Movement

We're in the middle of an alignment small group and series initiative for the summer. Excited about it. It's not often we're all on the same page.

There are 613 commandments in hebrew scripture. Jesus simplified them into two: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And, of equal importance, love your neighbor as yourself.

We're centering the discussion and action around 2 questions: Who is my Neighbor? What does it mean to love my Neighbor?

Your neighborhood could be your geographical location where you live, your marketplace neighborhood where you work, or the interest-based neighborhood where you play. 80 groups from all over DC are saturating the area.

We're still maintaining our "free-market" small group system though, and that's inspired a lot of creativity, anywhere from a small group that meets on Capitol Hill, to going to a Nationals Game, to Grillin' n Chillin' on the street corner, to landscaping little league fields, to picking up trash, to meeting the needs of refugees, to having a multi-ethnic choir, to learning sign-language......and the list goes on.

Jesus did not create a religion. He established a movement, which are people working together to advance their shared goals; whether it be social, physical or spiritual change. If Jesus had a mission statement, it was this:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."[Luke 4]

Share good news (spiritual), recover sight for the blind (physical), and proclaim the year of the Lord's favor (social). The whole gospel appears to represent all 3.

Loving thy neighbor is a movement that brings about the reconciliation and transformation of all three goals in Christ's redeeming message.