Heart Commandment Design flickr photo by nathanjeffers shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

When Jesus was on this Earth, he was often asked what he thought about Jewish law.  As a Jew himself, there were lots of things that he was expected to do.  All of these rules are found in the Bible in the book of Leviticus.  Some of these rules would seem a little unusual to us today.  For example:

1. You can only plant one type of seed in a field
2. You cannot wear clothes made up of two different types of materials mixed together
3. You must not eat fruit from a tree until the tree is four years old
4. You must not cut your hair at the sides

There are many more rules in the book of Leviticus.  Some are more sensible for example, ‘do not steal’.  But others are not really rules that we would follow today.  They may have been right at the time for a travelling community who needed to stay safe whilst they lived in tents and camped for many years, but today our communities work very differently, so the rules do not quite work in the same way.

Jesus was once asked about these rules.  He was asked to say which one was the most important.  What do you think he said?

What does it mean to love your neighbour?  Discuss this as a class and then watch the next clip.

We are in the month of June. It is Pride month, where we celebrate the diversity in our world.  Particularly standing with the LGBTQ+ community.  Our ALIVE value, ‘we value justice and respect’, is a demonstration of this if we show that we love each other.  Just as Jesus taught us to do.

As you watch the next clip, think about how you can show love to our school community, focussing on those from the LGBTQ+ community.

Prayer,

Heavenly Father, thank you that you love us as we are and want us to show this love to others through our words and deeds.  Help me to be kind to everyone I meet, even people who are different to me.  Thank you that you have shown us that the right way to live is not through following rules but rather through love. 

Amen