The Weeks of Advent - Love (Continued)

Hebrew 10:5-10

As I listened to President Obama give a press conference this morning I was encouraged by one of the answers he gave. The question asked was (paraphrasing), "In the last four years of your presidency there have been other violent shootings take place around our country, where have you been until now?" President Obama simply reminded this reporter that he has been busy fighting back the worse recession since the depression, keeping the auto industry from falling apart, fighting two wars, and dealing with other pressing issues.

Then he said something that made me smile, because it's about time one of our country's leaders said it. "It's time we all take a step back and look at where we have been placing our priorities" (paraphrasing again).

So, I want to ask you, where are your priorities?

In today's passage, Paul does a pretty good job at determining what Jesus' priorities were. Jesus didn't come to remind everyone of their laws, rather he tried his best to remind those who would listen it's the laws which are separating us from our relationships. In fact, as Paul focuses on in the passage, the people to whom Jesus was speaking no longer showed joy in following the law.

Sometimes we do things because we feel as though those are the things which have to be done. We go through our daily routines because they are just that; routines. To the people of Jesus' time it might be possible that the routines of having to say, do, and live in a strict adherence to a set of rules were becoming far removed from what those rules were meant to represent.

I've been taking a serious look this week at where we, as a society, are focusing our lives. I can see that in many more instances now, as compared to 40 years ago, we seem to be going through our routines without recognizing the rewards of those events. We take our children from one activity to another and barely ask them how they're doing. We have video games, computers, televisions, personal music players, personal hand-held digital devices (aka cell phones), and so much more to keep us busy and away from being with one another.

To be with one another is the most important part of being human. Every being, every piece of creation longs to be with one another. Even a banana tree will not bear fruit unless it has another banana tree sharing it's root. It's time, then, for us to be with one another. This is, and always has been the hope of our God - that all of creation can find a way to live within and a part of that which is created.

The only way to do this is to love - Love yourself, Love one another, and Love your God.