Love of God and Love of Neighbor

Dear Friends,

I hope those of you who attend our 7:30 Eucharist understand that anytime I complain about the earliness of that service, it is in good fun. The truth is, I love it. I love the quiet of an early Sunday morning. I love the way the words of our prayers echo around the space a bit differently. I love the language of the Rite I service. The cadence, the poetry, the theology in those words. 

I miss that some of my first words each Sunday are, “Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

That’s where everything hangs for us, loving God and our neighbor. That thread is what should tie all that we do as a church and as the individuals who make up that church together.

It is love of God and love of neighbor that should fill us with grief and sorrow and a pull to righteous action as we witness the continued horror of white supremacy and racism at work in the structures around us, and even in our own hearts. 

It is love of God and love of neighbor that should empower us during this time when so many are feeling economically, emotionally, and spiritually depressed to continue reaching out in love.

It is love of God and love of neighbor that should make the desire to receive Holy Communion burn within us. The truth is, we are missing something, and it would be odd if we didn’t notice that our lack of communion is hard.

It is love of God and love of neighbor that should prevent the politics of our day, especially in an election year, from driving us to hatred. 

It is love of God and love of neighbor that should fill us with patience as our task force continues its work in attempting to find a way to gather together again safely. 

These aren’t profound truths. They are Christianity 101. And I don’t know about you, but they are still easy for me to forget. Whatever these strange days look like for you and your family, do not let go of them. Cling to loving God and loving your neighbor as tightly as you can. That’s the thread that will hold us together. We have to believe that’s the thread that will eventually bring order and maybe even beauty to the messy tapestry of life right now. 

God bless,
Quinn+