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Oct 25, 2020 | Rev Dave Buerstetta

The Ultimate Test Question

Love God” — “Love Your Neighbor”

 

Banners baring those statements adorn our sanctuary nearly every Sunday of the year. We have them in multiple colors so they fit with nearly every liturgical season. They are currently visible behind the altar table — front and center for worshiping with us on YouTube.

 

Thus it might seem…almost redundant to focus on the gospel story from Matthew that provides those words as the foundation of all we do. But that is where the Common Lectionary takes us this week, so why not let ourselves be reminded of their origin story? 

Did Jesus coin that saying out of whole cloth? Whence came his inspiration? Answering that interesting query requires a dive into the much-maligned book of Leviticus. While almost certainly most famous (or more accurately, infamous) these days for being the source of some of the worst “clobber verses,” there is more to the book than that. Take our other text for this week, for example. 

What might this enigmatic book illuminate for us about loving our neighbors today?

How might yet another attempt to trap Jesus teach us to ask better questions of others and of ourselves?

What can we do — or stop doing — to better live this way of Jesus in our world?

 

Pastor Dave will wrestle with these questions and more this Sunday, October 25th, in his sermon, “The Ultimate Test Question.”

 

Worship with us Sunday at 10:00AM on our Woodridge UMC channel on YouTube.