{"id":938,"date":"2014-08-31T11:00:19","date_gmt":"2014-08-31T15:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=938"},"modified":"2019-11-05T12:06:11","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T17:06:11","slug":"with-all-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2014\/08\/31\/with-all-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"With All Your Mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew 22: 34-40<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the full service\u00a0<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to hear the sermon only<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and soul, and mind\u2019 (Matthew 22: 37)<\/p>\n

Preface<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

In 1762, John and Charles Wesley opened a school in Kingswood, England.\u00a0 Charles wrote:\u00a0 \u2018unite the pair so long disjoined, knowledge and vital piety\u2019.\u00a0 He had love in mind.<\/p>\n

In college you develop habits of mind.\u00a0 Will love in mind be one?\u00a0 Will you find a way to love God with all your mind?<\/p>\n

Unlike some philosophy and some religion today, the gospel does not separate head from heart, does not separate mind from faith, does not separate the spiritual and the cerebral.\u00a0 In fact, here, to love with heart and soul means, emphatically to love with the your mind.\u00a0 Do you?\u00a0 <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0Matthew<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Our gospel lesson today, Matthew\u2019s curt summary of the Markan teaching, gives us a way forward, a way to live out such a common hope.<\/p>\n

Matthew has shortened the passage from Mark.\u00a0 He has taken out the positive reference to the Jewish interlocutor.\u00a0 He has winnowed the narrative structure of the text.\u00a0 He has emphasized mind.\u00a0 Especially he has removed the kind response Jesus makes in Mark to his questioner:\u00a0 \u2018you are not far from the kingdom of God\u2019.\u00a0 What he has added is an introduction that describes a conniving collusion of the Pharisees and Sadducees to \u2018test\u2019 Jesus.\u00a0 In Mark Jesus is invited to help, and he does.\u00a0 In Matthew he is put to the test.\u00a0 Love of God. \u00a0Love of Neighbor.\u00a0 On these two depend all the others.\u00a0 That is, even in the darker condition of the church, perhaps in the fear of the terror of Domitian, reflected in Matthew, the gospel stands.\u00a0 Love means love in mind.<\/p>\n

And \u2018mind\u2019? \u00a0Almost every NT use of the word mind<\/i> is in Paul.\u00a0 There, in Paul, and here, in Matthew, the word refers to the breadth of human intellect, ingenuity, and creativity.\u00a0 But in Matthew there is a prefix, and the word gives a breathing, process, dimension to the root of the noun, which you will recognize, nous.\u00a0<\/i> Here:\u00a0 Not so much thought, as thinking.\u00a0 Not so much mind, as minding.\u00a0 Understanding as gerund:\u00a0 \u201cif I am understanding you\u2026\u201d A disposition.\u00a0 A manner of thinking, like \u2018after a manner of speaking\u2019. (BGD, loc cit).<\/p>\n

Let us love the lord with all our mind.\u00a0 But how?<\/p>\n

T.U.L.I.P.<\/b><\/p>\n

We send you home with a tulip, as a way to think about love andmind. We will follow from our Presbyterian siblings. \u00a0It seems to me impossible to speak of Calvinism without mentioning the famous\/infamous acrostic for the 5 points of\u00a0Calvinism\u2014TULIP\u00a0 Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints).\u00a0We shall use our Presbyterian siblings\u2019 acrostic, in a different manner, to engage Matthew 22: 37\u2014T, true; U-universal; L-lasting; I-inspired; P-personal.<\/p>\n

A real celebration of the Gospel will depend upon a common hope. T. Something true. A heart for the heart of the city\u2014a longing to heal the spiritual culture of the land. U. Something universal. An interreligious setting.\u00a0 L. Something lasting\u00a0 of love in mind. A developed expression of contrition.\u00a0 I. Something imaginative. A keen sense of imagination.\u00a0 P. Something personal. An openness to power and presence.<\/p>\n

Something true.<\/p>\n

To be good news, the gospel must be true\u2014true to God, to world, to self, to others.<\/p>\n

We know this with regard to the full humanity of gay people.\u00a0 Bigotry against sexual minorities is not the gospel.<\/p>\n

We know this in our treatment of others, especially in our personal and professional relationships.\u00a0 If you play fast and loose with someone\u2019s identity\u2014in a professional relationship, say\u2014you risk doing permanent harm.\u00a0 You will not the full effect of this until it has happened to you.<\/p>\n

Pray for a spirit of truth this year, beginning today, Matriculation Sunday, with this prayer:<\/i><\/p>\n

Thou who loves us into love and frees us into freedom<\/i><\/p>\n

We bring forward our thanks today for the freedom to study at Boston University<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of medicine, dentistry, physical therapy<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is public health<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of law<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is justice<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of management, business and economics<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is community<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of art\u2014music, dance, drama, all<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is beauty<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of communication<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is truth<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of engineering<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is expanding safety<\/i><\/p>\n

For the liberal, metropolitan and general study of art and science<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is freedom<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of hospitality<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is conviviality<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of education<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is memory and hope<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of military and physical education<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is security and strength<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of social work<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is systemic compassion<\/i><\/p>\n

For the study of theology and the practice of religion<\/i><\/p>\n

Whose fruit is meaning, belonging and empowerment<\/i><\/p>\n

In this year may the 40,000 member family of Boston University\u2014students, faculty, administrators, staff, alumni, neighbors all\u2014become, by grace:<\/i><\/p>\n

healthier, more just, more connected, fairer, truer, sturdier, freer, gentler, deeper, safer, more compassionate, and more aware<\/i><\/p>\n

O Thou who loves us into love and frees us into freedom.<\/i><\/p>\n

Amen<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Something true.<\/p>\n

Something universal.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our Lord and Savior, but Jesus is not all the God there is.\u00a0 We are not Unitarians of the second person of the Trinity.\u00a0 Nor are we alone as the sole religious tradition on the planet.\u00a0 We shall need to share the spiritual nurture of earth\u2019s 7 billion inhabitants with others.\u00a0 With Muslims, like Anwar Sadat; and Hindus like Mahatma Ghandi; and Jews like Elie Wiesel; and Buddhists like our BU student killed in last year\u2019s Marathon, Lu Lingzi.\u00a0 True peace is found in Jesus but not exclusively in Jesus. Lu Lingzi\u2019s memorial service last year in Boston made this fully clear to those of us present.<\/p>\n

Our friend and colleague Dean Kenn Elmore said during a recent conversation, and in a truly Howard Thurman-like way, \u2018sometimes we lose our capacity to reach for, to grasp, to hold onto the universals\u2019.\u00a0 To love the Lord with all our mind.<\/p>\n

Something universal.<\/p>\n

Something lasting.<\/p>\n

As we minister with the students this year, we will need today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n

You will need love in mind. Learning that begets virtue and virtue that begets piety.\u00a0 Knowledge that begets action and action that begets being.\u00a0 Love in mind\u2014your thoughts, your understandings, your perspectives.<\/p>\n

At Erwin Church in Syracuse NY several years ago we had some memorable failures in ministry.\u00a0 But sometimes the things that seem less than successful turn out better than you think.\u00a0 Like the dinner we gave in 1985, hoping for 20 or 30 students and none came, save one young woman, Pam Brush.\u00a0 But she was all it took, she and God\u2019s grace, to grow, over time, a vibrant neighborhood young adult ministry.<\/p>\n

And now at Marsh Chapel.\u00a0 I wonder if Pam,\u00a0 or someone like her, is here this year?\u00a0 Here at Marsh Chapel.\u00a0 A place with 2000 years and more of traditions, embedded in stained glass, a 1000 year old gothic architecture \u2018built to last\u2019, a 175 year denominational legacy, a 60 year old building and congregation, and a handshake, a hand to hold onto that is lastingly steady.\u00a0 You may need that hand and handshake someday this year.<\/p>\n

Something lasting.<\/p>\n

Something inspired.<\/p>\n

A bit of wonder, a bit of wonder.<\/p>\n

Ralph Sockman:\u00a0 \u2018the larger the body of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of mystery that surrounds it.\u2019<\/p>\n

GK Chesterton:\u00a0 \u2018the world does not lack for wonders, but only for a sense of wonder\u2019<\/p>\n

Dag Hammarskjold:\u00a0 \u201cGod does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal Deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason\u201d.<\/p>\n

Something like the 139th<\/sup> Psalm (recited)\u2026<\/p>\n

We are focused this year on spirit.<\/p>\n

Something imaginative.<\/p>\n

Something personal.<\/p>\n

Robert Frost taught us about personal things, about invitation and compassion and vocation and aspiration.\u00a0\u00a0 Our ushers, lead by Mark Gray, and our hospitality ministry, lead by Ray Bouchard, need your help with invitation.\u00a0 Our student ministries, lead by Br Larry Whitney, need your help with compassion.\u00a0 Our vocational discernment program, lead by Revs Hessler and Quigley, need your help with vocation.\u00a0 Our global international ministry, lead by Rev. Brittany Longsdorf, and our musical ministry, lead by Dr. Jarrett, need your help with aspiration.\u00a0 There is on this little island of Marsh Chapel in the great sea of Boston University, an island of peace and safety, of challenge and inquiry, of thought and meditation, of decency and health, there is on this little of island of Marsh Chapel, a place for you, over these four years.<\/p>\n

Coda<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

This world is not going to get better only with the comforting aid of sentiment, feeling, emotion, and things of the heart.\u00a0 It will take a hard headed realism, and a hard minded love to transform this world.\u00a0 That is where you come in.\u00a0 When you write your history of John Wesley, summarize please his teaching in TULIP formula.\u00a0 The future, God\u2019s future, needs your mind:\u00a0 T. Something true. A heart for the heart of the city\u2014a longing to heal the spiritual culture of the land. U. Something universal. An interreligious setting.\u00a0 L. Something of lasting. \u00a0I. Something imaginative. A keen sense of imagination.\u00a0 P. Something personal.<\/p>\n

In the spirit I call you to love the Lord with all your mind.\u00a0 In conversation, memory, and exercise.\u00a0 If you have not had a real conversation once a day, you have missed something.\u00a0 If you have not memorized something once a week, you have missed a chance to be mindful.\u00a0 If you have walked along the sea shore, near Boston, once a month, you have missed the cleansing of the spirit.\u00a0 If you have walked down to the harbor and back to BU once a year, you have missed something.<\/p>\n

I can not speak to you if I have not spoken for you and I cannot speak for you if I have not spoken with you.\u00a0 To needs for and for needs with.<\/p>\n

From this day forward, will you love the Lord your God with all your mind?<\/p>\n

John and Charles Wesley did so in 1762.\u00a0 John Dempster did so by founding Boston University in 1839, just a few years later:\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n

Boston University, proud with mission sure<\/i><\/p>\n

Keeping the light of knowledge high, long to endure<\/i><\/p>\n

Treasuring the best of all that\u2019s old<\/i><\/p>\n

Searching out the new<\/i><\/p>\n

Our Alma Mater evermore<\/i><\/p>\n

Hail! BU!<\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

-The Rev. Dr. Robert Allen Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew 22: 34-40 Click here to hear the full service\u00a0 Click here to hear the sermon only \u2018Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and soul, and mind\u2019 (Matthew 22: 37) Preface In 1762, John and Charles Wesley opened a school in Kingswood, England.\u00a0 Charles wrote:\u00a0 \u2018unite the pair so long […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":948,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}