Vicars Letter - 31 May 2024

Rev Emily Spence

​Kia ora All Saints,
 
Love God, love others. There, your summary of the Deuteronomy series we are in right now! In all seriousness, I am looking forward to journeying with you all through this series on a book that often seems confusing and outdated. I’ve been watching ‘The Chosen’ on Netflix this past week and have found it a moving depiction of some stories from the Gospels. I’m sure there are many ways to critique it but it does paint a good picture of the relationship between regular Jews, tax collectors, Pharisees and the Romans. This season weaves in the story of Nicodemus and his internal battle with recognising something in Jesus but finding it too challenging to leave behind his life of following and enforcing the Jewish Law. From our sermon last week, we learnt more about why the Law existed in the first place, and what the underlying message was, which was the part most Pharisees seemed to have missed. Love God, love others. This helps us to understand what it means for Jesus to have “fulfilled the Law and the Prophets” as he showed us in the most perfect sense what these commands mean and what God’s plan was for how His people should live all along.
 
Leaning into our value this year of ‘Authentic Community’, what is God saying to you this week? How can you love God and love others this week? By God’s grace, may we continually learn what it means to embody these commands more fully, and be the people of God whose blessing overflows to all the world.
 
Bless you all,
Emily