Immersed In Mystery: Eight Words

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Eight Words

This past weekend my wife and I spent time in the Kenosee Lake region of southeast Saskatchewan. We were there for the wedding of David Ruecker and Bethann Husband. David was a youth worker at Christ Lutheran Church for many years, and I got to know Dave well as we spent many hours doing youth ministry together. It was a joy to be part of the wedding ceremony of Dave and Bethann - a beautiful couple in a beautiful setting on a beautiful day - how much better can it get than that?

Bethann's pastor, Rolland Bouchard (who serves Moose Mountain Church of Christ), told my wife and I about a great place for coffee and cinnamon buns in the town of Carlyle, a few miles south of Kenosee Lake. The place is called 8 Words Café, and was opened by Michael Ellis (a pastor, entrepreneur and mayor of the nearby town of Arcola). According to Pastor Rolland, the 8 Words in the name of the cafe refer to the way Michael Ellis distills down the great command to 8 words.

I can't remember the exact 8 words Rolland told me, but as I thought about this further driving back from the wedding I had an inspiration for my own version. The summary I came up with uses just 4 words twice, arranged in different order to make two short sentences. Before I reveal my 8 words let me clarify what I consider the great command.

Jesus is once asked to identify which commandment in the law is the greatest. Jesus responds "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." (Matthew 22:37-40). This is Matthew's version, but a similar response is found in the other synoptic Gospels: Mark 12:28-34 and Luke 10:25-28. In Luke's version the clarifying question is posed "Who is my neighbor" to which Jesus responds with the parable of the good Samaritan, a response that indicates that Jesus understands neighbor to mean anyone we encounter, regardless of any similarities or differences one might have with the other.

It should be noted that neither of these two commandments that Jesus links together are new. They show up in the Torah - the law that faithful Jews have learned throughout the generations. Deuteronomy 6:5 is the first proclamation of the great commandment, initially given by Moses to the people of Israel in the wilderness. The command about loving neighbors is found in Leviticus 19:18, the culmination of a command to not take vengeance or bear a grudge. Jesus identifies these two laws from the Torah as the greatest, and uses love as the common denominator linking these two commandments.

This two-part command of Jesus - to love God with all that we have, and to love others (indeed to love all of God's creation) as we love ourselves - this I take to be the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Love is God's gift to us, and love is our response to God. This is the centre of our faith. How thus to state this commandment and all that it encompasses in 8 words? This is what I came up with:

Love God with all.
Love all with God.

Those two statements work in many ways, and as such they function like poetry or parable - with many layers to uncover. May these 8 words be a simple way to remind us of what we are called to do as disciples of Jesus.

Love God with all.
Love all with God.

By the way, the coffee and the cinnamon buns really were great, and Beth (my wife) and I would recommend the 8 Words Café if you are ever in the vicinity of Carlyle, Saskatchewan.

4 comments:

Barbara G.August 7, 2011 at 6:48 PM
thank you, Dennis! great words. and a beautiful interpretation of the great commandment.
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KAugust 16, 2011 at 9:33 AM
Hi Dennis, Just wondering how to get in touch with you regarding some music. Just found your blog and pictures online when I searched your name. You have now sparked my interest.
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Dennis HendricksenAugust 19, 2011 at 4:57 PM
Hello K,
Just got back from a vacation week in Alberta. You could email me regarding music - my address is dennisdh@sasktel.net. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Dennis
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JustynSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:26 AM
Wow, that works really well, forgive me if I forget by tomorrow, I am so sleepy. Took this into thought and posted about it :
http://fatojournal.blogspot.com/2011/09/8-words-response.html

I took the 8 words, and tried to conform them to my religious beliefs.
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