Across the Pastor’s Desk

By the Rev. Cherie Daniel, Freeborn Congregational United Church of Christ in Freeborn, Alden United Methodist Church in Alden, Grace United Methodist Church in Kiester

“Forbidden fruits create many a jam.” That’s a church bulletin board I read once in my travels. Made me smile. And made me think about how we learn to do or not to do something.

A church needed the ground broken for a new community garden. Time was short, laborers were occupied with their own gardens. How would the task be accomplished? I suggested this: show the youth in the confirmation class where the spades were, and tell the kids that under no circumstances were they to use them to dig up the back yard of the church. Guess what… Yes, the ground was tilled in no time!

Isn’t that one way we learn? Children (and adults with short attention spans) can only remember the last few words spoken to them. When we want children to stop moving so quickly in the fellowship hall during coffee hour, we tell them, “Don’t you dare run.” Children remember the last few words spoken to them — dare run. And so, they do.

A better instruction might have been: Stop. Walk. Two short, simple, straightforward, positive commands. They stop. They walk. They obey — at least for a while.

So, with that lesson in mind, I am always surprised at God’s instructions to the world in the words of the Ten Commandments. (You can find them in Exodus 20:1-17. I’ll use paraphrases in this article.) The first one is good: “You shall (positive word here) have no other gods.” From our lesson in listening, we think this is a pretty easy lesson to hear and to follow: No other gods. OK. Got it.

The second (and I apologize to all who count the 10 in different fashion: you will notice that there are 18 verses out of which we derive only 10 commandments. Of course various people and denominations are going to clump them together differently. Anyway, back to task.) The second commandment “You shall not make an idol.” Listening to just the last few words spoken, even good, faithful people hear make an idol. You know that on this Sunday you’ll hear your preacher speak about the idols we have made: money, power, sports, etc. We are not doing so well with this commandment.

The third is summarized “Do not take God’s name in vain.” How many of us swear, using the “G” word? How many of us in real life or on television respond to news with the phrase “Oh, my God!”? In texting abbreviations it is “omg.” Lower case “g.” Isn’t that still taking God’s name in vain? We’re not doing so well here, either.

Commandment four is a good one: “Remember the Sabbath. Keep it holy.” That’s positive. That’s short and easy to remember. Again, not one we’re so good about following, but the way it is presented means that it should work.

And then number five: “Honor your parents.” Again, short and easy to follow. There is even a reward for obeying this one.

But then we come to the last five, which are presented to us as an unthinking adult presents behavior modification to a preschooler. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not lie. You shall not covet. Here I have to remind myself to be humble. God knew what He was doing when these commandments were given to Moses and the people of Israel. Sometimes, you just have to be blunt and stop the bad behavior. No time for games and reverse psychology. And (I say this tongue in cheek) the longer versions wouldn’t fit on the tablet.

So, I suppose it is the task of the people of God to determine the more positive way of living out these commandments. The first part of the list of 10 has to do with respecting God’s authority and power. The last five in this list in particular are about respecting and affirming other human beings. We don’t want to hurt anyone! And so, how do we summarize the positive behaviors expected of the people of God toward God and toward each other? Easy. Jesus told us how when asked about the greatest commandments (from the Gospel of Mark 12:29-31).

“Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Hear that? Two short, straight, simple, positive commands. And the rewards are out of this world! Love, love, love.