Lent 3 | Exodus 20:1-21 (with Nick Locke)

Opening Song:
The Greatest Commandment by Paul Zach

Lyrics:
Love the Lord your God
With all your heart and soul and mind
And love your neighbor as yourself

Let us be known let us be known
By the way we love

Love love love the greatest commandment is
Love love love the greatest commandment is
Love love love the greatest commandment is (love)

Passage:
Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
3 Do not have other gods besides me.
4 Do not make an idol for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, 6 but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.
7 Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God, because the Lord will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: 9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work ​— ​you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates. 11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13 Do not murder.
14 Do not commit adultery.
15 Do not steal.
16 Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

18 All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram’s horn, and the mountain surrounded by smoke. When the people saw it they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 “You speak to us, and we will listen,” they said to Moses, “but don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

20 Moses responded to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you will fear him and will not sin.” 21 And the people remained standing at a distance as Moses approached the total darkness where God was. -- Exodus 20:1-21 (CSB)
Musical Reflection:

O Lord, Hear My Prayer by Jacques Berthier
Reflection Notes:

This song from the Taizé community contains a series of pleas: “O Lord, hear my prayer, O Lord, hear my prayer; when I call, answer me.” The repeated notes emphasize the insistence of the sung prayer, while the descending lines indicate a deep, almost despairing desire to connect.

Prayer:
Father, what we know not, teach us; what we have not, give us; what we are not, make us; for the sake of your Son our Savior. Amen.
-Old Anglican Prayer