Rev. Zach

Exodus 20:1-17 ; Matthew 22:34-40 Be content with what you have. That may be a bit of an oversimplification of the commandment that we should not covet your neighbor’s dwelling or spouse or resources or possessions, but I believe that “be content with what you have” is also a pretty accurate summary of that commandment. It reminds me of the thing that so many of us tell our children – you get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit – and yet it stands in contrast to the way so many of us live our lives. It stands in contrast with the way that we placate our children with media and technology and teaches them by example that there is often a very fine line between needs and wants that is often determined by accessibility and nothing more. Whole industries revolve around not only anticipating and meeting our needs but also creating a feeling of need based solely on the things that some of us have and others do not. Years ago I remember a church member telling me that the business world w...

Exodus 20:12-16 ; Matthew 5:14-37 As we move forward in our reflection on the Ten Commandments, I’d like to briefly acknowledge where we have been and where we are going and maybe dig a little deeper into our history and tradition as followers of Jesus in the Reformed tradition. Having said that, I know there is not much more prosaic and sleep-inducing for most people than to say words like “history, tradition, and Reformed theology” when they have come looking for meaning and purpose and some sense that God is actually involved and that faith can help us find peace and meaning in an unstable world. If you stick with me, I’m going to try to do just that. I say “try” because “try” is all any of us can do. Regardless of what you have heard from certain movie franchises that seek to plumb the depths of reality while discerning the nature of good vs evil, a life of faith is not about “do or do not.” It is about a series of faithful attempts to approach what is real and true. Sometimes we g...

Exodus 20:1-11; Matthew 22:34-40  Today we have received what some call the first table of the laws that govern our relationship with God. It may sound odd to describe the Ten Commandments as “laws that govern our relationship with God,” but that is essentially what they are. As with many things, our culture prefers to individualize and relativize and moralize, and the Ten Commandments are no exception. In fact, we often use them as a baseline for individual moral behavior. I don’t mean to suggest that it is a bad thing, but I do mean to say that there is so much more to them than a personal ethic – even a personal ethic that we might agree upon.  It is true that these ten ordinances were influential in the formation of our legal system as a nation, but given the necessary separation of church and state in our constitution that really only applies to the second table of the laws that govern our relationship with God. It is the first set that we’ve been given to think about tod...