The Great Intersection

Have you stood at the corner of a famous intersection?  Maybe Hollywood and Vine in LA?  Wall and Broad Street or Times Square in NY? In Detroit, you might argue for famous intersections being Woodward and Grand Circus, or Park and Campus Martius.

One of the important intersections in Detroit no longer exists.  It is where our church building resided for 106 years before being physically moved in 1955 from the corner of Woodward and Woodbridge.  This intersection was eliminated by the construction of Hart Plaza, however, before that time it was a center of commerce, port activity, and traffic.  We even shared the intersection with the original Vernor’s Beverage Warehouse.

There is an intersection of the Christian Life that  should never be eliminated.  This intersection keeps us moored and anchored to our mission as believers and as a church.  This is the intersection of The Great Commandment and The Great Commission.

As a refresher, The Great Commandment is what we say at the beginning of all of our Liturgical Eucharistic services. It was taught by Jesus as the key to obedience to all the commandments:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matt 22:37-39)

The Great Commission were the final words Jesus spoke to his disciples after He was resurrected. In it he gives an action plan as a people and church is until He comes again:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19)

As believers we must stand at the intersection of these two scriptures and consider what God is calling us to do. To love God and neighbor through discipleship is to be an effective ambassador of the Gospel in this world.  Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California first articulated to the church this intersection idea.  Although the expression of how the church he planted and our church is very different, the underlying mission is the same.

First, we must start from a place of Love for God.  This is grown through worship and prayer.  We liturgically pray, meditate on Scripture and listen to the Holy Spirit.  As our love for God grows, our love for the world shrinks.

Then, Love for God gives us the grace and humility to love others.  Often God’s love is shown in scripture to be most purely expressed to those different from you, or even your enemy.  To the Jewish people Jesus spoke of loving the Samaritan.  He would appeal to a higher love that looks to the image of God in all people, not the common things you have with someone in this world.  No matter who God is calling you to love, it is only through God’s help that we can love them purely.

Finally, and this is the thing we often forget, this expression of love is directly found in the discipleship and nourishing of others in the faith.  It’s not loving to lead someone all the way up to water and never show them how to drink.  Too often we fail in the end to articulate the hope we have in Jesus to those we meet.  This is why this intersection concept is so critical.  It must include the discipleship of others in the ways of the faith.

This Sunday there will be a baptism service of two new adult friends who recently have decided to follow Jesus.  We are only having one service at 11am so all of us can be part of this celebration! [Because of the Detroit Marathon, the roads won’t be be fully opened until approx 9:30am around the church]. It’s exciting to see this young couple wanting to pursue a love for God through baptism and discipleship.  In this moment, we stand at this intersection of The Great Commandment and The Great Commission once more.

Although our church building was moved from one of the great old intersections of Detroit in 1955, may we never move from this intersection of scripture given to us by Jesus.  May the Great Commandmentand The Great Commission always guide us as believers.  My prayer is that we as a church, and each of us individually, go into all the world and make disciples with the passionate love of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Blessings and peace,

Rev. Todd