Hyde Park United Methodist

This is simultaneously the easiest and hardest of the Great Commandment. It is one thing to love God, which we can render easier in our minds as simpler to do. But to love someone we can see, with consequences that we can more readily experience, that can be harder. Especially if that person is, in our minds, harder to love. But there is a reason that this is the ultimate conclusion of the Great Commandment. Loving others as ourselves is not only easier, but possible, when we love God with our whole being. It is the fruit that we can bear when our heart, soul, mind, and strength are right with God.

Paul’s letter to the Philippians tells us that whatever we do, we should do it for the glory of God. Every action, every moment of rest, every initiative we take, ought to be done through the filter of loving God and others. To do otherwise is to miss the mark, and it might even mean sin. The beauty of the Great Commandment is that it understands that none of these four aspects of our being (heart, soul, mind, and strength) can be offered to God in isolation. To give God our whole activity, it requires a matter of the will (mind) and purpose (soul) and passion (heart). God really requires (and deserves) everything we’ve got.

Faith and reason are not contradictory. Religion and science, long considered opposites, are actually complementary. As Christians in the Wesleyan tradition, we believe that “reason” is one of three primary ways we interact with and understand the authority of scripture. Loving God with our minds also means allowing room for doubt and questions. Our minds, after all, have a finite capacity in terms of understanding an infinite God. So embracing mystery can be a worshipful acknowledgement of the grandeur and majesty of God.

We often think about soul as something separate from our bodies, but what if is more than that? Explore how to fully reflect the breath of God in the way we live, finding alignment with the way and will of God.

When the Bible refers to a person’s heart, it is not just talking about the muscular organ in our bodies that pumps blood. Kardia is the Greek word for heart and refers to a person’s whole being. In a biblical sense, giving God our heart means allowing God to work in the most private and protected areas of our lives. It also means surrendering to God our honest and raw emotions, both the positive and negative feelings, but also the deeper ones like passion and longing. Ultimately, to trust God with our innermost emotions is to give God the whole of our being.

We conclude our series “Questions Jesus Asked” with the very first question Jesus asked in the gospel of John. In this passage, some followers of John the Baptist expressed an interest in learning more about Jesus, whose ministry John had been preparing the world to receive. The disciples of John approached Jesus with curiosity, humility, and openness, and discovered that Jesus was ready to meet them right where they were. 

Likewise, God is honored by our earnest seeking, and we can approach the faith wherever we are, without having to have it all figured out. We can have our questions, doubts, and hurts from past faith experiences healed and transformed by the grace of God. 

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you… are you kidding me, Jesus?  But the truth, Jesus is not kidding.  Indeed, he is prescribing an ethic of generosity for Christians living in a hostile world.  Hope you’ll join us this Sunday as we ponder the question: Who will you love?

This was one of Jesus’ most famous and most important questions: What does it profit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul? The answer, of course, is that nothing is worth compromising one’s faith, integrity, or conviction. God desires nothing less of us than the full and complete surrender to God’s will. Anything we hold onto for ourselves will not last. But everything we yield over to God will make an eternal impact in the countless lives who come after us. And who doesn’t want to touch eternity in this way?

In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, he offers the same teaching as that in Matthew: Do not worry. God’s got this. If God is able to care for the flowers and the birds, who do not worry one day to the next about their provision and security, “how much more” does God care about us? It is the promise within that famous equivocation that we often take for granted. Flowers and birds might not worry because they are not conscious of the choice they have to make not to worry. We, however, have a choice. And rather than choose to worry, we can surrender ourselves to God and know that God is always by our side, providing for our every need.

This passage is Matthew’s version of Jesus calming the storm. As the disciples were cowering in fear over the wind and the waves, Jesus seemingly rebukes them for their lack of faith. If we are honest, we would have very much the same reaction that the disciples did. We evaluate with our senses the conditions of the world, and come to a reasonable conclusion about the threats that are present around us. But Jesus calls us to extend our faith past our senses, and take heart in the presence of God. Trusting in God’s presence and power enables us to overcome our fears and alleviate our anxieties.