Deacon Leah Sandwell-Weiss

O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; . . .

--Collect, The Sunday closest to July 6

Dear friends,

For over three months, those of us without essential jobs have been staying home; we limit our time in groups, wear masks, and stay physically isolated from non-family members. While many of us have maintained contacts with friends and co-workers through Zoom and livestreamed church services, many others have not. And let’s face it – Zoom meetings are not the same as being physically present with our family, friends, and acquaintances.
In this situation we could develop a belief that we’re on our own. Nobody’s around helping us, so we don’t need to help anyone else. We’re individuals, responsible for our own care, not that of anyone else.

The collect above for this week reminds us of Jesus’ response. In answering the lawyer’s question in Matthew 22 (which commandment in the law is the greatest?), Jesus answered:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Barbara Brown Taylor wrote a short commentary about these commandments in which she said,

These relationships [with God and neighbor] may be sequential, but they are not separate. One cannot love God and slander the neighbor, any more than one can love the neighbor without also loving God. There is only one love, which unites all who practice it with its source….

In both Testaments, there is no way to mirror the holiness of God without benefiting the neighbor. In both teachings, the way of life for one includes a way of life for all.

To me this sounds like a call to work for the common good. My favorite theologian, Walter Brueggemann, in his book, Journey to the Common Good, defined the common good as “the sense of community solidarity that binds all in a common destiny--haves and have-nots, the rich and the poor.” He then says,

We face a crisis about the common good because there are powerful forces at work among us to resist the common good, to violate community solidarity, and to deny a common destiny. Mature people, at their best, are people who are committed to the common good that reaches beyond private interest, transcends sectarian commitments, and offers human solidarity.

While written over 10 years ago, this resonates even more with me today. God calls us to commit to work for the common good and care for our neighbors. When we do this, we are following God’s commandments with our whole-hearted devotion to God and our unity with one another.

Leah Sandwell-Weiss
Deacon