The Shema and Superficial Standards - Part 2

Anybody out there remember Mr. Rogers?  As a little boy, I watched Mr. Rogers pretty faithfully.  There was something about the show that just made life feel good.  I could learn about different people in the world and somehow Mr. Rogers was teaching me to appreciate them despite how different we were.  He just wanted us all to be neighborly.  Would you be mine?  Could you be mine?  Won't you be my neighbor?  That was the mantra of the show.  It came across in a demeanor that all could appreciate.  

Nowadays, we'll do just about everything we can to keep from having neighbors.  We build fences, we buy bigger lots, we put up shades, and we keep to ourselves.  The once front porch of America has now become the secluded and private back porch.  Now longer do passersby see us on the porch and greet us.  Instead, we escape from the monotony of our lives in to the seclusion of our fenced in and very private backyards.  But aren't we missing something while keeping to ourselves?  

What exactly does Mr. Rogers have to do with the Shema and the spiritual rhythm we talked about in the previous post?  Well, maybe this is a stretch, but Jesus and Mr. Rogers seem to have had a lot in common (beside the sweater jacket and loafers of course!).  What exactly did they have in common you questionably ask?  Well, I think their mantra was one in the same.  It was about being a neighbor.  

Not only did Jesus know the Shema as an obedient Jew, but he actually lived it out each day.  Aaaand, he did something radical (not Jesus right...) and added to our understanding of the Shema in the New Testament.  Sure, for Jesus it was great for us to be in rhythm with God as we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up.  But Jesus made it more than back porch faith.  In fact, he was calling us to return to front porch faith that was lived out in the presence of neighbors.  According to Jesus, the Shema lived out ought to engage our neighbors.  So, as families, if the Shema is about creating a spiritual rhythm for our homes and children, then perhaps Jesus is calling us to create as a part of that rhythm something neighborly.  Perhaps, Jesus is calling us to actually care for and invest in our neighbors.  Perhaps Jesus is calling us to make his and Mr. Rogers mantra our own.  Does the world hear us asking them, "Would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?"  Do they hear anything from us at all?  Or, is what they hear something that is hurtful and damaging?  

Let's take a look at Jesus' summation of the Shema:

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Everything hangs on these two commandments.  Did you get that?  Not options...We can't really claim to be followers of Christ if a part of the spiritual rhythm we are trying to create in our homes or lives doesn't involve asking people to be our neighbors.  What part of your life as a family is intentionally living out this call?  Will your kids remember the vacations you take them on when they're older?  Sure.  What kind of lasting impact will they have?  Maybe we should be challenged to create experiences that confront our students perspectives or biases.  Maybe we should take family trips where the goal is to serve and etch eternal significance into the spiritual lives of our students.  It's easy to want to create an environment in your home because in essence, you have control.  When it comes to engaging neighbors, it's in God's control.  An exercise in following these two commandments from Christ is an exercise in participating in God's sovereignty, trusting that he is at work engaging the hearts of people before we even come into contact with them.  But remember, he chose us to bless the world (Genesis 15).  As followers, it is a commandment for us to engage and love our neighbors (Am I my brother's keeper?).  

How can we expect students to live out this mantra if we haven't created space for it to become actualized in our own lives?  It's a little scary to be honest.  What if we teach our kids to love their neighbors as if it was the second greatest commandment?  Honestly, they might look at our values and our efforts to maintain status quo and see a break in what we say we believe and what we live out.  I want our students to love their neighbors.  I want my one day kids to love their neighbors.  I want them to appreciate the differences that make us so unique and illustrate just how big, marvelous, and creative our God is.  I want them to be better than my generation.  It's time to start teaching them rhythm so the rest of the world can hear the beat of God's heart.   

The Shema and Superficial Standards

Can we be honest here?  None of us are, have been, or will ever be perfect parents...(I'm counting myself as a parent here since my wife is about 38.5 weeks and having contractions and Hudson might be here by the time you read this!)  I haven't been able to identify the perfect parent so I can be their apprentice.  Furthermore, none of us have had perfect parents.  For some of us that is pretty easy to admit.  For others of us, our parents are our heroes.  The fact of the matter is that imperfect people never had the ability to be perfect parents in the first place.  Heck, I’m not even a parent yet(much less the parent of a hormonal teen)!  So before you jump all over me for even trying to discuss parenting teenagers, give me a chance.   

I have caught myself thinking of what it will be like to one day be a parent.  I have thought of the things I want to instill in my kids and what I want to provide them with.  I thought of taking them on great vacations to bond, playing baseball in the summers, buying them a car when they turn sixteen, and sending them to college to get an education.  All great things right?  And then, I had one of those encounters with scripture that reminds you your priorities are all screwed up.  You know?  One of those encounters where God gently tries to remind you that he is in charge.  That moment came when I had this encounter with The Shema (which means hear or listen).  This is the passage recited twice a day by Hebrews taken from Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Somewhere along the line culture handed us a ruler by which to measure success as a parent.  Over time I began to think that college and career were the most important.  It’s not that they’re not important, it’s just that they’re not what’s most important.  I’m to impress on my children that the Lord is one, and it’s our call to love Him with everything we have. 

When Moses speaks these words, the people are standing before the Promised Land about to start a new part of their history.  Moses won’t make it and so he uses this time to pass on what he feels is most important to the people of Israel as they march forward.  He is fighting for faith, and he is fighting for the coming generations of faith because he knows the danger of having a generation lose its faith.  To this point, Israel understood its faith in terms of rules (just try and read Leviticus).   “Moses is establishing a new commandment that supersedes all commandments.  This new rule implies something is more important than the rules.  It elevates the significance of a relationship with God above all else, indicating that our motive for obedience should mature beyond our fear or reverence.  Moses was warning the people about the danger of passing down rules without the context of a loving relationship.”[1]

The danger of passing down rules, practices, or truth outside the context of genuine, compelling love is that you establish an empty religion.  No wonder so many teens are leaving the church when they graduate high school.  Surveys estimate anywhere from 60-80% of teens leave the church for good by age 23. 

How do we bring these numbers down, and how do we combat the danger of passing down an empty religion that no longer sticks to the hearts of our teens?  I think the Shema is cluing us into exactly what we can do.  Our students need us to make faith personal in our own lives in order for them to believe it is worth doing in their lives.  Moses feared what has happened with faith and religion in our culture.  We have compartmentalized faith.  That is to say that God only gets a small part of our lives.  Moses feared God would be marginalized in our lives to only part of the day, then perhaps only to part of the week, and finally to just part of the month.  Our tendency is to segment God into an isolated category of our lives instead of viewing him as the binding force that holds all of life together.[2]

In essence, Moses was worried about us letting life get out of rhythm.  I think if there is anything you can do as an imperfect parent, it is to strive to create a rhythm in your home bent on impressing the truths about God in the hearts of your children.  Moses doesn’t give parents a systematic process or formula for creating children who love the Lord.  Instead, he hands them the responsibility of presenting the truths of who God is, refining and adapting their presentations along the way until there is actual learning.  What he gave them that day was a strategy to create the rhythm of faith, not a formula.  His strategy – talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Rhythm is an important part of life.  We sleep each night, and we try to give our kids a routine based on the rhythm of life.  We feel it is important in growth and development, so why aren’t we trying to create rhythms in our family that create and facilitate spiritual growth and development?  Are we out of rhythm as families in a busy culture?  I think one of the best gifts I can someday give my children is the purpose to create a spiritual rhythm in my home where they see my faith is real, and I’ll be praying that it becomes real for them too. 

Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith. It is faith rather than formula, grace rather than guarantees, steadfastness rather than success that bridges the gap between our own parenting efforts, and what, by God's grace, our children grow up to become.  We will parent imperfectly, our children will make their own choices, and God will mysteriously and wondrously use it all to advance his kingdom.[3]

[1] Think Orange: Imagine the Impact when Church and Family Collide…, pg. 58.

[2] Ibid., pg 65.

[3] http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/january/12.22.html?start=7