A wide spot in my imagination.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Shortest Sermon You May Ever Hear


Timothy B. Tutt
Pastor, United Christian Church
Austin, Texas

Sunday, August 12, 2012  
10:00 AM Worship

11th Sunday of Epiphany
 (Lectionary Year B)


“The Shortest Sermon You May Ever Hear”
Matthew 22:34-40

34   When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 ‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ 37 He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’     .


[Note:  This was my final sermon to preach as senior pastor of the United Christian Church in Austin, Texas.]


Love God and live like it.   It’s that simple and that difficult.
Love God and live like it.  That’s all you have to do.
After 11 years, 572 Sundays, 132 council meetings, 132 newsletters, dozens of funerals, weddings and baptisms, and approximately 2000 dishes that I have sampled at Wednesday Night Potluck Suppers, that is what I hope you will remember:  Love God and live like that.
Everything else is just extra, and there are lots of ways to say it, but at its core, that is the call of the Gospel:  Love God and live like it.
No matter who you are or where you go, Love God and live like it.
If you are young or old or gay or straight, if you are rich or poor, or a Republican or a Democrat, if you live to be a 190 and sit in these pews every Sunday for the rest of your life, or if you never darken the door of a church again, that is what I hope you will remember: Love God and live like it.
Love God and live like it.


Benediction
Friends, as you go forth from this place, hear the Good News: 
God loves you.
Do not be afraid. 
Be kind to everyone you meet.
And remember: God loves you. 
You are loved.  You are loved.  You are loved. 
Amen, amen and amen.