Weekly Sermon: 08-02-2026 - Grounded in Connection: Ten Commandments

You may be seated.

A reading from the book of Exodus. Then God spoke all these words.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

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, for that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God,

am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third

and fourth generation of those who reject me,

but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me

and keep my commandments.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God,

for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all

your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.

You shall not do any work, you, your son, or your daughter, your male or female

slaves, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.

But rested the seventh day.

Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land

that the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female slave,

ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet

and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance and said to Moses,

you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die.

Moses said to the people, do not be afraid for God has come only to test you

and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.

Then the people stood at a distance while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

The word of the Lord. Sphinx be to God.

All right.

So I couldn't make a promise. This could be short and I had planned on it being

short, but I've been doing this long enough and may or may not be.

So, um, anyways, what's, um, I want to tell you a story about growing up.

We had this dog named Bozo.

And while his name might suggest like a happy-go-lucky dog that loved to have

fun and was super energetic the bozo experience was actually much different,

he was my grandmother's dog and was deeply attached to her and he never would leave her side,

whenever someone came over and pet him especially my brother and i he would

snarl and snap at us and that was hard for us because my brother and I grew

up like roughhousing with our dogs and would play with them all the time,

but regardless of his snarls and snaps we learned to respect Bozo and gave Bozo his distance,

eventually my grandmother passed away and my family inherited Bozo And at first,

he remained distant towards my brother and I.

But as my brother and I grew older, and we calmed down a little and matured

a lot, he also began to calm down.

And he would even occasionally come and sit on my lap. Occasionally.

Like, I felt so honored to have Bozo sitting right next to me.

And it probably helped that i also would sneak him snacks behind my mother's back,

hi and she'll probably call me if she watches a sermon sometimes and yells at me,

but that's calming down and me sneaking saps and snacks to him um call some

solidarity between bozo and i and,

um also probably some weight gain.

Years later, my mother took Bozo to the vet, and we learned that Bozo had a

staple that was left inside his body from years earlier.

This was back when he was still with my grandmother, and he had become embedded,

and it was causing him a lot of pain. It was no one's fault.

The vet made a simple mistake, and my grandmother didn't know that there were

staples left inside of Bozo.

And there was no way that my parents or us kids could have known this was going on either.

But after learning about that staple, his behavior all of a sudden became obvious.

When we acted very hyper around Bozo and tried to touch him we were crossing

a boundary he felt unsafe,

and it wasn't like we meant to hurt him or anything and it's definitely not

on purpose but our intentions did not change the fact that he was experiencing pain,

Bozo would have that staple removed, and he was able to live a freer life until

he passed away a few years later.

But Bozo couldn't explain to us, sit us down, and say what was wrong.

And he communicated with us the only way he knew how, which was to growl and

snap at us whenever we got near him.

What we interpreted as bozo rejecting us was really bozo saying something like

please don't come closer i'm in pain and i don't feel safe.

We live in a world where connection with others is woven into our very nature.

If you were here last week, Pastor Linda reminded us that in our introduction

to our series, Grounded in Creation, that connection isn't just something we want.

It is very vital to our beings.

But sometimes within these connections, there are lines within relationships that become blurred.

And without realizing it, or sometimes while knowing exactly what we're doing,

we can cross boundaries that can cause harm to others.

Our words, our actions, questions, or expectation may touch a place of pain

in somebody else that we can't exactly see.

And because we experience the world through our own perspective,

we don't always recognize the impact we are having on others until damage has already been done.

We may mean well, and we may sometimes believe we are actually helping,

but good intentions do not always prevent harm.

And it is from this place that we enter into our reading from Exodus.

And as you probably know, the Ten Commandments have been all over the news,

especially here in Texas, because there's a debate about displaying them in public schools.

But before asking where the commandments should be displayed,

perhaps we should ask what they're actually trying to say and what kind of life they call us to live.

Some may see the Ten Commandments as simply rules we must obey,

in order to be right with God and society, a kind of control over the population,

but reducing them just to a list of laws only weakens some of their purpose.

A legal code usually names the offense and assigns a punishment,

but that's not what we find here. Instead, with these commandments,

we hear more boundaries in the list of them.

Boundaries for relationship and guidance for how Israel is supposed to live

with God and one another.

The passage even begins in relationship. It says, I am the Lord your God who

brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of slavery.

God does not say obey these commandments and then I can rescue you.

It begins with God already rescuing them, entering into a relationship with

them, because grace and relationship comes first to God.

Then the commandments are given after the relationship is established.

To teach a newly liberated people on how to live without becoming a pharaoh to one another.

Because the pharaoh was a ruler without boundaries, he believed that he can

demand endless labor and control over people's bodies.

He could separate families and decide whose lives mattered.

So, instead, God draws new boundaries for Israel.

God says, you may worship, but you may not use God's name for your own purposes.

You may work, but you may not demand endless labor from others.

You may have relationships, possessions, and desires, but you may not take what

belongs to your neighbor or treat another person as somebody you are entitled to control.

Again and again, as we read through this list, God says, this far, but no further.

These commandments are not meant to take away Israel's freedom.

Instead, they are meant to protect Israel's freedom and place limits on power

so that one person's freedom has not come at the expense of somebody else's dignity and freedom.

Healthy relationships require boundaries and boundaries remind us that love

does not give us unlimited access to another person's body or time,

their energy their story or their life christ,

would later in the gospels summarize these two commandments into two phrases

and if you listen to it you can see the relationship is written all over it

love god and want love one another.

So with that in mind, we can see that the Ten Commandments remind us that we

are going to live faithfully with God and together we must pay attention to

the impact we have on each other.

And that by understanding that impact, we can build a community where people

are respected and people are free.

Going back to my grandmother's dog, Bozo, our relationship actually didn't flourish

later in his life because he dropped the boundary, because the staple was removed.

Bozo and I's relationship flourished well before that because I learned,

and my brother learned to respect the boundaries that Bozo was putting out there,

even before we understood the pain behind those boundaries.

So some ways that we can put this into practice is just being more aware of

what we say and what we do.

Pay more attention to our actions and the words that come out of our mouths.

And think about the effects they may have on the people around us.

Become a people who ask ourselves, is this joke or story appropriate in this morning?

Does this policy we're implementing at work respect and uplift people?

Or does it bring them down?

Is the way I am treating this person helping them feel valued or am I causing

harm without realizing it?

We may not always understand the full impact of our words or actions,

but when we open up to the Spirit who connects us to one another and holds us

together and we place the,

well-being and dignity of our neighbors at the forefront of our hearts,

we can better avoid harm.

We may not always avoid it at all times, but we can set ourselves up to avoid harm to others.

And we can respect those boundaries that are being set up even though we don't know what's going on.

Next, I think it can help us to know,

that we can be a people who can seek reconciliation when we do cause harm.

When someone tells us that we have crossed a boundary, apologize and learn from that experience.

Not just quickly say, okay, I'm sorry, and then move on, but learn and be sorry.

And if God is pressing on our hearts that we may have caused harm to somebody

else, feel free to go up to that person and apologize and to mend those wounds.

It is better to check on a fence that may not be broken than to ignore one that

is and allow the damage to remain.

And finally, when we are safe enough to do so, establish those boundaries. Speak to them.

We cannot always expect others to know where boundaries are unless we communicate those.

That does not mean that every boundary would be understood or respected by everybody

because Bozo communicated his boundary the only way he knew how.

But naming what we need gives healthy relationships an opportunity to flourish and grow.

And by following the example of this scripture, by respecting one another and

honoring the boundaries of

those around us, we can protect human dignity and find freedom together.

We can become a beautiful and diverse community as God intends us,

to be, a community where differences and experiences are not only tolerated,

but celebrated, where no one has to surrender their dignity

in order to belong, and where all people can experience the peace that comes

from living together in love.

So with this in mind, we are going to continue a practice started last week,

and we are going to enter into a moment of meditation.

I invite everyone here and those joining us online to get into a stance that

best helps them connect with God in prayer or meditation.

You can use the rails in front of you, or you can stay seated.

And I invite you to close your eyes as well.

So everyone take a deep breath in.

And release it fully,

again.

And listen to these words. May you walk in the freedom of honoring the one who

gives you life, keeping your heart centered on what is true and faithful and eternal.

May your words carry reverence. May you speak with integrity and kindness.

May you find rest not only in body but in soul, trusting that you are held by grace.

May relationships be marked by honor and humility cherishing those who entrusted

to your life with patience and care.

And may you be the bringer of life and not harm.

And may you choose peace, forgiveness, and compassion in every encounter.

May your love be faithful and pure, reflecting commitment and truth,

and deep respect for others.

And may your hands be open and honest, taking nothing that is not given and

given more than what is expected.

And may your voice be truthful and uplifting, bringing others up rather than tearing them down.

And may your heart be content and full, rejoicing in what you have,

breathe from envy and comparison.

And in all things, may you love deeply God above all and your neighbor as yourself,

walking each day in grace, truth, and abiding peace.

And for all this and more, thanks be to God.

Created for connection look for christ in every person choose kindness over

fear hope over despair grace over judgment let your life help others know they belong too,

as you go in peace to love serve and welcome all,

thanks be to god and we will if you're inspired by this week's.