Lastly we arrive at the wellness dimension of the physical body, our strength and our capacity to bounce back from the demands of stress.
Traditionally, there are 613 commandments in the Torah. 613.
So, which is the most important? “Thou shalt not kill” seems pretty important. But (no offense), “Thou shalt not touch a dead rat” seems pretty trivial (that’s Leviticus 11:29).
Even among the most important commandments, it’s an interesting question. Is it most important that a Jewish man be circumcised? Or is it most important that he keep the Sabbath? Are the religious rites like holy days and sacrifices most important, or are legal commandments like not stealing more important, or are ethical commandments like giving to charity more important?
Imagine the fight you might get into if someone asked you, “As a Unitarian Universalist, which of the seven principles is the most important?” Let’s start a fight now, who thinks the first principle is the most important? Raise your hand.
No. Don’t do it.
In Jesus’ time, according to the way the story is told in the Gospels, people who resented Jesus’ influence were constantly trying to find ways to sabotage him. One strategy was to ask him difficult questions that would trap him into offending somebody whichever way he answered. But Jesus always found a creative way to answer that got him out of the trap. They asked him, “Should we pay our taxes when we know Washington, er, I mean Rome, will use the money to support programs that violate our prinicples?” Jesus answered, “Who’s picture is that on the back of the coins? Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and to God what belongs to God.” They asked him a question about a woman who married a man with six brothers. One by one each man died and the woman each time married one of the others, until eventually she had married all seven of them. So in Heaven, they ask, who is she married to? Jesus answered, “Angels don’t get married.”
So having heard Jesus respond to those questions, one more guy comes up and tries one more question. Here’s the story, according to the Gospel of Mark (Mark 12:28-31)
“One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘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 mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Matthew and Luke tell the same story. And in Matthew, Jesus adds the phrase, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:40).
So Jesus avoids the trap. He finds a commandment, or two commandments, actually, that he says, encompass all the others. “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 mind and with all your strength.” That comes from Deuteronomy 6. The first part is called the Shema, which observant Jews repeat twice a day during morning and evening prayers. “She-ma yisrael, adonai eloheinu, adonai echad.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself” Jesus quotes from Leviticus 19.
Christians call this the double love commandment. Love God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. It’s really a triple love commandment though, because you’re commanded to love three things: God, your neighbor, and yourself.
Now to say that all of the law and the prophets is included in a single commandment to love God, neighbor and self, Jesus must mean love not the almighty person of God, but rather, love the universal values, which the word “god” represents. It’s a commandment we can follow regardless of our theology. Love the ethical principles of order, and family, and reciprocity, and fairness, and kindness, forebearance, forgiveness, charity, and so on, which all of those 613 commandments derive from. “Love unrestrained, without hate or enmity.” Let your life be led by love for yourself and your neighbor and by the most expansive kind of love you can feel. Love with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, so that the entirety of your life becomes firmly and squarely aligned with love-filled living.
Ethical living is not merely thinking good thoughts divorced from action. Ethical living is not merely practicing a series of ritual behaviors divorced from understanding. Ethical living is not performing good deeds, but with contempt in your heart. Ethical living is not following commandments because they are written in a book, but rather because they are written in your soul.
So the commandment is not “Love!” The commandment is, love with all your heart, all your soul, all your heart, all your strength.
To be well, to create a healthy life, all four components must be attended to.
Wellness of the Mind. A life that aligns with our values, and a well organized life that plans ahead and focuses on the meaningful things rather than simply the most urgent things.
Wellness of the Heart. We feel our emotions fully, but don’t let our emotions overwhelm us. We enjoy relationships that encourage the free expression of our authentic selves, but also holds us in nurturing connections based on mutual responsibility and accountability.
Wellness of the Soul. We follow a holistic, ecstatic and intentional spiritual practice, and belong to a spiritual community, such as this one.
We looked at those three over the last two weeks. Today we pick up the other aspect of wellness of the soul having to do with rest and play and look as well at wellness of the body.
All your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
Dr. Scott Stoner, whose work he calls The Living Compass I’ve been relying on for this sermon series, puts “rest and play” under the compass point of wellness of the soul.
I talked a few months ago about the importance of Sabbath. That, in any period of work a portion should be set aside for rest and play. Five to ten minutes out of every hour during your work day. One or two days out of every week. A three-day weekend out of every month. A month out of every year, if you can get it. I like to consider July as the Sabbath month in the Unitarian Universalist church year.
Studies show that the average American only took about half of the vacation time that they earned in the previous year.
A study a few years ago concluded that lack of sleep is as bad for our physical health as is smoking. Lack of sleep increases risk of heart disease and diabetes, and causes short-term mental health impairment equivalent to being drunk. Leading neurologists tell us all, “Go back to bed.”
Here’s what Dr. Stoner says:
“The biggest deficit in many people’s lives right now is not money, but time. Telling people how busy you are has become a badge of honor in our culture. We are moving so fast at times that we forget how important rest and play are to our wholeness.
Here are some questions to help you assess your satisfaction with this aspect of your life:
•How often do you play?
•What were the attitudes of your family of origin about play?
•How do you play?
•Do you play alone or with others? Whom?
•Do you take time to recreate every week or weekend?
•Do you take all of your vacation?
•Do you truly re-create on your vacation?
•Do you have hobbies that you enjoy?
•Is your play re-creative – specify how?
•Do you get enough sleep on a regular basis?
Under the category of Wellness of the Body, Dr. Stoner isn’t talking about strength in terms of how many pounds you can lift, but in terms of resilience. When something challenging comes up in your life, how quickly are you able to bounce back from the stress?
We think about stress as an emotion caused by stressful situations. But stress reselience isn’t under wellness of the heart; it’s under wellness of the body. Stress is not an emotion it’s a collection of physical symptoms. The good news is that stress is a physical response to situations, a response that we can learn to control.
When I get stressed, I get a rash that shows up across my belly. In fact sometimes seeing the rash is the first time I notice that I actually am under stress. Seeing that rash, then, gives me a signal to take care of myself. Other stress symptoms some people have are headaches, chronic pain – meaning pain that isn’t related to a specific event or injury; getting sick easily because your immune system is weak, insomnia at night or lack of energy during the day. Some people lose their appetite when they feel stress (that’s me) other people over eat when they feel stress. Rapid heartbeat or shortness of breath can feel like a heart attack. Stress can also result in feeling short of temper, unusual irritability, and mis-directed anger.
How should we respond to stress when we feel it, or prepare ourselves for stressful situations we know are coming?
Physical exercise is crucial. Going to the gym is part of my spiritual practice. And going hiking when I have a few days off work.
Go to the doctor for regular check-ups.
Get your teeth cleaned.
Eating well, of course. Meaning both more of the nutritious stuff and less of the junk. Also notice why you eat, are you eating because you’re hungry, or because you’re feeling a stress response? For the first 200,000 years or so of human existence our species faced the problem of too few calories and too little information. For the last 50 years or so our problem is too many calories and too much information.
Turn off the phone. Close the laptop. Turn off the TV. Go to bed. Most people need 7 to 9 hours every night. I’m a 9 hour guy.
The church has been a stressful place for many of us the last year or so.
The death last summer of your previous Director of Music, Allan Lafoe.
The sudden resignation a year ago of your previous minister, Mitra Rahnema, immediately following her return from sabbatical. The circumstances of that resignation added to the stress that would have been felt with any loss.
Resignation also of your previous Office Administrator a year ago, and our Director of Lifespan Religious Education last March. We said a grateful but reluctant goodbye to our retiring Membership Coordinator in May.
The Personnel Committee and I made some decisions about the music positions at the church that resulted in saying goodbye to our previous music staff in June. The Worship Committee and I, mostly me, introduced several changes to our standard liturgy and our order of service, that I know have not been welcomed by all of you.
Earlier this year the congregation was forced to respond to the disturbing behavior of a church member, repeated instances of behavior that most of us considered beyond the acceptable boundaries of a church community. Unfortunately, the Board’s action to suspend the church member failed to encourage her to address her behavior and instead resulted in several weeks of increasing harassment of the church. Most of us felt weeks of anxiety torn between sympathy for a woman who was clearly suffering, and the need to care for the institution of our church and the safety of church members and staff who felt threatened.
And then in June, just to add one more stressor to the list, a water pipe burst in the church office, flooded the back of the office and for two months now staff has been working out of a disrupted office, while church volunteers have spent numerous hours dealing with insurance, making office redesign decisions and interviewing contractors.
It’s not unusual that you might be feeling symptoms of stress.
I’m sorry.
And I’m sorry, I can’t say it’s going to ease up any time soon. Nearly all of those situations that I just listed still require some response from the church. Those stressors are not only behind us, they are also still ahead of us. We have practical work to do for instance about repairing the church office. We have grief and mourning work to do around the several losses we’ve experienced. We have work of forgiveness to do and re-building trust within our community.
And we have new work to do as well, new business of the church year around issues of governance, leadership, mission, communications, policies, planning for a District Assembly, and preparing for the search for your new settled minister.
So let us, “not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Not beg for the stilling of pain, but for the heart to conquer it. To be our own strength.”
“Gathered here, in one strong body.”
“Blessed Spirit of my life, give me strength through stress and strife;
help me live with dignity; let me know serenity.
Fill me with a vision, clear my mind of fear and confusion.
When my thoughts flow restlessly, let peace find a home in me.”
May it be so.