Being at Home — Our Bible App

Day 1 of 4: The Greatest Commandment

”Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
-Matthew 22:36-40 (NRSV)

For the first three decades of my life, I never felt settled. Something always felt off. When I was home with my parents, I felt like I didn’t fit. When I was at school, I felt different. When I was playing sports, I felt very mediocre. But when I was at church, I felt like myself.

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I imagine many of us have that experience of feeling different—though church isn’t always a safe place either. I was fortunate that my church, which belongs to a progressive, justice-oriented denomination, gave me an opportunity to be myself. This was the place I felt most at home. My pastor helped nurture my curiosity about faith and God. The elders surrounded me with support when I decided to begin the path towards ordination.

I was incredibly blessed to have such a loving and caring community. I was at home with them. Being a young (unknowing) queer kid, I couldn’t figure out what felt so weird about me. But church never made me feel like that. Then, I got to seminary where queer folks were plentiful, and I felt at home.

In seminary, my professor of queer theology, Rev. Dr. Jay Johnson, talked about this passage from Matthew 22 in clearer terms. He asked us what it means to ‘be at home with God, at home with our neighbor, and at home with ourselves.’ It was then that I realized I had never really felt at home. This reframing of The Greatest Commandment shifted my understanding of what it truly means to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.

In the next three days, we will reflect on what it means to be at home with self, then at home with our neighbor, and finally at home with God.

Take some time to reflect what it means to be “at home.” Then draw, write, doodle — whatever method feels most natural. What does it mean for you to truly be “at home?”

Emily Snowden

Day 1 of 4: The Greatest Commandment

Start reading this 4-day devotional in the app. Find it on the Featured shelf.