Great Plains Daily Devotional for 6/25/2019

Mark 12:28-34 

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” 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.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

Camp Chippewa, our Great Plains camping site near Ottawa, Kansas, is one of my favorite places on earth. I have been going there every year of my life since I was 6 years old. As an itinerate pastor in the Great Plains Conference, I like to think of Camp Chippewa as one of my anchors in life.
 
I recently had the great honor to teach this scripture to our summer campers at Camp Chippewa. We talked about all the rules of life, rules of camp, and rules in general. Kids know a lot about rules. In this text, Jesus is asked by one of the scribes which commandment is the “first of all?” and Jesus answers with Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — the Shema -- and then adds an addendum— “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
 
The campers and I decided that there are always going to be a lot of rules in life but Jesus asks us to remember these two commandments above all the other rules.

Prayer for Reflection

1 Kings 19:1-15a
Psalm 42
Galations 3:23-29
Luke 8:26-39