Thomas J Parlette
“The Central Pillars of our Faith”
Deuteronomy 6: 1-9
11/03/24
I’m sure you remember seeing the video footage from March 26th, 2024. A massive ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, and the bridge tumbled into the river.
The disaster occurred when the enormous container ship MV Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridges central pillars, sending people and cars and trucks plummeting into the cold, dark Patapsco River in the middle of the night. Six members of a road construction crew working the night shift were killed in the accident.
The chilling video showed the bridge quickly collapsing moments after impact. Keep in mind that the MV Dali was 984 feet long – approximately the length of 3 football fields.
Lights on the ship flashed off and on before the accident, suggesting that an electrical problem caused the crew to lose control of the vessel. The FBI quickly opened an investigation into the whether the crew departed from the port knowing that the ship had serious systems problems, and the U.S. attorney for Maryland was quick to release a statement that “we will seek accountability for anyone who may be responsible.”
According to CNN, the bridge was 1.6 miles long and was a critical link in the Baltimore Beltway, a travel route for 30,000 commuters a day. In addition, it soared over a channel that gave ships access to Baltimore – the 9th largest port in the country for international cargo. The collapse deposited tons and steel and concrete into the water, suspending commercial shipping for weeks. (1)
Without its central pillars, the Francis Scott Key Bridge could not stand.
In the sixth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses describes God as the strongest pillar of our faith: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” Moses is calling us to trust in the one true God, the almighty power who loves us and desires that we experience fullness of life. Moses predicts that if the Israelites observe the commandments, the laws of God, it will go well with them, and they will multiply in the land that has been promised to them.
The same is true for us. The good news of this passage is that Almighty God desires to work for good in our lives, just as the pillars of the Francis Scott Key Bridge supported 30,000 commuters every day. Decrees, commandments and laws are given for our benefit, to structure our lives in life-giving ways. Just as driving over a bridge would be dangerous without guardrails and lane markers – our lives would become chaotic without the ordering of God’s laws. Commandments are meant to be helpful to us, not oppressive.
Notice that Moses says, “Hear, O Israel.” Particularly important is the verb “hear,” or in Hebrew “Shema.” Hearing is critical to the life of faith, even more important than seeing, as Paul noted in Romans, “faith comes from what is heard.”
Tim Mackie, writing for BibleProject.com, says, “Hear, O Israel,” does not simply mean to let sound waves enter your ears. Here, the word “Shema” means to allow the words to sink in, provide understanding, and generate a response – it’s about action. In Hebrew, hearing and doing are the same thing.”
“Much like listening, biblical love is about action. You “ahavah”, love, someone when you act in loyalty and faithfulness. For Israel, loving means faithful obedience to the terms of their covenant relationship with Yahweh.” (2) Loving means following the law.
We are challenged to hear that the “Lord is our God, the Lord alone.” When the word “LORD” is written in all caps, it is code for the personal name for Israel’s God: YHWH. Since this name is regarded by many Jews as being too sacred to be pronounced, the word “LORD” is said whenever YHWH appears. It is YHWH, the personal God of Israel, who forms the pillar of our faith.
As Moses says, the LORD is our God, the LORD alone.” Nothing could be stronger.
Unfortunately, there are many other so-called gods who present themselves as pillars. All of them are counterfeit gods, but still, we fall in love with them. Timothy Keller, a Presbyterian minister and author of the book Counterfeit Gods, defines an idol as “anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God.” (3)
Pastor Henry Brinton writes that “In Washington DC, the idol of power draws politicians and their supporters away from compromise. On Wall Street, success tempts brokers and investors to value profits over people. In Hollywood, the focus on beauty creates a standard of physical perfection that is impossible for most people to achieve.” (4)
These are attractive pillars, no doubt about it. All of them, in their own way, promise us great rewards. But they do not provide the eternal support of the Lord our God. When the pillars of power, success, and beauty get knocked over, our lives can fall apart in tragic ways.
Next, Moses gives the commandment to love the Lord. This is a bold new approach, one that goes on to become central to both Judaism and Christianity. “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might,” says Moses. Jesus later referenced this verse as the first part of his great commandment that we heard in Mark today. With this commandment comes the challenge of giving priority to God, much in the way that we give priority to the people we love – spouses, children, relatives, friends and neighbors. Love is a much stronger bond and obligation than respect, duty or affection.
Love is how we protect the pillar and build our lives around it. It is “the first and greatest commandment,” says the Bible professor Elizabeth Achtemeier. “It forms the central requirement given in Deuteronomy’s sermons to the people of God.” (5) If our love for God is undermined, our relationship with God quickly collapses, leaving enormous pain and destruction behind.
Perhaps you’ve seen the show Breaking Bad. The central character is a chemistry teacher named Walter White, who always claimed he loved his family. After being diagnosed with cancer, he built a drug empire on the belief that he needed to provide for his wife and children. But even a noble thing such as love for family can cause death and destruction if it replaces love for God. At one point, Walter’s wife says, “Someone has to protect this family from the man who protects this family.” (6)
Moses reminds us that the “LORD is our God, the LORD alone,” and he challenges us to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” If we allow counterfeit gods to take the place of the one LORD God, we will find ourselves without the strong support we need for life. And if we allow ourselves to love anything more than God, we will find ourselves failing in tragic fashion.
In Deuteronomy, Moses urges the people to keep his words in their hearts, recite them to your children, and talk about them both inside and outside their homes. “Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house.”
This is where the tradition of wearing phylacteries – small leather containers that contain biblical texts, and the nailing of a mezuzah to doorway come from. By doing this, God’s law is remembered in every aspect of life.
Very few Christians wear phylacteries or nail mezuzahs to their doorways – but we still teach our children the Ten Commandments, as well as Jesus Great Commandment. In Mark, we hear Jesus say, “The first commandment is 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 – Love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the law of the Lord.
“The law is king,” wrote American Patriot Thomas Paine in Common Sense, He was saying that, in a truly free country, the law itself – not any human being – is sovereign.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower likewise sang the praises of the rule of law: “The clearest way to show what the rule of law means to us in everyday life is to recall what has happened when there is no rule of law.”
He should know. Before he was President, Eisenhower commended the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. He had the personal experience of visiting concentration camps not long after they’d been liberated. Gazing into the hollow eyes of those desperate, emaciated survivors, Eisenhower witnessed the result of Fascist rule that valued the personal power of its authoritarian leaders over the law’s benevolently restraining force.
He later wrote, “The same day, April 12th, 1945, I saw my first horror camp. It was near the town of Gotha. I have never felt able to describe my emotional reactions when I first came face to face with indisputable evidence of Nazi brutality and ruthless disregard of every shred of decency. Up to that time I had known about it generally or through secondary sources. I am certain, however, that I have never at any other time experienced an equal sense of shock… Some members of the visiting party were unable to go through the ordeal. I not only did so but as soon as I returned to Patton’s headquarters that evening I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspapers editors and groups from national Legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for doubt.” (7)
Love for God. Love for neighbor. According to Jesus, there is no other law greater than these. That is God’s law. And the law is king.
Although we do not have phylacteries and mezuzahs, we can keep these words in our hearts, share them with our children and put them into action inside and outside our homes. When tempted to make an idol out of power or success, focus on your love for God. When your children become focused on the latest toy or gadget, teach them about loving their neighbor.
By keeping our central pillars strong – love for God, Love for neighbor – we can avoid a catastrophic collapse.
This morning we remember and celebrate some other Pillars that are important to us – our faithful friends, family and fellow Christians who have been Pillars of Faith for 1st Presbyterian over the years.
So let us remember and give thanks for those of our community who have joined the Great Cloud of Witnesses this year. Will you join me in the litany printed in your bulletin….
1. CNN Staff, “Here’s what you should know about the historic Francis Scott Key Bridge,” CNN, March 26th, 2024, www.cnn.com.
2. Tim Mackie, “What’s the meaning of the Jewish Shema Prayer in the Bible,” BibleProject, may 26, 2017, bibleproject.com.
3. Henry Brinton, “False idols come in many guises,” USA Today, Sept. 1st, 2014, www.usatoday.com.
4. Ibid…
5. Elizabeth Achtemeier, “Plumbing the Riches: Deuteronomy for the Preacher,” Interpretation, July 1987, p 274.
6. Homileticsonline, retrieved 10/25/24.
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe: A Personal Account of World War II, Doubleday, 1948, p 408-409.
