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Jesus declared that the greatest commandment was to Love God with your whole heart and soul and that the second was to Love your Neighbor as yourself. These two commandments provides us with the basic framework for our faith.

When you look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, you will notice that these original commandments follow this same division. The first three focus on our relationship with God, and the final six focus on how we relate to our neighbor. The fourth commandment, the one on the Sabbath, acts as a bridge between these two parts of the framework of our faith. On a regular basis, we are to step aside from our labors and give attention to God in worship and our neighbors in community.

LIVING IN AN ANXIOUS COMMUNITY

Like the Israelites who were living in the uncertain environment of the wilderness, we too are experiencing an environment of uncertainty. While we need our institutions to help organize our society, we would be challenged to name any of them who have not betrayed society’s trust in the last ten years.  From government to corporations, medicine to education, financial institutions, to the courts, charities to the church, all have acted in a manner that has caused people to feel betrayed. When we can’t trust the institutions that form the structure of our society, it is understandable that people lose confidence and feel anxious. It is like living in a wilderness where you feel vulnerable no matter which way you turn.

The Israelites responded to their wilderness experience by building their community around what we call the Ten Commandments. These commandments shaped how they were to relate to God and neighbor. Yes, the commandments were given by God through Moses, but now we explore allowing God’s Spirit to speak through the members of the congregation. Recognize how it provided a basic stability for their community in a very vulnerable and anxious time. Can that be true for us as well?

WHAT ARE THE COMMANDMENTS THAT SHAPE OUR CHURCH?

Let me invite you to have fun by participating in a church experiment of being open to God’s Spirit speaking through our membership to name the commandments that shape our life as a church of faith. With the oversight of the session and pastor, your church will use the internet connection with the membership to engage in a church in a spiritual conversation about the faith that shapes us.

FIRST, the church will send an email to the membership explaining the information from above and asking each of them to consider how they would phrase a basic commandment that reflects our church’s relationship with God. In one to two brief sentences put into words how your church should relate to God. The commandment is for your church as a church and not just for individuals. There will be time for commentary or explanation later, but first, each member is asked to write a succinct statement, “your church shall or shall not ……”

Everyone will send their proposed commandment to (a designated person) to be collected in one list. The complete list will then be returned to the membership, asking members to choose the top three among them. The first three commandments spoke of the exclusivity of God, not reducing God to an image, and not cheapening God by the way we address God. Participants should express their commandment in their own words.

The pastor and the session will identify the top five to ten choices. An all church event will be held to share the results and seek to reduce it down to three choices. Now, if they choose to do so, members may use Google or their own Bible study to contribute to the discussion.

SECOND, the congregation will be asked to repeat the process, but this time they will seek to offer two commandments about how we should relate as a church to our neighbor both within and outside of the church. The original commandments focused on not lying, stealing, bearing false witness (gossiping), committing adultery, or coveting. How would members write two commandments for your church in contemporary language?

Like before; the commandments should be expressed in brief sentences and without commentary. Because, as Jesus made clear, our neighbor includes both those within and outside the church, we will be seeking to identify up to six commandments in this phase. So, people should consider one commandment for relationships within the church and one for how we relate to others outside the church.

Again, the pastor and the session will collect the responses, send the composite list back to the congregation for each member to identify their top four. The session will receive their recommendations and form a composite list for discussion at one or more church gatherings.

Although we are discussing serious issues, we would also encourage the membership to have fun with the process and enjoy the opportunity to discuss their experience and choices with others. Our goal is to express in six commandments how your church should relate to each other and our neighbors near and far.

THIRD, identify how the fourth commandment acts as a bridge commandment between the love of God and love of neighbor. In a similar manner, members will be invited to offer suggestions for a commandment to shape how we honor God and neighbor in worship and community. These will be sent in to a designated person to form a composite list that will be returned to the membership to reduce it down to two or three possibilities. At another congregational gathering, the bridge commandment will be determined and added to the other nine commandments.

This is not to be seen as a legislative process but a community spiritual conversation. Like Israel, we aren’t always successful, but this paints an image of what we strive for as a faith community. Once the ten proposed commandments are identified, your church will celebrate in worship the image that your church reflects when the church is able to follow these commandments.