Today’s Scripture: Exodus 20:1-17
1God spoke all these words: 2I am God, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a life of slavery. (The Message)
Artwork by Braden Lesher
“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”
~ Exodus 20:12
Here is an excerpt from a lenten sermon entitled, “Jesus Rolling His Eyes (and also Divorce)” by Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, founding Pastor at House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver, Colorado, an urban liturgical community with a progressive yet deeply rooted theological imagination. Learn more at www.houseforall.org.
Growing up I was taught that the law – especially the Ten Commandments – are there because they are God’s prescription for our lives. People would say that the word Bible stood for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Basically the importance of the Bible is that it gives us all the rules we have to keep so that we are right with God. God gave us these rules (and a bunch of others that the church added along the way) and they are there because God loves you and wants you to be happy.
But now I see it differently. Now I think the law is less about God loves you and wants you to be happy and more about the fact that God loves your neighbor and wants to protect them from you. And God loves and wants to protect you in so far as you are also someone’s neighbor…..
We do not serve a distant God, but one who actually cares about how you treat people and how you are treated. People matter. Relationships matter. The diginity of human beings matters. May the church, of all institutions, uphold this truth and ask forgiveness when we do not.
Read or listen to the complete sermon at patheos.com.