FROM THE PASTOR

“Shema” “Mezuzah“ “Giving From the heart” 

In a Jewish home you will notice a kind of bump on the door post.  It is a small container affixed to the lintel of the door and is called a Mezuzah.  Inside, written in Hebrew on a tiny piece of paper are some words from Deuteronomy which is called the Shema.  As a person leaves the house and enters the house they touch the Mezuzah.  These are the words: “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one Lord.  You Shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your might and all your soul, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  This is the chief law of God in Hebrew Scriptures.  Every time a devout believer touches the Shema it is a reminder of the place of God in the person’s life.  On leaving the house, upon return, love the Lord.  Love your neighbor.  Stay in touch with your faith. 

The words of the Shema from Deuteronomy echo in Jesus’ reply  to the Pharisees in Matthew 22. 

The pharisees ask: “Rabbi.  What is the great commandment in the Law.”  They were obviously trying to trap him.  One ancient educational scheme among the Jews spoke of 613 commandments, dividing them into 365 negative commands (thou shalt not), one for every day of the year-and 268 positive commands (thou shalt) one for every bone in the body.  But Jesus took them seriously and led them back to Deuteronomy, to the heart of their faith.  “Love of God, love of neighbor.”  The Shema, in the words of Jesus, The    Greatest Commandment. That is the bottom line.  Jesus will not permit any severing of heaven and earth, any separation of God from humanity, any concentration on the spiritual which ignores this world, any quiet contemplation of God which would shut out the realities of our human connections.  With the totality of your being, with every dimension and particle of yourself, love God and love your neighbor. 

 It is in the spirit of the Mezuzah and the Shema that I share with you some thoughts on Stewardship and the financial support of our church.  Your stewardship support for the mission of our church is a decision that you make.  It is like touching the Mezuzah to remember the Shema: to love God and love your neighbor.  It is a concrete expression of your faith and your response to the teaching of Rabbi Jesus: love of God and love of neighbor is the Greatest Commandment. 

Every offering you make, every decision you make about your support of Christ’s mission at S.t Luke’s is way you touch the Mezuzah, a response to the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, a response to your baptism inro God’s grace, a response to the forgiveness of sins.  In the offertory hymn we sing the psalm: “What shall I render to the Lord for all God’s gifts to me?” 

 We will share with our confirmands a renewal of our baptismal vows this coming Sunday.  What will they learn from our stewardship of our own gifts and of the mission of our church?  Will it be a mezuzah for them, something to touch, a reminder of the great Shema, the Great Commandment, to live lives loving God and Neighbor? 

The decisions we make about addressing courageously and faithfully our increasing fiscal deficit can be a sign of a confident faith, a Mezuzah for us all to touch, a reminder of the Shema of loving God and neighbor as our highest priority.  The decisions we make about pledging and regularly sharing our offering for the mission of our church in the coming year can be a Mezuzah we all touch, a holy reminder that our lives have been given back to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus, and we respond in joy and gratitude.  That is how we teach our children.  

I share with you below the text from the presbyterian hymnal of the beautiful Offertory Hymn.  For me it is a Mezuzah to touch, a reminder of the decisions that I can render to the Lord for all God’s benefits to me. 

1. What shall I render to the Lord
   for all his benefits to me?
   How shall my soul, by grace restored,
   give worthy thanks, O Lord, to thee. 
2. Salvation’s cup of blessing now
   I take, and call upon God’s name;
   before his saints I pay my vow
   and here my gratitude proclaim.
3. His saints the Lord delights to save,
   their death is precious in his sight;
   he has redeemed me from the grave,
   and in his service I delight.
4. With thankful heart I offer now
   my gift, and call upon God’s name;
   before his saints I pay my vow
   and here my gratitude proclaim.
5. Within his house, the house of prayer,
   I dedicate myself to God;
   let all his saints his grace declare
   and join to sound his praise abroad. 

Pastor Stephen Paul Bouman