July 7, 2020″ Do Be Do “

July 7, 2020

Good afternoon,

" Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give to you should be on your hearts today . " Deuteronomy 6

This is a statement of faith of the Jewish people. Jesus quotes this passage as something we should do as Christians as well. It should be our orientation to our faith. We should begin with the love of God. Jesus is about love, and he is about a lot of other things, but his love extended to everyone forever and ever.

Where do you begin your journey with God ? How do you tell your testimony to the world ? The writer of Deuteronomy invites us into an emotional path to God. He begins with heart and soul as emotional activities with God and God's people. The third leg of this relationship with God is strength. Is there a part of your body that moves you to God ? God is in this world, and so our body is part of our religious experience. Faith is not only a feeling but it is hard earthly activity. In the traditional language of faith it is about " being and doing". Both are integral parts of the journey of people into the presence of God.

In the Amish/Mennonite/Anabaptist tradition, we have been very good at doing. We like to build schools, teach children, fix problems, respond to disasters and start churches. We have not been so good at being. It is hard for us to stop and be with God, with nothing in our hands or on our feet. Moses took off his shoes at that burning bush, because he was in the presence of God. He was a person of action, but in that place he stopped, stood in amazement.

What would it mean in worship, to focus on only God ? We do not only have to be silent, but do we recognize that God is the audience for our singing and praying ? The Almighty and Everlasting God is with us. We have to just " be" in the presence of the Ground of our Being ( a term used by Paul Tillich ).

Prayer

We love you with all of our heart,

Help us to be in your presence.

We love you with all of our soul

Help us to be in your space.

We love you with all of our strength,

Help us to find ways to serve you

with our hands and our feet,

and our eyes and our ears.            AMEN

Fred

Tread on bold new paths !

Fireflies flash the direction

Hope springs eternal           Monica Pieper Landoni 2020

Fred Redekop

Pastor

Poole Mennonite Church