Mission Worship: Two Hinges

Sunday, January 8 to Friday, January 12, 2018

For me, the capstone of the entire mission was our daily worship which included singing praise songs and a deep dive into The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37.  And while I am sure that Pastor Ryan would do a better job giving you the headlines, here is my summary:

·       Love God and Love your Neighbor are the two hinges of the whole Bible – the Great Commandment – all other commandments hinge on these two.

·       When the Pharisee was testing Jesus and he answered with the parable of the Good Samaritan, it is historically relevant to know that the people of Samaria were the enemies of the Hebrews.

·       You know the story, the one that helped the man robbed and beaten on the Jericho road was the Samaritan, not the priest, not the Levite.

·       Jesus asked the Pharisee, which of the three was a neighbor to the injured man and the Pharisee correctly replied, “the one who had mercy.”  Pastor Ryan points out that it was probably impossible for the Pharisee to be more specific; that the hatred between the nations would make it repulsive for the Pharisee to say, “Samaritan.” 

·       The Bottom Line:  There are no limits to who is my (our) neighbor(s).  This was even clearly outlined in the Old Testament where the definition of neighbor can be found in Leviticus 19:18- 34. 

·       You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…. Matthew 5:43-44. 

·       And the questions we are to answer from our experiences on the mission and our worship time together are:  What is God calling me to do?  Who is the person I need to love on the Jericho Road?

We closed Friday night with Holy Communion.