That phrase was in a song sung at church this morning. It is so beautiful. The morning was eventful because power went out at the library and we had already set up our mini-library for people to check out or purchase wonderful books for all ages. Hard decision but I was left behind to carry on the morning. Four and a half hours after departure I wrapped it up and found a tram home without any navigation – a win. Many of us have long Sundays but I think an occasional nap might be a good idea. When I say home I mean my home away from home for the two months in Prague. Berlin was another story for another time – but one month. Preston preached on 2 Cor 3:1-18 with a premise I had not heard before but makes sense. The entire failure after the children of Israel left Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and wandered in the wilderness, leads to the Ten Commandments which Jesus sums up in Matt 22:37-40, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” These two guiding principles are first and who IS your neighbor? We have vertical (God) relationship and horizontal (the people to your left and right) relationships. Some of the later include enemies like today’s complainers about the recent election that did not go their way, but I digress. The veil covering Moses face and the veil torn in the temple when Jesus was murdered are related. I think (not from the sermon) that God is always making a way. We choose law over grace and obeying rules over fellowship with God because we think it is easier. In God we are fully known and completely loved. How is that not the better choice than the works that we fail to do to perfection and keep chasing after? Preston did an elaborate teaching on ‘Glory’ but I will leave you to it. What made me sad is that I do make a list for myself. If I can only…blah blah blah (fill in your own list) I can be accepted by God through belief in Jesus and make it (Heaven). Duh – again – if I could complete my list then Jesus did not need to come. The Old Testament account is to teach us that we are fully known and completely loved ‘as we are’. Tablets, rules, laws, lists, always fail. That is good news!
King of Endless Worth