As we gather together there is some technical information that most of you already know, but just in case someone does not:
There is a copy of the service in the red book by the door to the sanctuary.
The service will be in voice and text.
Worship music will be in the media player.
Thank you for not touching the media player—We have learned the hard way that if you poke it, it gets cranky and the video stops playing for everyone.  
So if the player isn't working in your viewer, please follow the YouTube link!
GATHERING: 
In today’s sermon, I talk about the Ten Commandments—both the Cecil B. Cecil B. DeMille film, so I thought I’d start with a clip from that.
It has been a long, long time since I watched this whole thing from beginning to end, I have to say—Mr. DeMille took a _lot_ of liberties.
A lot.
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id6oS3L-D9A

Please feel free to type any announcements you have for us into Local Chat.

WELCOME
Welcome to First United Church of Christ and Conference Center, Second Life.
We have official standing with the Eastern Association of the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ as a Real Life church located in Second Life.
And I still think that's pretty cool, because I have sat in South Central Pennsylvania—I have sat in Northern Maine—
and I am currently sitting in Central Connecticut—
and I still think it's pretty cool that we can partner with my brothers and sisters and non-binary siblings all across the country 
and all of you wherever you are!
Speaking of wherever you are:
"No matter who you are, 
or where you are on life's journey, 
you are welcome here."
Most churches have a time of offering.
Making an offering, sharing what you can in God’s name, is a spiritual practice.
That offering can be one of prayer or of presence, 
of work on behalf of the church doing things like reading scripture or serving on the board of directors,
of helping with any of the many things that are needed for the church to function,
and/or, that offering can be one of money.
As a UCC church, we support the work of the wider church both with prayer and with donations. 
And it's true that we don't have a physical building, but there are monetary costs for this ministry to function.
So if you would like to make an offering by participating in leading worship or social events,
or if you would like to become a member of this church,
let any clergy or staff member know.
If you would like to make a financial offering to support this ministry there is a donation bowl by the door to the sanctuary, 
or if you prefer you can make a donation in RL currency on our website:
www.firstuccsl.org
And since we are a 501(c)(3) public charity, monetary donations are tax deductible in the U.S. 
We thank you for the blessing of your presence and your offering of support. 
SCRIPTURE LESSON
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
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, or that is in the water under the earth…
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.  For six days you shall labor and do all your work…
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, or male or female slave, or ox, or 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, or we will 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."
SERMON      "These Ten Commandments"
If you’re the kind of person who pays attention to the use and misuse of ellipses, you probably noticed the weird notation for today’s scripture reading.  
So first, let me name the elephant in the lectionary:
What happened to verses 5-6 and 10-11?
Well, when you go back to the text, you’ll notice that those verses aren’t actually commandments—they’re commentary.
There are only two of those, which feels strange and inconsistent to me—
so I wonder if they weren’t later additions to story given to us by some helpful priest when the oral tradition was first being written down.
In any case, if you want to take a good look at the Ten Commandments, the way the lectionary reads is actually a very good starting point—
let’s leave the commentary to one side for now.
If you’re the kind of person who notices these things, you might also be the kind of person who notices when material gets reused.
And you’re write, I’ve preached over this lesson before.
I imagine I will again!
And some of what I have to say will be the same as last time, and other things will be different.
My understanding evolves, and I hope yours does, too.
The United States will always have a weird history with literal displays of these ten commandments, but my experience has been that most people don’t know the whole story.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, 
my grandparent’s generation, 
a non-prophet called The Fraternal Order of Eagles worked with Cecil B. DeMille to have granite monoliths depicting the Ten Commandments placed outside of courthouses all over the United States.
The problem with that, of course, is that courthouses are public land and it’s against the US Constitution to establish a state religion.  
Can you imagine the uproar if a huge granite monolith of the Yamas from the Hindu Veda was established outside of American courthouses?
And if the name of Cecil B. DeMille sounds familiar, it’s because he was a famous producer in the film industry at the time, 
backing such films as _Cleopatra_, _The War of the Worlds_, and _The Ten Commandments_.
That’s right.
It was a publicity stunt.
So when I say that the United States has a weird history with the Ten Commandments, what I mean is this:
We have had multiple cases go all the way to the Supreme Court fighting to keep a Charlton Heston movie promotion on display outside of courthouses.
Let’s be clear, it’s not that the Ten Commandments—the scripture, not the film—aren’t important.  
It’s just unconstitutional for the government to inflict them on anyone.
In fact, I would argue that the Christian thing to do would be to live them instead of enshrining them on public land.
The way I see it, the Ten Commandments—indeed all of the Law—is about community.  As one commentary puts it:
“We remember that Jesus, when asked, summed up all of these commandments into two great commandments, and Borg translates those as "The Two Great Relationships"
(see his beautiful work, The Heart of Christianity, for more on faithfulness):
To love God with one's whole being, and to love one's neighbor as oneself.
The first relationship, with God, leads to the second;
Brueggemann says that "the second true desire of our life, derivative from the first, is to have 'good neighbors,' that is, to live in a neighborhood."
And if both of our great relationships were healthy and strong as they should be, "our energy might be redirected toward neighborly matters like housing, education, health care..." (The Covenanted Self).
This is an especially powerful message for us, in today's highly polarized and rancorous political and social climate, when we're trying to figure out how to live one with one another—
even with other Christians!—
and how to witness to our core values, believing them to be a wise and good foundation for our lives.”  ( https://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_october_4_2020 )
In addition to being unconstitutional it is some kind of cruel irony, then, to link the Ten Commandments to the American government in that way.
I don’t think my beloved homeland has ever been all that good at being neighbors.  
As the same commentary puts it:
“Sometimes I think we (in the United States) romanticize the idea and memory of a time in our history when neighbors looked after neighbors, 
when neighborhoods and communities were strong and blessed, aglow with the light of prosperity and friendliness.
Have we lost that dream because we have forgotten who our neighbors are—
perhaps the most unexpected and surprising persons of all, just as Jesus told the story, and just as he taught us that lesson?
I suspect, though, that we have always struggled with living that dream;
our history is a long story that includes not only the highest ideals and aspirations but also prejudice, suspicion and worst of all, the treatment of indigenous people and slavery itself,
all of which dehumanize and "de-neighbor" those we consider "other" and therefore not deserving of respect, not wholly entitled to their fair share of God's abundant gifts.
We certainly do not love them as we love ourselves.
We know, however, that we have the freedom to make a different choice, to shape and live in communities that embody God's love for all of God's children and for God's beautiful creation.
Will we choose love and justice, healing and compassion when the world around us may do just the opposite in pursuit of "goods" that are really false idols?”
Maybe now is the time to bring that commentary back into the scripture reading.
Genesis 20:1-17
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, or that is in the water under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them or worship them;
for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the 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.
For six days you shall labour 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 slave, 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, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 

Maybe those inconsistent pieces of commentary and explanation aren’t so weird after all.  As one Biblical commentary puts it:
“Perhaps as a consequence of an overly punitive society, the ten commandments 
(and to some extent all of scripture)
has come to summarize a legalized idea of religious practice.
“The Bible as a rulebook” captures this popular characterization.
This perspective ignores that the giving of the Decalogue (“Ten Words”) presents itself within a complex narrative.
Rather than an isolated decree, these commands enter into and flow out of a story of God’s relationship with a particular community.
As Terence Fretheim states, “The law does not stand in independence from that story.
It is not even presented as a single chapter within that story but is woven into the narrative throughout.”” (https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-faithfully-living-together/)

We are so in love with the image of the Ten Commandments carefully and clearly written out—literally in stone.
But the way they actually come to us is all wrapped up in—and broken up by—the story of the people’s relationship with God.
It is messy and difficult, just like any two people figuring out what their personal boundaries are with one another.
Actually, the boundaries between two people are simpler, if not easier.
Ethical non-monogamy might be a better metaphor here—
more than two people who love each other _constantly_ working on and re-evaluating their boundaries with one another, 
taking into account the way relationships grow and evolve, the way people grow apart and grow close…
Yeah, that sounds more like how God’s relationship with Their chosen people seemed to go.
Messy.  But important.  And worth it.
Now, I’m not saying that these ten commandment aren’t important.  They are.  
But I might want to stop capitalizing them because, well, that same commentary asks it this way:
“What if the focus shifted to what we shall do?
What if instead of a list of prohibitions, we centered on a list of affirmations?
What if our notion of a faithful life wasn’t built on restrictions…but on a divinely-inspired freedom to live in right relationship with God, one another, and creation?
What shall we do?”

Now, those strike me as the right questions.
What do you say?
Amen?
PRAYER PREPARATION:
I’m really struck by the idea of ethical non-monogamy as a metaphor for how complicated it seems to be for all of us to love God, love neighbor, and love self—for humanity to be in right relationship with God and one-another.
But this song gives me hope that we can do it!
"Family"
~Gaia Consort
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRonWEH3grA

We have come to our time in worship that I really do believe is the core of what we do here together, and that is where we uplift our joys and concerns with one another in prayer.
And so I would like to invite you to enter this time of prayer with a sense of reverence. 
We're about to enter into a conversation with God, and that shouldn't be done lightly,
but rather "... with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 
making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"  (Ephesians 4:2-3) 
Please type your prayers into chat, or if you need to use voice simply emote raising your hand so everybody can have a voice.
And as we pray together, you may wish to respond to others with words like, "God hear our prayer," or with any other words the Spirit leads to you use.
COMMUNITY PRAYER
If there was a prayer inside of you that you couldn't quite get out, it's ok.
Because the Psalmist tells us that God knows what we are going to say before the words can even form on our tongues.
And so we know.
We _ know _ that God has heard our prayers.  Those spoken out loud, those typed into SL chat, and those spoken only in the silence of our hearts.
And that we pray them in the name of the Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
LISTEN!
We have done a lot of talking.  Let us take a moment of silence to listen to what God might be saying.
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening...
PASTORAL PRAYER
Holy One, You are the same one who called us forth into being along with light and all creation.
You are the same one who called a people to become Your people, giving them commandments, a way of living with one another and You.
You are the same one who hears the cries of the oppressed and leads the people out of exile.
You are the same Spirit that moves in and among us.
You are the same love incarnate in Jesus Christ.
You have been present from before time began, and You are present, with us, now.
Help us to perceive You at work in the world around us and in our lives.
Help us to know we are not alone.
Grant us strength for the journey of life before us.
In Your Holy presence and name we pray. Amen.    (Rev. Mindi Welton-Mitchell, http://rev-o-lution.org)
BENEDICTION:
And now it really is just this simple:
God loves you
So don't forget to love each other
Go with God
Go in Peace
And amen!
CLOSING:  
I wanted to end with a little levity for you, today.  Besides, how could I begin with one depiction of Moses coming down the mountain and not end with one, too?
YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I48hr8HhDv0