You

I no longer remember what prompted the call.
Whether it was a question that had been asked of me.
Or a sermon I was working on.
Or, maybe, just my own pondering.
Anyway, I called a friend who is a Jewish Rabbi and asked…
“The you in the 10 commandments…
As, you shall love the Lord your God…
As, you shall not kill…
As, you shall not covet…
Is that you singular or plural?”
(I was hoping he would say plural.)
“It is singular,” he said.
“But, it is addressed to the community.
The community is singular.”

I found myself thinking about that conversation again yesterday as I went for a walk.
Maybe the importance of the 10 Commandments…
The wisdom of the 10 Commandments…
Is not the commandments themselves, but in the use of the singular you.
Daring to declare that we are singular.
That we are one.
That we are in this together.
And the moment we recognize that and begin to live that way we begin to follow the commandments and to fulfill the Law and to step towards the Kingdom of God which has the chance of being right here. Right now. 

And, maybe this is also true.
If I follow all the commandments…
To the nth degree…
To the letter of the law..
Thinking it is only about me
Or, primarily about me
About what I believe and how I act
I have missed the point completely.