St George's Cathedral, Cape Town

A sermon preached by the Very Reverend Rowan Smith at Evensong in the Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr on 14 February 2010

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might ..." Deuteronomy 6 v 4

Now is that not amazing? On this day, 14 February, as the world around us keeps Valentine's Day, we should have at Evensong, words that are at the heart of the Jewish faith called the Shemah. So too for Our Lord Jesus, this commandment of God would have been known as the bedrock of his faith – the command to love God with every aspect of our being. While it is true that the observance of Valentine's day, has very little to do with love but much more with exploitation of feelings and abuse of the word love. What the Shemah calls forth is a love that is not expressed in roses, chocolates or teddy-bears, but with:
      "... your heart, your soul, your might ..."

And we are to remind ourselves of this command constantly:
      "recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you be down and when you rise ..." v 7

This is because not only is there no measure to God's love for us but we too may forget God and make for ourselves idols, paying homage at the altars of status, pride, power and lust. And the responsibility to keep the commandment is even greater for upon ourselves as Christians because we have seen and known that love in the person of Jesus Christ. We do not have to bind this commandment on our hand or fix it as an emblem on our forehead and write them on the doorposts of our houses or our gates. That is because as St Paul's says
      "... God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5 v 5

What a wonderful gift to receive on Valentine's day, far greater than roses, chocolates or teddy-bears; far greater than any love we may have known or given to another. That love which is also symbolised by a cross but an upright one – the cross that embraces each one of us with unfathomable love, a love that not even death can destroy. It is so important to be able to receive this gift from God to us through the Holy Spirit. But we are reminded in the New Testament Lesson tonight that this love, symbolised by a cross, also comes at a cost. And Jesus prepares us in the Gospel for what lies ahead of us in the season of Lent. First he reminds us of the meaning of our discipleship:
      "... who do you say that l am?" Luke 8 v 20

This calls forth a personal commitment from each one of us – who do you say Jesus is, and our response is not simply a matter of words, but the commitment of our whole being:
      "... heart and soul and might ..."

Nothing less and we have been given the power to respond in this way through the working power of the Holy Spirit who dwells, abides in each one of us. Then Our Lord goes on to draw us into a deeper expression of that love – it means to       "... take up their cross daily and follow me ..." v 23

Our Lord Jesus gives us a choice
      "If any want to become my followers ..."
and so there is no hidden agenda. Thus love, expressed in discipleship means denying ourselves, losing our life to find it, and realizing that there is no profit in gaining the whole word but we lose or forfeit our true selves. And Jesus speaks here from experience, as we shall hear in the Gospel next Sunday, when Satan offers him all the authority and glory of the world:
      "If you then will worship me, it will be all yours." Luke 4 v 6f

And as simple as that! Is that not what could so easily destroy our nation? These temptations continue to haunt us also and we are all vulnerable in our desire to be in control or loved or to feel important. Not only in the State but in the Church also we are faced with this temptation to want to gain the world. How much of the debate in our Anglican Communion today and the threats of expulsion of those who are unable to sign a Covenant, is really about authority and power and how Scripture is to be interpreted? (And notice next Sunday how in the Gospel even the devil quotes Scripture) For those who want to follow Jesus, there is only one way, and that is the way of love, the way of the cross. Whatever we may decide these next two days with respect to our personal Lenten discipline, let our decision arise out of our desire to:
      "... love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."

Yes, Jesus warns us that it will be costly and the forty days of Lent will seem like a heavy cross to bear, but all the while remember that God is at work in us to do and will his good pleasure (Phil 2 v 13). That is the grace that finds itself expressed in the deepening of our spirituality for in prayer we enter into the heart of love. Prayer is indeed, love in search for a word and the Word is that which dwells among us full of grace and truth. "Be my Valentine this Lent", says God and by grace we respond:
      "Lord it is my chief complaint
      That my love is weak and faint
      Yet l love thee and adore,
      O for grace to love thee more." (AMR 344)

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