“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Often, we have a hard time with Old Testament laws. While some are obvious, others seem strange even for their time.

Why are there so many rules, regulations, commandments, and laws? Is this even realistic?

In Romans today, Paul provides a sketch of the daily life of an average ancient Christian, and if we’re honest, we’ll probably find the words resonate today.

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good,” he begins.

And as we go deeper, we find examples of self-giving love. Paul calls us to let go of our doubts and extend a hand of peace, or at least tolerance, even to our enemies. Paul describes a very action- oriented ministry where the members of the community are expected to get out of the church, go into the world, and share in ministry.

Why, yes, even way back then, our culture was dead set on convincing us that we need to buy more and to be more and do more because we were not perfect enough. The messages have not changed, though the delivery methods have evolved from magazines and catalogs to e-mails and social media ads. To be fair, the credit card offers still come in the mail.

We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.


I have a sticker on my water bottle that reads:


Love your neighbor who doesn’t look like you, think like you, love like you, speak like you, pray like you, or vote like you. Simply love your neighbor.

“Why did you doubt?” Jesus seems to chide Peter after he took the hard step of leaving the boat.

Our first trip to Mt. Nebo was around 12 years ago during a long, hot summer.

That first evening brought quite a surprise. See, we didn’t know that the River Valley can generate pop-up storms even during a heat spell. Around midnight, we were startled awake by the crash and roll of an intense storm cell.

With God, we must learn to expect the unexpected.

There is an episode of “I Love Lucy” that is the perfect starting place for today’s sermon. For those of you that don’t know the “I Love Lucy” show, think “Will and Grace” in black in white. Our star, Lucy, was a ditzy redhead that got into different adventures every week.

The lesson from Hebrew scripture today says that God tested Abraham. God calls, “Abraham.” and Abraham says, “Yes Lord, I'm here, I'm listenen Lord,” God says, “Abraham, take your son,
Isaac, the miracle child born to you and Sarah when you were both in your nineties, the son who is the living seal of my promise. Take him to the land of Moriah, and offer him up as a burnt
sacrifice.” Now come on folks, this is nothing less than ghastly madness.

Last week after becoming exhausted and sick of watching the news and trying to figure out in my own mind what should be done, what I could be doing about all of this societal strife if somehow I was in control of everything, I took a mental break
and began to think of simpler, more tranquil times . I recalled a profound experience that occurred when I volunteered to serve as the chaplain for a week at Camp Mitchell.