A Sermon Preached at Salem United Church of Christ

Higginsville, Missouri

31 October 2021

I. Introduction

  • For several years prior to COVID, we took confirmation classes to attend a Sabbath service at a synagogue in Overland Park, Kansas – there are several reasons for doing something like this – one of my main concerns is to expose our young people to worship in another tradition
  • Typically, we would choose a date when there was to be a bar or bat mitzvah, which is analogous to confirmation – at a bar or bat mitzvah, the young person reads a portion of the scripture and then preaches a sermon based on the text – I believe that seeing another young person doing something akin to sharing a testimony is a good thing for our confirmands – and, honestly, the young person becoming bar or bat mitzvah, which is a son or daughter of the commandment, has to do way more in the Sabbath service than our confirmands do – even so, there is great value in participating in a worship service other than the ones we know so well
  • To be fair, there are many ways that a Sabbath service is very much like one of our worship services – there are hymns, prayers, scripture readings, and a sermon – there are responsive readings and the congregants stand and sit at various times in the service – that much is pretty familiar
  • One significant difference is that many of the prayers, hymns, and all of the scripture readings are in Hebrew – that adds a level of unfamiliarity that can be a challenge for our confirmands, and for our adults, too
  • During the service, there are several times when we hear the words of this text from Deuteronomy: Shema Yisraeil, Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai Echad – each week when I approach the altar, this is the prayer that I whisper – in fact, I whisper it twice – it helps me to focus on the reason why we are all here – we are here because of God, the One God, God Alone
  • Many of you probably know that the name of the prayer is the Shema, and it contains some foundational ideas, both for Judaism and for we who follow the way of Jesus

II. Shema

  • The name of the prayer, "Shema," is the first word of the prayer – we translate it as "Hear" – the rest of the prayer is difficult to translate – the New Revised Standard Version in the pew racks says, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone" – but there is a probably a footnote that gives other possible translations – it could be, The Lord our God is one Lord, or The Lord our God, the Lord is one, or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one – these may sound the same to us, but there are subtle differences
  • To use the word "alone," puts a bit more emphasis on the worshipers of God – using "alone" says that while there are other gods in other lands, only the Lord is Israel's God – saying "alone" admits of at least the possibility of the existence of other gods, but those gods are not Israel's God – the other gods may or may not exist, but whether they exist or not, the people of God worship God alone
  • To use the word "one" puts all the emphasis on the nature of God, on who God is – there may be various shrines around the land, and there would be in the years to come, and there may be various names by which Israel knows God, but there is only one God – because of this focus on God's nature, I tend to think that this is probably the better translation
  • Even so, obviously, these two ideas are not mutually exclusive – God is one and God alone is Israel's God – this is the foundation of all that goes before the statement and of all that follows it
  • With the unity of God and the uniqueness of God in mind, the editor of Deuteronomy affirms one commandment that proceeds from this foundational prayer – the people will love the Lord their God with all their heart, with all their soul, and with all their might
  • Keep in mind that in the ancient world, the heart was not just the center of emotion, it was also the center of thought – thus, "all your heart" means with every thought as well as with every emotion, every feeling – with all your soul means that the love goes down to the very center of who human beings are – with all your might means every power at our disposal
  • In our Greek-influenced ways of thinking, we too often and too easily separate these aspects of humankind, as if there could be disembodied spirits and bodies without spirit – such ideas are largely unknown to the ancient people of God – heart, soul, and body are all one unified entity
  • In short, the commandment calls for worshipers to love God with everything they think, everything they are, and with everything they do, all at once – there is no part of the human worshiper of God that lies outside the commandment to love God – love God completely, wholly, entirely, unstintingly, ceaselessly, holding nothing back
  • And the people are to teach that love to their children and to their children's children, through the ages – whether they go out or remain at home, whether they lie down or rise up, they are to teach God's Instruction to their children – they are to wear this Instruction on their bodies and paint it on their houses and declare it in the city
  • Love the Lord your God by following God's Instructions, and all will be well

III. Love the Lord Your God

  • The problem is, of course, that this is not always so – the ancient people could and did strive to love the Lord their God with their whole being, but trouble still came to them – there were still enemies all around them – and not everything went well for them all the time – there was trouble, too – there almost always is
  • Ultimately, the main reason for loving God with all we are and think and do is not so that we can gain a reward – the main reason to love God is that this is who God creates us to be and what God creates us to do – as children of God, we human beings are to be people who love God first and foremost before anything and anyone else, before everything and everyone else – for the people of God, nothing, nothing at all, can come before our love for God
  • Also for the people of God, love cannot be abstract or disembodied – that is to say, love has a tangible object – for us, when we hear the words of the Shema and the first Instruction, we cannot forget what Jesus says about the Great, First Instruction – love the Lord our God comes first, and the second, which is the same thing, really, is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves – there is no Instruction greater than these (Mark 12.31) – thus, Jesus tells us, our love for God finds its expression in how we love the people around us, whether family, friends, or strangers
  • The testimony of the Bible is that we cannot love God and hate our neighbor, or even our enemy – this is the foundation, the place where being one of God's people and a follower of Jesus begins – this is also our goal

IV. Conclusion

  • Shema – Hear, O Salem Church, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one, the Lord alone– this is where we begin
  • Go, then, out into the world and Love the Lord your God
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