What is the Most Important Commandent?
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Introduction:
What do you love? A simple question, but really an important and essential question. If you think about it, what we love drives everything we do in life.
Just a few that come to mind: I love my wife, my kids, I love the church, Starbucks, books, Smoked Brisket and Beef Ribs, the pool in Palm Springs.
What we love is what gets us up in the morning.
What we love is what we think will give us happiness.
What we love is what we will sacrifice for.
What we love is what we will give our time, energy, and money for.
We have heard the phrase: you are what you eat and you are what you think. It is also true that you are what you love. What you love, is what you essentially worship.
“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god.” Martin Luther
You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit
That is the title of a Book I read this past week from a Christian Philosopher James Smith at Calvin College. And what he argues in this book is that true change does not happen with just what we think, but changing what we love.
To be human is to have a heart. You can’t not love. So the question isn’t whether you will love something as ultimate; the question is what you will love as ultimate. And you are what you love...You are what you love because you live toward what you want. James K. A. Smith
So true isn’t? Augustine said that love is like gravity. You will throw your weight to what you love.
If a young man falls in love, he will throw his money to go on dates. He will buy flowers and dinner for the woman he is in love with.
He will begin to even change some of his habits. He will shower and maybe buy nice clothes to win the love of the woman.
He will even begin liking things that he never would like if he were single in order to impress the girl.
Love has a powerful and transforming effect because what we love is what we believe will bring us happiness and joy.
It can be a person, but it can be something immaterial. It could be a sport. Athletes will give money to buy necessary sport equipment or training. They will watch videos of people they admire. They will sacrifice their time and bodies in order to be the best athlete they can be.
Maybe because it is the joy of winning an NBA championship. The recognition that comes with it. The legacy that comes with it. The money and the promise of a certain lifestyle.
Maybe its to look a certain way. You will give your money to facial treatments. You will pay more money to eat a certain way. You will pay for a gym membership. You throw your weight to what you love.
All that is to say is that we will give ourselves to what we love.
Transition:
And in today’s passage, we deal with what should be our greatest love as a scribe comes up to Jesus and ask what is the most important and greatest commandment of all. And the greatest commandment has to do with what we love most. Two questions from our text this morning:
I. What is the Most Important Commandment of All?
II. How Do We Keep the Commandment?
Recap
As you remember, Jesus has been in controversial dialogue with the religious leaders of his day. The Sanhedrin. He first was questioned on his authority. The Pharisees and Herodians tried to trap him with a political question on paying taxes to Caesar. The Sadduccees tried to trap him with a theological question on the Resurrection as we studied last time.
And in this story, one of the Scribes from the Pharisees, it seems to me he is not as hostile from the previous groups, ask a question about the most important commandment in all of Scripture? And we will see that the most important commandment has to do what we should love most.
Let’s read our Scripture this morning found in Mark 12:28-34.
Scripture Reading:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And 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.” And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 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, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
I. What is the Most Important Commandment? (vv. 28-31)
I. What is the Most Important Commandment? (vv. 28-31)
You know great teachers are those who know how to complex subjects and ideas and simplify them. It is true even of preaching. And wise scribes in Jesus time, would be able to take the complex and simplify it for everyone else.
A. The Question (v. 28)
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
Matthew tells us that this was from the group of the Pharisees. He was a teacher of the Law and a Lawyer. Lawyers are those who interpret legal matters. And Scribes were those who interpreted the legal matters of the Torah. These were trained and highly educated men. They were highly respected in the community.
This Scribe overhears the conversation and disputes with Jesus, and now he wants to give a shot at it.
According to the Jews, the believed that the OT prescribed at least 613 laws. The prophets and the rest of the writings were just an interpretation was how to fulfill the laws.
The questions of what commandments were “heavy” or “light” was much discussed. The rabbis counted 613 different commandments, 365 negatives and 248 positive. But their comparative importance was much debated. Hiebert
We make distinctions in laws don’t we. There is a difference between stealing bubble gum at a 7-11 versus stealing money at a bank. Both are a violation of thou shall not steal, but one carries heavier ramifications and consequences.
The New International Greek Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Mark The Greatest Commandment (12:28–34)
The rabbis discussed which commandments were ‘heavy’ and which ‘light’, and sometimes ranked certain categories of law as more essential than others.
Is feeding your ox a violation of the Sabbath? What if you need to take your ox to your neighbor’s house, is that considered work? These scribes helped answer those questions.
It appears to me that this man was sincere even by responding to Jesus saying that he answered well in his disputes with the religious leaders and even in his response afterwards.
Rabbi’s use to love these questions and those who would reply simply demonstrated their wisdom. Just a few Rabbi’s from Jesus time for example:
Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Mark (Revised Edition) Love for God and Love for Men
Hillel was once asked by a proselyte to instruct him in the whole law while he stood on one leg. Hillel’s answer was, “What thou hatest for thyself, do not to thy neighbour. This is the whole law, the rest is commentary. Go and learn.” Akiba had already said, “‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’—this is the greatest, general principle in the law.” Simon the Righteous had said, “On three things stands the world—on the law, on the worship, and on works of love.”
B. The Twofold Reply
Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
The most important, or that which ranks highest or even in priority is this:
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One
This was the famous Shema, the Hebrew word for listen or hear. This was the confession of the Jewish people. Just like we recited the Lord’s prayer or the Apostle’s Creed, every Pious Jew was raised to recite the Shema found in directly in Deuteronomy 6 both morning and evening.
Monotheism and Exclusivity
Notice that in this confession that there is One God and exclusive devotion is required.
I know some today don’t like to hear that there is One God. That is so exclusive and intolerant. We need to be more inclusive of all faiths.
But what if I told you, I don’t love just one woman, I love all woman. That would be terrible and actually hatred towards my spouse.
I am in covenant with her. I take her to be my wife. And because I’m in covenant with her, I am exclusively devoted to her and not to others.
And that was the same of Israel. Israel was in a covenant relationship with God because he saved them and delivered them from slavery. And because they were in relationship with Him, they were not to worship other gods but only worship the One True God.
Christianity and Jesus affirms what Jews affirm: Monotheism and Exclusive Worship.
New Testament II: Mark (Revised) Overview
To confess the one true God is to renounce all false gods (ORIGEN). If the Lord of all fills all things in heaven and earth, then there is no room left for a second supposed god (ATHANASIUS).
Christian—Jesus responds with Scripture. He trusts the authority of Scripture. Scripture was his go to response when in dialogue with others. Is that our posture?
But it is not only enough to affirm there is One God and be devoted to Him, we must love him Supremely.
Loving God Supremely.
And 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.’
It is a command. You can either obey it or disobey it. It is a command to love God with your whole being. Notice that all’s in that statement: ALL your heart, ALL your soul, All your mind, All your strength.
In other words, the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all of your being. It is love God with everything you got. It is to love him with your whole person.
All your heart....
“Heart” (καρδία) commonly means the seat of physical, spiritual, and mental life (BDAG, 508) and so overlaps considerably with both “soul” Mark Strauss
Heart is not a body organ, but the control center of your life. The real you.
All your soul...
The word is Pysuche where we get the word psychology.
All your mind...
Jesus adds this to the Deuteronomy passage. We don’t love God with our emotions, but check out and tune out our minds. The mind refers to the thinking, comprehending, reasoning faculty of the person.
We Christians need to be thinking. We need to be learning. We need to be growing our minds in the things of Scripture.
A weakness of the church today is its biblical ignorance and lack of learning. Even though we have access to resources they would never imagined, we are more ignorant because of the competing information with everything else.
All your strength...
Love him with your strength, actions, and will.
See, the command here is not to love God for one hour and thirty minutes on a Sunday morning, but to live all of life to the Glory of God.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Christianity is not something you can turn on and off like a light switch. If you are not worshipping him during the week, Sunday is going to be boring and dull to you.
Those who present to God a few moments worship in church once a week while ignoring God in the rest of life—at work, at home, at play—will suffer from a religious schizophrenia. Those who try to straddle the fence by allotting God only token love while maintaining a friendship with the world are doomed to be frustrated in this world and doomed in the world to come. With God, it is all or nothing. Love cannot be tithed like money.
Garland, David E.. Mark (The NIV Application Commentary Book 2) (p. 483). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
I can’t just love my wife or children one day of the week. Love is all-encompassing.
Love your Neighbor as yourself.
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
If you truly love God, then it will be expressed in how you treat others. Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus is directly quoting from Leviticus. 19:18
Who is your neighbor?
Jesus gave the Parable of the Good Samaritan who helped a man who was robbed. Your neighbor is anyone in proximity to you who is in need. You are not called to change the world or fix the political system, or whatever injustice the world is facing. You are called to love the person in front of you who is in need.
The standard of how is as you love yourself.
No one needs to train or educate you on how to love yourself. We already love ourselves too much! I get a Starbucks in the the morning because I love myself.
We post things on social media because, let’s be honest, we love ourselves and love the affirmation.
We ALREADY love ourselves.
We take care of ourselves. We buy the food we love for ourselves. We go on trips to enjoy ourselves. We treat ourselves already.
Paul tells husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies.
In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
Our culture doesn’t have a problem with loving ourselves. We already do. Our problem is we love ourselves too much.
But the way you love yourself is the standard by which you are to love your neighbor.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Christian: This is our purpose in life: to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength, to love our neighbor as ourselves. This is the story of the OT summarized in two sentences with Jesus.
Christian: True love will be inconvenient. True love will be costly. Look at your life. Have you ever been inconvenience for someone else’s good? Love is messy, but love will also display action.
Every time I get in an argument with my wife, I try to appease her by say I love you honey. You know what she tells me: show me.
Mark Dever, Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, tells young guys regularly in his church saying: Listen, it’s great that you love to read the puritans and Calvin, and read Grudem’ Systematic Theology, but if you are never willing to wake up early in the morning and drive the elderly lady to church, I’m not sure if you are a Christian.
Love is organizing the chairs. Love is delivering food to the family that just had a baby. Love looks like going to riverside and buying prepackaged communion cups. Love looks like sanitizing those cups before you got here. Love looks like weeping with those who have lost loved ones and sending them a card or text. Love looks like giving money to a member or to the church even though you are uncertain of the future. Love looks like taking care of children while I can preach. Love looks like wiping chairs after service. Love looks like a wearing a mask.
Non-Member Christian: I’m not sure how you can fulfill the one another commands if you are not a member of a local church. Membership is a commitment to love real life people with real names and real faces. You can’t say you love people, but don’t do anything for God’s people in front of you.
This is the parable of the Sheep and Goats. What you did to the least of these, these brothers and sisters, of mine, you did to me.
Join a church if you are serious about obeying Jesus command to love one another.
Non-Christian: You cannot truly love someone else if you don’t have your order of priorities right. Love for neighbor assumes you love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.
Jesus summarized the Law and the Prophets in this phrase: love God and love neighbors. What a wise teacher.
Transition: That is the Most Important Commandment....but secondly…how do we keep the Most Important Commandment…notice the Scribes reply....
II. How Do We Keep It? (vv. 32-34)
II. How Do We Keep It? (vv. 32-34)
And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.
You are right teacher. He is quoting directly from Deuteronomy.
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, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
The Scribe doesn’t use the word soul and mind, but with understanding. And He says to Jesus, this is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
God is concerned about the Heart
We hear echoes of this phrase from the life of Samuel the Prophet rebuking Saul.
And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
The Prophets would often rebuke the people by doing the external things, but not doing it from the heart.
“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.
Christian—You can sing and be sinning in your heart if your heart is not singing. You can serve God externally, but internally be far away from Him. I can preach a sermon because it is my job, rather than because I love God. We must be careful to evaluate the motives of our hearts.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
Man’s supreme duty toward God is moral, not ceremonial. Hiebert
You Are Not Far From the Kingdom
Notice Jesus’ reply to this scribe.
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
He responded wisely. You are not far from the kingdom. Let me as you a question, not far from being the kingdom, is it being in the kingdom.
Those two phrases are different. You can be near God, but not truly in fellowship with God. You can be near the church, but not really in the Church. You can be near Christ, but not really in Christ. That is a world of difference.
The man was close, but not close enough. Close, yet so far away. It was like the story of the Rich Young Ruler. He thought that if anyone was surely in, he would be it. Until Jesus revealed his heart that his heart was really controlled by a love of money.
How many people on that Day will be near, but not in. It is a scary reality that we must examine.
Because Jesus is saying to us it is not enough to have a intellectual and cerebral understanding of this passage, but we must have our loves reordered. Or to uses Kris sermon last week, there must be follow through. You must follow through with your commitment to Christ.
God does not rest satisfied with the outward appearance of works, but chiefly demands the inward feelings, that from a good root good fruits may grow. Calvin
Two Ways to Look at the Passage
I CAN DO IT.
One way to approach this passage is say: great I can do it. In other words, it is to keep this commandment and keep the Law. I just need to muster up will power and love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself and I’m sure I will be in the kingdom.
I CAN’T DO IT.
The other approach is to see that I can’t do it. In other words, I have already failed to love God with all my heart and soul and mind and my neighbor as myself before I got to church this morning!
Instead of waking up with a thankful heart, I woke up with a grumbling heart.
Instead of going to the Scriptures, I went to my phone to see what latest news there is because social media because that is where you find good news right?
Instead of of being patient with my kids, I was yelling at them rushing them to get to church on time.
Christians know that there is a gap from knowing something and doing something.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!
And I think that is true of this Scribe. He knew that Jesus answered rightly. He knew that Jesus spoke truly.
But it is not enough to know the truth. You must love the truth. You must be changed and follow through with the truth.
Those who are Near: You can be near church and not in church. You can be near Christ and not in Christ. Maybe you come to church because this is what your family has always done. Maybe you come to church because your friends are here. Maybe you come to church because you grew up hearing the things of God. But when you get down to it, you really get excited more about the next release of the latest video game than you do Jesus. You really get excited with going to the Mall than going to Church. You really get happy when your have a lot of money in your bank account. What do you love.
Because the truth is: there is no one who has loved God supremely and loved their neighbor as themselves.
I have been doing my devotions in Deuteronomy and before he dies and Israel crosses into the promised Land, notice what the Lord says to Moses.
And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will forsake me and break my covenant that I have made with them. Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us?’ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.
Then Moses tells the people...
“Take this Book of the Law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them. For I know that after my death you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And in the days to come evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”
You read from Adam, to Israel, to these Religious Leaders, even the disciples as they were bickering with one another about who would be the greatest as Jesus would go to the cross to die.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
You see the Old Covenant could not deal with the people’s hearts. God would need a new covenant to remove a heart of stone to provide a heart of flesh. We need dead hearts to live. We need new hearts to keep this commandment because we cannot keep it our own.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
And this new covenant would only happen through the One who did love God supremely and neighbor as Himself.
Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, humbled Himself to become a man. He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it for those who could not fulfill it on their own.
The supreme display of Jesus’ love for His Father was his willingness to be a sacrifice for the sins of His People and the satisfaction of God’s Holy justice and and display of His Righteous Love.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
His love for God and neighbor conquered sin, death, and Satan himself by rising again from the grave to make enemies of God into friends of God. To make those once outside of the covenant, to those inside the covenant promises as children of the living God with new hearts that love God and love others.
Non-Christian—We don’t get to heaven by works or Law Keeping. But by trusting the Law-Keeper who fulfilled the demands of the Law so that we who are in Christ would no longer live by the letter of the Law, but by the Spirit of the Law by which He has given us in His Holy Spirit. Repent and trust in the One who did love God with all his heart soul and mind.
Christian—The essence of sin is a disordered love. We love the wrong things over the right things. We love the things of God more than God Himself. We love ourselves more than we love God.
And the essence of faith is God reordering our loves to love Him because He first loved us and to love our neighbors because He loved us.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Faith in Christ allows us to love God freely and allows us to love others freely.
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Love and Do as you like—Augustine
The Scribe knew Jesus as a great teacher. But He did not know Him as His Savior and Lord. Only when you embrace and come to Christ as Savior and Lord, can you be in the kingdom and not outside of the kingdom.
And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Look to Christ who can reorder your loves. And train yourself and your habits to reorder your loves.
Church—This is why we gather as a church right? To be reminded of the love of God. To stimulate one another to good works.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Church—The Lord gave us sacraments of Baptism and Communion to visibly see His Love. This is why it is so important to practice these sacred ordinances to be reminded of his love for us.
Church—This is why we need to regularly hear God’s Word preached rightly to be reminded of His love for us in Christ.
Church—This is why we need to serve one another in love, because if we love God, we will serve one another, our neighbors, and the lost because we have been love.
We get changed by not just information, but seeing Christ in his love for us. That is why the Christian life is repetitive, because we are training ourselves to love the right things and hate the wrong things.
Summary: What is the Most Important Commandment of All?
It is to love God supremely and love your neighbor as yourself.
The Ten Commandments are essentially boils down to these two commandments.
Jesus said that the whole law and the prophets hang on these two.
And Paul boiled it down to One:
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
You will truly love your neighbor as yourself if you love God with all your heart soul mind and strength.
2. The only way to fulfill the commandment is by having faith in the One who already did through his death on the cross and resurrection from the grave to grant us new hearts to love him above else.
The greatest gift of the gospel is God himself to borrow a phrase from Piper. God is the Gospel. When we understand His love for us; it transforms us to be the type of people who love God with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength and love our neighbors as ourselves.
Conclusion:
I have taken a personal hobby during this pandemic. I am learning the piano. I need to practice where playing piano becomes second nature to me and its fun. It is repetitive to practice. But I hope that in practicing and repeating, piano will become natural to me.
That is true in the Christian life as we take our cross and follow me. As we engage in the rhythms of discipleship, and living as a Church, we are training ourselves to love the things of God and love others.
Calvin said that the Church is the gymnasium of the soul and the disciple of Christ.
If you are what you love, and love is a habit, and love is a habit, then discipleship is a re habituation of your loves.
“Worship is not primarily a venue for innovative creativity but a place of discerning reception and faithful repetition.” 78.
The church—the body of Christ—is the place where God invites us to renew our loves, reorient our desires, and retrain our appetites. 65
As we live the Christian life, we continue to practice the disciplines to see that God’s commands are not burdensome, but because we are so in love with God, that it is a joy to serve God and others because we are so fully immersed in his love. And others would come to know Christ by our love for one another.
So may that be us. People who love God supremely and love others because we have been loved by God in Christ.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Closing Prayer:
Our Almighty Father in Heaven and Most Merciful God,
We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name