The Ten Commandments!Be honest…how many of you picture Charlton Heston holding stone tablets when you saw the title above? Maybe you scratched your head as you try to remember them. Perhaps you feel a twinge of guilt as you recall the ones you have not kept? This Sunday we will hear the commandments as one of our readings. They are a key part of the covenant that God makes with his people in the wilderness. They are, if you will, a guide for how God’s people were to be in relationship with him and each other. But what about now. Do these old laws still apply? How are we to make sense of them today? Where does grace come into play? Why not take some time to read them and meditate on them this week? You can find them in your bible in the book of Exodus chapter 20. Then read how Jesus emphasized them in Matthew 22: 34-40 or Mark 12: 28-34. The commandments are not about being good enough so that God will accept us. Just the opposite…God in his mercy has called us to be his children, and our response to that call is to love Him and our neighbor(s). We are not keeping the “rules” to get in good graces so much as living by them because of the grace we have received. We love God (and our neighbor) because God has loved us first! So…How do you express your love for God and neighbor? How can we, as followers of Jesus, show our love for God in our love for our neighbors? Blessings,
Matthew+ Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP p.218) | 
