Might we be inverting the two Great Commandments?
Photograph by Marek Piwnicki via Unsplash
Rev. John Zehring
“…love the Lord your God…love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)
As I look at churches with whom I am connected in my little corner of the world – hardly a scientific survey – they tend to be progressive mainline congregations. I observe that they seem to be doing well in terms of living out Jesus’ Great Commandment to love their neighbor, broadly interpreting neighbor to include all people and especially those on the margins. They are clothing and feeding hungry people, sponsoring families from oppressed nations, supporting humanitarian efforts, launching mission trips, and encouraging their people to engage politically and pursue actions to fight against racism, inequality, poverty, and oppression of minorities, immigrants, women, and people with disabilities. For those of us who care so much about justice, equality, and care for others, these emphases make our faith come alive.
For a good portion of the congregation, this is what they think the church should be doing: standing with and speaking for the oppressed. The churches boldly proclaim that love is greater than hate and see their love for neighbor as an outgrowth of their church’s teachings about Jesus. Members are proud of their church’s leadership and say so on social media. Another portion of the membership is represented by a growing number of empty pews. These people are looking for something else from their church. When their needs are not met, they reduce their attendance and participation. From my unscientific observation, most don’t go somewhere else, but simply absent themselves from religious services.
I wonder if perhaps some churches I observe might be inverting the two Great Commandments of Jesus. That is not to take away from the excellent job I see them doing in living out the second Great Commandment, but I wonder if perhaps they could be placing the second first. Perhaps it is an unfair comparison, for loving neighbor involves taking concrete and observable actions. In contrast, loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind involves more of an inner and less observable activity. Both commandments are interwoven, for what is wrought in the one is woven into the fabric of the other. And yet, when you squint at the Bible as a whole, it encourages to put first things first, that is, to put the love of God first. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his listeners to “…seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33).
It seems that the prophets simply assumed that a person who is faithful to God was therefore motivated as an outcome of that faithfulness to treat others justly, fairly, rightly, and with compassion and empathy. If a person loved the Lord their God, believed the prophets, they would therefore pursue justice to all people. Isaiah (55:7) wrote “… let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Return to the Lord. Then, they shall become repairers of the breach (Isaiah 58:12) and will do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). I saw a photo of a protest sign which read “Do justice, love kindness, abolish ICE.” Of the three things Micah said that God requires of us, why replace the one about walking humbly with God? Is that emblematic of inverting the Great Commandments?
A test of how we weigh the commandments might be to view how many slices of the pie are given to each in the way a church presents itself. View its social media, website, Facebook page, newsletter, weekly email, or bulletin. View the special programs it offers or the announcements in worship. Does one commandment get more slices than the other?
By honoring the order of Jesus’ two Great Commandments and giving them their due weight, we will find that the second, to love our neighbor, ought to increase exponentially, for out of our love for the Divine arises a passion for justice, kindness, and mercy.
As we consider the possibility that we might be inverting the two Great Commandments, we are well-served to review why people say they attend worship services. In a Pew Research Center survey of why Americans go to worship services, their top reasons were to become closer to God, to give their children a moral foundation, to become a better person, or for comfort in times of trouble and sorrow. It seems like the reasons Americans say they attend worship coincide with the order of the two Great Commandments.
Many answers are offered to the question “What is the purpose of worship?” One I favor is that the purpose of worship is to lead the worshipper into an encounter with the Divine. When people enter the doors of the church, do they come anticipating and expecting a spiritual experience? Will they be wondering if the service will fulfill the reasons Americans say they attend religious services?
Today, with all the anger and frustration about ICE, Minneapolis, Venezuela, Gaza, Ukraine, lying by national leaders, the war against Iran, racism at the highest levels of government, and more, so much is spilling into the worship service that it might feel to some like activity different than becoming closer to God. Calls to action connected to the second Great Commandment pour out with vigor and passion. For some, this is exactly what they want and believe a church should be doing. They might argue that failing to address social issues like racism, oppression, or poverty is also a political act, with silence favoring the status quo. Others find an overuse of advocacy for political action does not meet their needs for spiritual nurture, guidance, inspiration, Divine relationship, or renewal. They may experience some weariness or even irritation with the implication that unless they take a stand, speak up, and do something, then they are part of the problem. How shall pastors and worship planners balance these needs? Pastors feel a heightened stress in worrying about criticisms that they are either too political or too silent.
I asked a pastoral colleague how he addressed that balance of meeting needs in worship. He answered that he embraces a therapeutic approach. When preparing a sermon and a service, he begins by asking himself if his preparation is to help his people or is it for his own need to express his views. His goal, he said, is more to help his people process what they were feeling about injustices they witnessed on the news and less about his own need to provide answers or recommended actions he wanted his people to take. He asks himself if he is satisfying his own need for catharsis or aiming to help his listeners. He recognizes that people look to the worship service as a place to meet their spiritual needs and also to find some direction or help in thinking about the challenging times in which they live. His therapeutic approach is taken in response to the needs of his people. But the needs of which people? He knew he was pastor to people on both sides of most issues and wanted to address the needs of the more silent congregants as well as the more active and vocal members. He asks himself, “whose needs am I addressing/not addressing?”
My colleague’s therapeutic approach to worship is not silence on social issues – he lets the congregation know where he stands personally. And yet, as he looks out at the faces of his people, he sees a wide range of feelings, thoughts, and theologies and strives to help his people put them into the context of Jesus’ two Great Commandments. He has set a model for churches to put first things first. C. S. Lewis wrote, “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” By honoring the order of Jesus’ two Great Commandments and giving them their due weight, we will find that the second, to love our neighbor, ought to increase exponentially, for out of our love for the Divine arises a passion for justice, kindness, and mercy.
Rev. John Zehring worked in higher education for a couple decades and then served United Church of Christ congregations as a pastor in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine. He is the author of dozens of books. His most recent book from Judson Press is “Get Your Church Ready to Grow: A Guide to Building Attendance and Participation.”
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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