Sunday, September 16, 2007
Mark 12:28-31
Senior Pastor
There is no other commandment greater than these. That is a strong statement coming from the lips of Jesus. There is no other greater commandment than to love God with all of who you are and to love your neighbor as yourself. We use this very passage for what we call our “Compass” statement here at First Church. We make a point of saying we provide a compass for people. You can see that on the top inside page of your bulletin. It says “First Church provides a compass to guide people on their journey of discovering a more abundant life as 3-D Christians” or as deeply devoted disciples.
The compass we provide is this very passage in which Jesus states that this is the greatest or most important of all commandments. We also make a point of saying that as deeply devoted disciples we personalize this Great Commandment. We take it personally. We take it as our responsibility. Our love of God and love of neighbor are not limited to what we do with the church as a group, but we also believe we are to live out this all important commandment in our personal lives. It is our personal response to God’s great love of us in Jesus Christ.
John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, understood this and stressed it to his early followers. They were guided to contribute to the good of the community. They did this across England and then the movement spread to America and those of us on this side of the Atlantic have continued and strengthened that tradition over these last two hundred plus years.
One of our Oklahoma United Methodist pastors was traveling overseas a few years ago. During his flight he entered into a conversation with a man seated next to him. They discussed a number of things. Since they were flying into Israel, finally the conversation turned to religion. The pastor learned that his new friend was Jewish and traveled around the globe representing certain Jewish groups at different international meetings. After discussing his Jewish faith for a while, the man asked the pastor about his religious background.
He shared that he was a United Methodist pastor and was hosting a group on a trip to see the Holy Land. The man said, “O my, you are a United Methodist, you must be very proud.” The pastor was not sure what that meant. “Why do you say that?” he asked. “Oh because everywhere I go there are United Methodists at work. From my travels I would say United Methodist are doing more good work for people around the world than anybody.”
The pastor was a little surprised. But as he reflected on what his new friend had said, he did feel a surge of pride welling up within him. He thought it is too bad that he had to fly halfway around the world to recognize the power of our work as United Methodists.
I put a special purple and white handout in your bulletin today to help us grasp just how significant this kind of love of neighbor work has been. Most people would see it as community service work and it is. But, at its best, it is grounded in our faith and this great commandment that Jesus points out in our reading today from Mark.
On the handout you will see just how extensive our work as United Methodists is today. On the side with the heading, “United Methodists Are…” the first couple of sections details statistics about the size of the United Methodist denomination and then the bottom section tells us about our mission work numbers, but then flip it over and you will find the section I want us to zero in on today.
It points out the number of Health and Welfare agencies we all support through our efforts as United Methodists – hundreds of senior adult centers and hospitals and agencies serving children and youth. You can see the same kind of thing in the next section called Education – two-year colleges, four-year colleges and universities numbering over one hundred when totaled up.
Which commandment is first of all? Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear O
Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is
one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and
with all your mind and with all your strength.
The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than
these.
(Mark 12:28-31)
Our goal, following this
very teaching of Jesus, is to love God with our whole self and love our
neighbor with our whole self. But we
also want to love our neighbor as a whole person as well. That is, we recognize that people have
spiritual needs, but also have physical and social and psychological needs that
we can help meet through our ministry with them. We can serve them in many ways beyond welcoming them here at
church.
And one of the marvelous
things about serving this congregation for me and for Susan is that you all
do this in a beautiful way. We
often comment to each other that we can scarcely go to a community meeting in
this town where there are not a number of Methodists already there. If we go to the United Way, you are there. If we go to the YWCA or the YMCA, you are
there. If we go to Rotary or Lions or
Ambucs or Kiwanis, you are already there.
When we visit the hospital,s there you are volunteering. When we work with Hope Outreach or CDSA or
the public schools, you are there. I
could go on and on, but it is truly remarkable how very socially active this
congregation is across this community.
I know a good number of you are already living out this commandment to
love God and neighbor. United
Methodists have great community spirit and that is something of which to be
proud.
Let me give you one last
example since today is our Centennial Celebration Sunday. I was invited to a meeting a couple of years
ago where the notion of creating an expanded and improved museum of the Cherokee
Strip was being opened up for discussion.
A few of our people were there.
Well, one group after another met and plans began to proceed, but
somebody had to lead this effort if it was going to succeed. And, of course one of the main keys would be
whether or not private funds could be raised to underwrite such a grand
proposal. Several people were asked to
fill important leadership positions on that committee. Guess where they go to church? They are First Church members.
I began to review the list
of chair people and major committees making this effort go and count how many
were from our church. If I began to
call off their names, you would recognize that a majority of them are from one
church, First United Methodist. These
are people with great community spirit.
They are willing to serve our community. They want to improve the quality of life
here and make a lasting contribution.
They are giving of their time and their talents and of their
resources. This afternoon at 1:30 there
will be a groundbreaking for this project and an unveiling of a beautiful
bronze sculpture recognizing the success of their efforts to establish a
first-class museum in our community. I
am proud to be associated with them. I
am proud that United Methodist people have such a strong sense of dedication to
our community.
On a Saturday one
hundred and fourteen years ago,
there was a Methodist lay preacher in the Cherokee Strip Land Run. The following morning, of course, was
Sunday. He preached to those who would
gather and our church was born. The
Methodists had already been functioning in Enid for fourteen years when
statehood was established. From the
beginnings of our fine community, Methodists were here and actively providing
service to the community. Now one hundred
years after statehood our Methodist people are still leading and serving and
embodying this great community spirit.
Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.
Let us recommit ourselves
to such a life this very morning. Amen
and thanks be to God.
Reason
#2: Great Community Spirit
Mark
12:28-31 9/16/07
…passage for what we
call our “______________” statement
here at First Church.
…as deeply devoted
disciples we personalize this __________
Commandment.
…we are to live out
this all important commandment
in our ________________
lives.
…because everywhere I
go there are ____________ Methodists
at work.
…community service work… at its best it is
grounded in
our __________ and this great commandment…
We can serve them in
many ways beyond welcoming them
here at ____________.
…you all do this in a
beautiful way.
United Methodists have
great __________________ spirit…
…willing to serve our
community. …improve the quality of
life here and make a ______________ contribution.
On a ________________
one hundred and fourteen years ago…
Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind and with
all your
strength and you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.
There is no other commandment ______________ than
these.
Kid’s Question: What is the greatest commandment?