A Golden Rule...

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 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. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:29-31)

“I Never Lost My Praise” Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

It is so cold but beautiful outside covered by the white Wisconsin snow! It did not snow much last year even when we celebrated our Christmas because we had a brown Christmas. However, it did not disappoint us because it came down from heaven in January. As God is faithful, this Wisconsin snow is faithful to us. It means we had to plow and shovel it from early in the morning. We know it will be here until our spring comes. Oh! Did I say, spring? 

Spring! Spring! Spring! Seems like our next season will be spring time of blooming flowers, all colorful and green stuff with much warmer air!!! Can you imagine that? Of course! However, God gives us today as a present so we are thankfully and joyfully enjoying this season of winter now!

Is that true to you all? I hope so!! But if not, please let me know... we need to talk and pray.

Anyway, we took our first big step for the New Year 2020 to somewhere beyond the spring, far beyond, as we recommitted ourselves through the baptismal renewal service and reminded ourselves that we are the house of prayer. Then we will joyfully make another eleven steps one by one all through this year freely and thankfully. Are we now ready to take our second step?

However, as we take each steps, there is a Golden Rule that we always need to keep in our hearts. Here it comes from the long history of our faith from the Old Testament time.

One day, a poor Rabbi Hillel shared a story about the Golden Rule several centuries before Jesus was born. A pagan came to Shammai - Hillel's rich Rabbi friend, and asked him, "Rabbi, make me a proselyte, but on condition that you teach me the entire Torah while I am standing on one foot!" Naughty! Naughty! Naughty! Why? Because we know the Torah is the Law of Moses - the first five books in the Old Testament, not very short though. 

Now guess what? What did Shammai do? He drove him off with a builder's measuring rod which he had in his hand. So this naughty pagan man appeared before Hillel and asked him a same question. Now, if someone comes to you with the same question, what can you do? Are you ready for that?

But this is what Rabbi Hillel said. "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary. Go and learn it!" (Talmud, Shabbat 31a)     

I don't know what this naughty pagan man did after he heard it though, today, Jesus reminds us of the Golden Rule as he talked with the scribes in the New Testament revisiting the Torah, "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... and love your neighbor as yourself. If you do, you are not far from the kingdom of God." (Mark 12:30, 31& 34)

If we do this, we are not far from the kingdom of God! Why? Because it is the restoration of relationship between heaven and earth that has been broken in the Garden of Eden by the sinfulness of creatures. However, Jesus came to us to restore this relationship. That Jesus is growing in us!

Brothers and sisters in Christ, is this what we are looking for, the kingdom of God, where our relationship with God and our neighbors is fully healed and restored? In February, we will be revisiting the human marriage, the second step of God’s valentine, for the divine relationship based on the love of God through Jesus Christ. Don’t miss that!

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Kyochul