Pastor’s Note 02/22/2024
“You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
This is the greatest and first commandment.
And a second is like it:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40
When Jesus was asked what is the one greatest commandment, He answered with two commandments that are cited above. The first is that we love God with all that we are: heart and soul and mind. The second commandment is that we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Love God, take care of yourself and take care of others. That is a good summary of what Jesus was saying.
So how do we live these commandments in our lives? How do we love God, take care of ourself and take care of others? That is a part of “soul-training.”
In our Sunday sermons on “The Good & Beautiful Community,” there have been weekly soul-training exercises that are intended to help each of us to train our souls in living these commandments out in our everyday lives. Over the weeks we have:
- Practiced Lectio Divina (Divine Reading)
- Treasured other people as a treasure
- Shared hope with another person
- Remembering the 6 invitations from The Clay Pot Church
- Doing the “2 x 4” Challenge: 2 hours with God and 4 acts of kindness (Acts of kindness can be peculiar)
- Reflecting on the Lord’s Supper
Some of these soul training acts are experiences to help in our relationship with God, others are experiences to help in our relationship with others. These are just a few of the spiritual training exercises that we can integrate into our lives so that we might live out the two commandments that Jesus wanted us to live. There are others that could be added and there is a list of things that we should do to help care for ourselves.
Let me encourage you to come up with a Soul Training Plan and then share it with another person who will help to hold you accountable. It is all a part of our journey as disciples of Jesus.
Pastor’s Note 02/15/2024
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust
you will return.”
Genesis 3:19
Ash Wednesday was yesterday and it marked the beginning of Lent, a forty plus day journey to Holy Week, ending on Holy Saturday, the Saturday before Easter.
I want to encourage you to participate in a Lenten activity during this time. You can participate in our church’s Forty-Days of Prayer for our Neighbors, which is a guided prayer walk through our neighborhoods praying for our neighbors both near and far. (You can pick up the Prayer Guide at LCPC).
You can also connect with a Lenten devotional. There are many to choose from but one of my favorites is an online devotional from the Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts. Here is a link to the Lenten Project:
I hope that you will have a meaningful journey with Christ this Lenten season.
God Bless.
PS I just heard about the shooting at the Kansas City Chief’s Victory Celebration and I am once again shocked and dismayed that this type of violence has taken place. Pray for the victims and the injured and for a solution to the gun violence in our county.