THE TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS:
A BURDEN OR A DELIGHT?

I speak to you in the name of the One who is the source of all that is holy, whom we know as our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.

If someone were to ask you to identify succinctly the governing principle of Christianity you might do well to reply as did Jesus to the Pharisees in today's gospel from Matthew, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" and " You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law ans the prophets"

In Jesus`s opinion everything else in religion and life for a believer is a celebration or expression of these two great commandments.

This was not news to the Pharisees and the Sadducees who asked him this question. For the Talmud teaches " What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the whole Torah all the rest is commentary" Nor is it news to most of the world`s believers. For example, other believers would confess the following:

Hinduism: "This is the sum of duty: do not do to others what would cause pain if done to you " Mababharata 5:1517

Buddhism: "Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful" Udana-Varga 5:18

Sikhism: "I am a stranger to no one; and no one is a stranger to me. Indeed, I am a friend to all" Guru Granth Sahib pg 1299

And the Prophet Mohammed taught, " Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself." Hadith

Several of the less ancient traditions expand this love of God and neighbour beyond humanity to all of creation in a way which rings amazingly relevant to our understanding of the nature of the eco-system of which we are part.

Jainism says, "One should treat all creatures in the world as one would like to be treated" Mahavira, Sutrakritanga.

And Chief Dan George of a North American Aboriginal spiritual tradition taught, " We are as much alive as we keep the earth alive".

This teaching by Chief Dan George would be a worthy motto for the Kyoto Protocol.

For Christians, and many others too, love of God and of neighbour are inextricably bound together. In other words, compassion is rooted in ultimate reality, and not just a moral characteristic of which some humans are capable. The first and second great commandments belong together. They are not interchangeable nor separable from a believers perspective. The priority in the Bible is important: first love of God then love of others.

There is a dimensions to loving God that goes beyond loving one`s neighbour and that is why the first priority of the church remains that of teaching love of God. This is a priority that many liberal believers and other westerners sometimes forget. For, you can get to humanity through God but you can not always get to God through humanity, or creation, to use the broader term. God pushes us toward our neighbour but our neighbour does not necessarily push us toward God. Indeed, profound discouragement about the human condition can lead to despair not hope.

For Christians, the ultimate point of reference for life is God. The main reason we love others is because we are all brothers and sisters in the same family with God as the parent. As the Sikhs teach of God, "..no one is a stranger to me. I am a friend to all".

Clearly though, keeping these two basic teachings of the faith is not, in the deepest sense, a matter of observing laws. If one were to ask, "Well, what does it mean to love God and neighbour?" We could easily point to the Ten Commandments of Moses. And truly, If we all observed these laws the world would be a much better place. There is a Commandment to fit every situation when you look carefully at them. I am reminded of the Sunday school teacher who was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to honour your father and your mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?". Without missing a beat one little boy answered, "Thou shalt not kill"!

Deeply, however, loving God and neighbour is a total approach, an attitude to life which touches everything we do and say. This was the spin which Jesus put on the old moral imperative.

Well, we all know that "the devil is in the details" isn`t it? Jesus found several devils in the details of the religious laws of his time that he challenged as contrary to the spirit of the two great commandments. Judaism had developed an elaborate system of regulations governing the personal and social lives of the people of Israel. Jesus was consistently critical of the religious leaders of his time for making the law, the great Torah of God, a burden instead of a delight to the people. Jesus challenged his own tradition's emphasis upon excluding all non-Jews from God`s grace.

We know all about how the details can actually subvert the original intent of the law. We call them loopholes today. Many of fortune has been made by those who profit from the loopholes in the law.

A law is a policy statement. In parliamentary terms it is called a bill. Before Christmas the House of Commons will pass, according to the government, a bill ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on the reduction and control of toxic emissions. Truly, the devil will be in the details., that is, in the specific regulations that will define how that important policy statement is to be implemented and enforced. And we know that those who will pay the most attention to these regulations( apart from the drafters) will be those looking for the loopholes.

Today is Dedication Sunday. The collect for this Sunday describes today as one in which we give thanks for this place where we come to praise God, ask for forgiveness and healing, and to be nourished by God`s Word and Sacrament.

Thus, it is appropriate, on this day, to remember the two foundational texts directing our life as a community. The rite for Dedication Sunday is one that, as you have seen, takes us from font to lecturn to pulpit to altar to help us recall our baptism, God's revelation in Bible and preaching and in the sharing of the cup. We have moved from one piece of furniture to another.

But we need to remember that none of these things require furniture. We could baptize in the Rideau River. We could reading our bible, preach, and share the eucharist in any park in this city although it might be a bit chilly in January!

While our hymns tend to romaniticize our love of place- this church or any church- the fact is that Dedication Sunday should press us to look beyond these outward things. These outward things are like the law pointing us to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the meaning to our common life. If St John`s were to burn to the ground this evening, I pray God that we would still exist as a church. We could find another font, lecturn, pulpit, and altar, or borrow them. We could build a new building-and that would certainly simplify the work of the ARC Committee a lot. And please don`t take this comment as a prediction for which I might have some direct responsibility!

From my knowledge of this community, I do believe that our intention to remain together as a community of believers serving on this spot would motivate all of our decisions about what to do next.

Let us then approach our life together as Christian believers and as a Christian Church with the clear priority to be about building that which lasts. And that which lasts first and foremost is the bond of faith which ties us to Our Lord and to one another. If we need ministries and buildings to build that bond of faith then lets acquire them or redesign them if that will better serve our purpose.

But above all let us remember that these things are but an outward means by which we allow God to illumine and bless us.