"Loving God with all your Strength"
When Jesus calls us to love, it is with our whole being. That includes not only our spiritual, mental and emotional capacities, but also our sheer strength and physicality. Our strength – the gifts and abilities, the physical power we wield – is a vital part of this whole response. In addition to the wisdom and creativity and passion for God’s calling, there is the embodying, the “enfleshing” of that calling. Strength addresses the “doing” of what God is about. But strength is more than just muscle and sinew;it is conviction, character and commitment to justice, as well. Sometimes it is defending the poor and the powerless. Sometimes it is patient endurance. Today we engage strength in all its forms, as it is manifest in us, and as it flows into us from God.
The calling to love God with the whole of our being is the foundation of Biblical tradition and practice. It is as central to Jesus' ministry as it has been to the faith of all his Israelite forbearers. Jesus teaches this love in a variety of different contexts in the Gospels as "the greatest commandment" and as "the key to inheriting eternal life." In Jesus' spiritual heritage, it is the morning prayer of the Israelites: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength."(Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
It is a calling upon our lives today, just as it was upon the lives of believers in Jesus' time. When he teaches on this truth, Jesus always connects it with loving others ... "love your neighbor as yourself." For him, the two are inextricably linked: we love God best when we love others as we would be loved ourselves.
In this Pentecost season we will be exploring our calling to love God in all that we say and do - with all that we are - and to manifest this love in our relationships with others.
October 12 - Loving Yourself
October 19 - Loving Your Neighbors
