The “EASY” Button May 18, 2007

The Staples ad campaign says getting what you need at their stores is “EASY.” Just hit the button. They even sell the buttons at the stores (in multiple languages). Steve, my ministry partner at Milestone, bought one early in our process of planning to plant the church. It’s funny because I don’t remember us ever using it. I think in the process of wanting to be a simple church and putting things in place, we hoped that at least occasionally we would think something would be “easy.”

So far, nothing has been easy. Why? Because, and it has been said often, ministry is dirty work. Relationships are messy. Ministry takes time, and money, and resources (did I mention time and money?). So I started to pray and wonder why it’s so complicated. What have we done (I mean the church as a whole) to make ministry so often overwhelming?

So I went here: Matthew 22:38-39

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

So I’m wondering, have we really learned what it means to “love” yet. Sure, loving God seems to be automatic as a Christ-follower. If you don’t love God, well, you’re not a Christ-follower. But it’s the loving others thing that seems so far out of reach. I don’t think we’ve got it yet.

Let’s keep this simple and really ground-level. How many of us know our neighbors? I mean like our next-door, right-across-the-street, walk-past-their-house-every-day neighbors. If you don’t know them, it’s hard to love them, especially in practical ways.

Then, when it comes to the people we do know, do welove them? Do we know what that means?! How do we feel when we don’t feel loved? Yucky! That’s how I feel. To love someone means so much, and I do believe it is something that other person can experience. We know what it feels like to be un-loved, so there’s no doubt there’s a feeling of what it is to be loved. Jesus told us to love one another.

As a church, how do we love others? What’s your church’s reputation when it comes to loving the people in your community? Is your church as least known for loving God and loving others? These are the fundamentals of what God desires of us.

Ironically, I think that part is EASY.