The Greatest Commandment

-


As I write this, our world is in the throes of a devastating medical emergency.  The number of deaths and hospitalizations are straining the health care systems and economies of our nation and nations all around the globe.  There is much finger pointing, there are individuals and groups of people who believe this is a hoax and others who point to the statistics and testimonies of health care workers to say that this is indeed real.  Unless you are living a solidary life on a remote island, I challenge you to say that you don't know of someone who has died from a Covid-19 related illness. 

In addition to the Covid-19 crisis, our country is in the midst of an election for local, state and national offices including that of President.  Many folks have strong opinions about various candidates and issues.  That is nothing new, and there is nothing unusual about that.  We have elections every year, it is how our country works.  However, what seems to be different this year is the level of nasty words and actions by a large number of individuals.

We need to get back to basics and the following is as basic as it gets:
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,  and one of them a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “‘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.”
I hope and pray every day that we all will get back to basics and follow the Greatest Commandment!
Deacon Rich

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Words

-
Words can do so much.  At times they can provide more healing than the most skillful Doctor.  At other times, they can provide more pain than the most of us have ever experienced in our lives. Finding the "right" words to say can at times be quite a challenge.  As a result, too often things go "unsaid".  Yet, at other times saying too much can cause more confusion or pain than was intended.   Sometimes we use too many words to make our point.  So, this month I'm going to use these few words to remind all of us to always choose our words wisely and to always be aware that our words do matter.
Read more

Lost in Time

-
 As I sat down to start writing this latest post to my blog, I took a look back at my previous entries.  I couldn't believe my eyes...I never realized that I have been using this format since March 2019.  Within a year of that start date, COVID-19 advanced to the point that public gatherings including most church services were suspended. All of this is on my mind, since my wife Sarah and I just received our latest booster injections of Covid-19 vaccine. As of August 20, 2023, 6,910,396 people have died from Covid-19.  Even with having all of our injections and boosters as they became available, we both have tested positive for Covid-19 during the past several years. As a result, we have become very cautious of surroundings and only recently have started to unmask more in public.  It is indeed a human trait to want to return to "normal".  But given the potential hazard that still potentially exists, one needs to use their best judgement in all situations. Even as the numbe
Read more

Fear

-
This month, in searching for a "new" topic for my blog post, I was becoming frustrated and after several starts and revisions and finally rejections, I was afraid that I would have nothing to write about.  Then it hit me, why not write about fear!  Surly, given the state of the world both politically and environmentally, there is much to be afraid of. So, I thought to myself, why not...and I started to do a little research.  One of the first things I did was to lookup the definition of fear.  I came across something that truly made me stop in my tracks, something that, while I' know I heard of, I never realized that I was completely wrong about.  Here are the definitions of fear from merriam-webster.com. 1 a: an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger   b: an instance of this emotion   c: a state marked by this emotion 2: anxious concern : SOLICITUDE 3: profound reverence and awe especially toward God 4: reason for alarm : DANGER I am
Read more