Growing up I remember hearing a number of sayings that all pointed at the same lesson. Phrases like actions speak louder than words. A picture is worth a thousand words. You can hear the symphony in silence. Each of these sayings gets at the same point. One must not speak to make a powerful statement. One must not understand the language, to understand the meaning. When I was in seminary, Dr Gail Ricciutti showed a film in our Introduction to Preaching class of people preaching. Interestingly, the preacher that really captured my attention the most was a woman who did not preach in English. I could not understand a single word she said, yet I understood every word she said.
This morning I stumbled upon this image that I used for our thought for the day. It is just a picture. No quote, no author, yet it speaks volumes
Read moreGrowing up in my household, periodically I would, like many teenagers, “forget” to do my chores. My parents would always put me in my place by saying something like, “But you remembered to call your friends, didn’t you? You seem to remember what is important to you!” They were right and it is a lesson I carry with me even today.
As a teenager, doing chores was not important. They were always going to be there and unless I really needed my allowance, which was important, spending time doing chores was not near as important to me as being with my friends. At the time, the choice was simple, time with friends or time without them doing chores. The problem was when my chore was to do laundry and my favorite outfits were not available; then doing laundry was more important than time with friends.
Read moreAs I watched this video, it reminded me of a scripture from the New Testament which said there were two commandments we are to follow, First, “the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these" (Mark 12:30-31). Other spiritual writings teach a similar lesson; we are to love God and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.
That raises a question similar to the one raised in the video. Who are our neighbors? Who are they?
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