As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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I had the privilege of studying the Hebrew language during my last year at seminary, which is the language in which the Old Testament is written.  It is not an easy task to learn a language whose roots are so different than one’s own, but the reward is that an incredible new richness of understanding is opened.  For the Hebrew people, their faith was intimately tied to their language in a way that is foreign to us today.

Last Sunday Pat preached in part on Matthew 22:37, where Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5, calling it the greatest commandment: “…love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.”  I couldn’t help but steal a moment during the morning to look it up in Hebrew, and what I found adds even more depth.

“Heart” to the Hebrews is only a little different than our modern understanding.  They didn’t think of the “heart” as the center of emotion as we do, but rather the center of a person in a larger sense.  Image a cross between our modern idea of “heart” and our modern idea of “gut,” as in a gut feeling.  Soul has a much different connotation than what we often think.  We tend to have this idea of a soul as being separate from our physical bodies– no such thought to the ancient Hebrews.  Many have argued that a better translation would be “with all your being.”

But the one that caught my attention was “might.”  I can’t think of a better single word to translate the Hebrew, but the shades of meaning are significant.  One of the translation dictionaries describes the Hebrew word as “muchness, force, abundance.”  It does mean “might” as in “force,” but what depth of meaning comes from loving God with our “muchness,” with our “abundance!”

What does this mean for you?  For our church?  For our people?  I’ll leave that for you do decide.  I say only “Love the LORD your God with your very core, with your very being, and with all your ‘muchness.’”  Because remember: that’s how God loves you.

As always, I welcome comments on my blog at http://ministrygeek.net.

As the Associate Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, KS, I write a weekly article for the newsletter article. I invite both members of the church and other visitors to my blog to share their thoughts!

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This is wedding season at Trinity.  We typically do six or eight weddings each year, but most of them happen in May and June.  This year we have weddings three weeks in a row– this Saturday is the last of a long chain!  I preside over all of these weddings (with the help of fantastic staff, of course), and also do 3-4 premarital counseling sessions with each couple.

What a blessing it is to see so much young love (and I include older couples in that)!  Sometimes I wonder how much I can really say to them, having only experienced a year of marriage myself.  But the principles of living in a loving relationship are universal whether you’ve been married many years or called instead to singleness: love like God loves.  I always remind the couples that since God IS love (1 John 4:7-8), what they see in each other is a little piece of God living in them.

I also remind them that their marriage will not always be as rosy as on their wedding day– they will annoy one another and even hurt one another, it’s just a part of life.  Sadly, there are some offences (like abuse) that can damage a marriage beyond repair.  But for everything else, I tell them they would do well to follow the example of God’s grace and forgive each other as freely as God forgives.  We would do well to focus more on the good than on the bad that is part of every person and every relationship (Philippians 4:8-9).

Now I know many of you have been married long enough to have gained more wisdom than I.  But I thought I would share these ideas since we all need a little “refresher” now and then.  What is your secret to a healthy, happy marriage for you?  I hope you’ll let me know in person or by sharing a comment on my blog, http://ministrygeek.net.