a lukewarm love god will spit that lukewarm love out of his mouth whoever loves god with the mind but not the whole mind does not yet know god as their highest good that person may suppose to love god but really only loves god s gifts and creatures where does your love face in the second greatest commandment jesus says your love must face neighbor ward this is the pure extension of love for god as paul said the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself again this is easier said than done just reflect on how every human being loves himself or herself on how you love yourself you do not merely love yourself but you love yourself sincerely not coldly or lukewarmly but ardently you never seek your own hurt but always your own safety and benefit even when it s most difficult to achieve so to love your neighbor as yourself you must think the same way toward every other human being whether he s a friend or enemy whether he s godless or devout your lord commands you to love each person as sincerely as ardently and as continually as you love yourself he calls you to defend your neighbor from all harm just as you would protect yourself he summons you to seek the profit and benefit of your neighbor as though it were your own profit and benefit a person loves his neighbor as himself only when his whole life and all his actions have the purpose of serving the neighbor even to the point of giving his life for the neighbor where are the christians who can say that nothing but god s love dwells in them where are the christians who can say that their whole life is only and always a joyful service to their neighbor where are the christians who first face only god ward and second face only neighbor ward when you examine yourself and are honest with yourself you must join david in falling on your knees and confessing enter not into judgment with your servant for no one living is righteous before you ps 143 2 so it s a good thing we have another question before us today where do you face god s love the first part of our gospel reading is all law the second part is sheer sweet gospel the first part of our reading brings us a gotcha question from the pharisees to jesus the second part gives us a gotcha question in the other direction from jesus to the pharisees he asked them whose son is the christ they thought the question was too easy the son of david of course okay then why does david also call him lord the lord said to my lord sit at my right hand until i put your enemies under your feet yes the christ is david s son fully flesh and blood human that means he s also your neighbor who loves you as himself he has faced you in his incarnation in his life of love and humble service in his crucifixion and in his resurrection see from his head his hands his feet sorrow and love flow mingled down lsb 425 3 he is also david s lord god of god light of light very god of very god nicene creed his perfect divine love has also faced his father from eternity and for all time it s the same love that led him to come down from heaven for us and for our salvation it s the same eternal love that meets us face to face in the washing of rebirth in the words speaking forgiveness and in the meal giving his very body and blood for healing and living in love where does your love face both god ward and neighbor ward of course you and i are most imperfect in loving god with our all and loving our neighbor as ourselves that s why we seek our refuge not in our love either for god or for our neighbor no we seek our refuge our comfort our confidence our very peace in his love for us love so amazing so divine it demands my soul my life my all lsb 425 4 amen posted by randy asburry at 10 36 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels god s love homilies love preaching 05 october 2020 homily for anniversary of a congregation 2020 that we might have hope revelation 21 1 5 just over a century ago mail carrier william eickoff noticed that some homes in the developing southampton area were receiving lutheran periodicals and letters from lutheran churches a lutheran himself eickoff became acquainted with those lutheran families soon they discussed the possibility of starting a new lutheran congregation our congregation with the help of the old western district of the lcms and students from concordia seminary the new lutheran mission opened and dedicated its portable chapel on october 8 1916 the mission s first name was southampton english lutheran church four months later february 22 1917 the new congregation held its first voters assembly meeting led by their first pastor rev martin engel the new mission chose a new name three names were proposed faith hope and good shepherd the name hope was chosen by an overwhelming majority hope english lutheran church perhaps our congregation s founders were echoing martin luther when he said everything that is done in the world is done by hope no farmer would sow a grain of corn if he hoped not it would grow up and become seed no tradesman would set himself to work if he did not hope to reap benefit thereby we humans do seem to function best when we have hope when we can see the purpose of our efforts the end of a struggle or some other light at the end of the tunnel we see a more explicit reason for naming a congregation hope from 79 years ago when our forebears celebrated our 25th anniversary the story of hope is not complete unless we realize that hundreds perhaps thousands of those to whom hope church through the preaching of the gospel gave the opportunity to live here in this evil world with real hope will someday by the grace of god in christ jesus be translated to the home above where hope will change to reality where faith will be changed into seeing where everlasting peace and contentment will dwell 25th anniversary book p 19 why name a congregation hope to fix our eyes on the most meaningful purpose of our lives to comfort us with the best and brightest light at the end of the tunnel the apostle paul said for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope rom 15 4 hope for more than getting through the day or to the weekend hope for more than merely surviving a pandemic or slogging through another election year truly hope for a better existence a better life and a better creation than we ve ever known this is the light we see shining so brightly in our second reading from revelation anytime we hear from or read revelation we must remember one crucial detail this last book of the bible is not a road map of the end times as so many teach it these days instead revelation is a book of comfort and hope first century christians were being persecuted hunted down locked down and put down by the roman government st john had been exiled on the island of patmos just off the coast of modern day turkey whisked away to waste away for confessing christ so god revealed his message of the victorious lamb christ jesus to give comfort and hope to his embattled yet faithful people the revelation to st john gives comfort to suffering christians it encourages them in their faithful witness it does so by means of symbolic images and prophetic portraits of the victory that is already ours in god s risen and living lamb our lord jesus after the lord told him to compose letters to seven churches and their pastors st john saw several visions of things happening on earth and in heaven on earth the church lives under great distress the heavenly visions give god s view of all the goings on fast forward to the end of the book babylon the earthly enemy of god and his kingdom is fallen there s great rejoicing in heaven as the victorious soldier our lord jesus comes riding triumphantly on a white horse to receive his bride the church satan god s spiritual enemy is bound and defeated now john leads us to look beyond the end of the first world to the creation of a new heaven and a new earth to what end that we might have hope this present heaven and earth were good as first created by god but we know how adam eve and all humanity have spoiled and ruined it with sin and death just read mark learn and inwardly digest your bible stories just observe what happens around you in your home in the workplace in society just pay attention to times past and current events this world is not a good place it s broken people suffer you and i suffer and none of us can change it no matter how hard we try let john s vision of a new heaven and a new earth give you hope this broken creation is not fit for you who have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb for you who are sealed to be resurrected john sees the broken creation passed away he also sees that the sea was no more does that mean no water sports or no water to drink in the new creation probably not after all bodies of water were part of god s original creation no more sea is a biblical way of saying that everything that separates you from god will be gone no longer a thing all of the fear and terror evoked by the sea of this fallen world will be sent packing next john sees the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god prepared as a bride adorned for her husband that s you that s me that s all of god s faithful who are redeemed by jesus because of jesus ugly bloody death you and i and all the redeemed are made clean and beautiful now that s something to look forward to then a voice rings out the dwelling place of god is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and god himself will be with them as their god god binds himself to his people in an incarnational and sacramental way remember the word becoming flesh and tabernacling among us it s what he does now in word water and meal now we receive him by faith then we will get to see him dwelling with us face to face next john gives us a most curious way of describing this coming new heaven and new earth it s described in negative terms what s not there what it s not like no tears no death no sorrow nor crying nor pain all of these things that are now part and parcel of the fallen creation and our fallen existence will be no more it s as if we could never really comprehend life without tears sorrows pain crying and death that s exactly the way it is that s why we need hope the light at the end of the tunnel we cannot even imagine what life would be like without disappointments and diseases without chaos and corruption but we do have our lord s promise that we might have hope all of that will be gone finally as john views a new heaven and a new earth he hears the voice of god the father it s only the second time the father has spoken in revelation the first was when he identified himself as the alpha and the omega who is and who was and who is to come the almighty rev 1 8 now he gives a creative word just as he said in the beginning let there be and there was now he will say behold i am making all things new all things will be made new and improved of much better far superior quality than we can even imagine all things means earth heaven creatures great and small and even you me and all believers god will not throw out his creation as some sort of trash instead he will recreate it transform the old into the new and that includes you that you might have hope how does john s vision affect our faithful witness we keep hearing how we live in challenging times and unprecedented times you can hear the hopelessness in those words it s what happens when humans go it alone through this broken fallen world without god and that s why our victorious lamb has put us here in this place at this time that others around us may have hope that those around us may be brought to life in christ jesus through his shed blood what s truly unprecedented is the new creation awaiting in jesus it was only two years after hope english lutheran church was founded that the spanish flu pandemic hit st louis i can find no record of how those challenging months impacted our toddler aged congregation but we do know this the people of hope endured it survived and thrived they went on to proclaim christ crucified and risen 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