You come here to display Your love for God, and this is good. But this cannot be done apart from your love for your neighbor, whom you have seen. The two great commandments are always together in Scripture, like husband and wife. A husband is not a wife, but without a wife, he is no husband. The first great commandment is not the second great commandment, but without love for neighbor, the greatest commandment is not kept in any fashion.
Take care to remember this in the details of our life together. As we seek to worship God in a building less than ideal, as we find ourselves competing for seats, or for parking spaces, remember that your duty in this is always love, a love which extends down into the smallest detail. Sometimes the lack of love is petty selfishness in a small thing – say, moving someone’s Bible when they had saved a seat. Other times the lack of love thinks it means well, as when a courting couple are treated as though the whole thing were in the bag, and pleasant inquires are made about what the middle names of the first three children are to be. But courtship is not engagement, and is not the time for congratulations.
The name for this kind of love, love in all the trifles, is manners. The problem with our breezy dismissal of manners a generation ago is that we have only now discovered that in our folly we threw out many bits of cultural wisdom, a wisdom that had enabled people to live together in harmony. So, as you prepare for worship, do not just “get spiritual.” Consider your God, consider your neighbor, consider your habits, consider your tongue.
And last, do not beat yourself up over such things – we are all in this together. We are learning together. But let all the lessons be in the direction of visible, tangible love – love in the great things and love in the trifles.