The Ten Teachings

3LentB, Sullivan Park Care Center, March 8, 2015 by Annette Fricke

            My summer as a camp counselor came much later than for most.  I was already fifty years old.  I was the oldest on staff.  The year previous had been spent at the Catholic seminary learning about the origins of the liturgy.  I dreamed of the use of liturgy at camp, my own camping experience didn’t have it.  Well, it probably did, but it was so long ago, I don’t remember it.  Of all we sang and did at camp this time, this is the phrase that I recall the most.  “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  We all tried to modernize the words or melody to no avail.  I think it still stands this way.

            “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” is found at Psalm 119:105.  It is the phrase sung just prior to the reading of the Gospel for every Sunday service at Camp Mowana in Ohio.  It is a reminder that God’s Word is like a light source that shows us the way through our journey in life.  More specifically, this was part of the service attended only by the counselors.  It was a reminder that the Word of God was to guide all of our decisions as counselors as we sought to teach and model the words of Jesus for the children in our charge.  Counselors need guidance and instruction in the course of their work to bring structure and order to the children in the absence of their parents. That is the way of the camp and that is why at least one branch of the Lutheran Church prefers that their future pastors prepare for their ministry by participating as summer camp counselors at one of their church camps.  Summer church camp is a solid basic foundation in Christian teaching.  And for those of us unfamiliar with such things as tornados and bad thunderstorms, it teaches us how to cope with and respond to such weather aberrations and how to comfort the children when they become frightened.

            Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.  You and I are in a covenantal relationship with God.  As Christians, we have inherited that covenant from Abraham and Sarah.  For many years, Sarah has wrongly been ignored in the church’s song and liturgy but she should not have been.  Sarah is equally important as a mother of the church just as Abraham is a father of the church.  Faith in God began with this couple.  Although this phrase probably originated after their death, it rings true as something they believed and practiced.  If we are to take the season of Lent seriously, it will also be descriptive of our own lives.

            Although these words are powerful, short, and to the point; you might ask about specifics.  Specifically speaking, the covenant we have with God is further elucidated when Moses brings the Ten Commandments down from God’s presence on Mt. Sinai.  There are a few different explanations in the Bible, one which is in the Old Testament text for today, but most Christian denominations agree on the content of the Ten Commandments, even though they may be numbered differently. 

A Jewish point of view, however, states that our stress towards seeing the Ten Commandments as law is not accurate and is actually a mis-translation.  Our concept that leans towards seeing the Ten Commandments as a hammer over our head is not the thrust or intention of them.  They are meant to be instruction, to become our way of life.  In Jewish parlance, this ought to be translated the “Ten Teachings” instead.  This designation takes on more of the intent of the purpose of God’s giving them to us.  We should also be aware that these teachings have been in existence for a very long time, originally as oral tradition before being written down.  These are what God expected of the people of Israel and what God continues to expect of us.  It is not something that God beats into us, but is to be our guide along the journey of life.

It is no longer God saying, “Do this, or I will destroy you.”  It is more like “I will always be in covenant with you.”  God is the giver of the covenant who will always be faithful, no matter how many times we stray this way or that.  No matter how many times we break this or that commandment, God remains God.  God remains the faithful one who responds with the grace of God in Christ Jesus. 

This rendering of the Ten Commandments gives us some context to explain the reasoning for these particular commandments.  In the first one we hear the frequently repeated word of the Old Testament, “who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…”  First and foremost, God is reminding us of our slavery.  Even though originally this bondage was in reference to the Egyptians many years ago and subsequently by other nations, for us and for modern Jews, it is a slavery to sin.  It is God’s way of freeing us from that sin to follow God in a way of life that is befitting as the people of God.  It is also a connection with our ancestors because we share God in common with Abraham and Sarah.

Speaking of Abraham and Sarah, the fourth/fifth commandment states, “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”  Luther explains this as, “We should fear and love God, and so we should not despise our parents and superiors, nor provoke them to anger, but honor, serve, obey, love, and esteem them.”  However, this sounds as though it is addressed to children and it is because this is part of the catechism, the teachings agreed to for full membership in the church.  Originally, according to Jewish tradition, this was given to the adults.  It actually is meant as a protection to the community to pass on the traditions of the faith from generation to generation.  It keeps the status of men and women on the same plane, side by side and one of equality before God and neighbor.  Each generation still seems to struggle with this one.

Lastly, since I don’t have time to go through the intent of all the commandments or teachings, number two, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them.”  We live in a world where some have many possessions and the acquisition of these is a constant preoccupation.  We are constantly bombarded with the “need” to buy them.  We see them on TV read them in the newspaper and hear them on the radio.  They range from diet pills to fast food sales, and jewelry. A word to the wise: you don’t need those things; your life is complete when you live it in God’s grace that always welcomes you, always receives you back in loving embrace.  God’s love will never die.  Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Amen.