The Easy Stuff

 Someone asked Jesus what the most important commandment was. You probably know the story. Depending on the gospel account, this was a legitimate question or an attempt to subject Jesus to shame. After all, how could he answer that without saying some other commandments weren't as important?

Jesus answered beautifully. The most important commandment is you shall love God with everything you have and are. But, he said, there is a second one that is like that one in importance. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus then said that on these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophetic writings.

Sometimes people seem to think that loving God and caring for one another is the easy stuff. It's like we have that part mastered already... or at least if not mastered, we understand it. Surely there must be something else in there that's really important. Surely there is something more that God asks of us.

I confess, I spend almost all of my time emphasizing those two commandments. I imagine at times I sound like a broken record. But the fact is, we don't really get it. 

You aren't loving someone while you stand idly by when they do not experience justice. You aren't loving someone when you choose who to care for based on their skin color. You aren't loving someone when you see them in pain and you do nothing or you pile on.

Loving God and loving others isn't the easy stuff. A rule about what you can or can't eat--that's easy. It's a yes or no situation. Seeing someone for who they are, loving them in spite of any differences, and in fact in spite of whether they love you--well, that is harder than anything else. That's why so much of the law and the prophets are about these things, and why Jesus still had to tell us and why we still need to be reminded.

Faithful following of Jesus isn't about getting something for yourself. It's not about what you get out of it. It's not about personal growth, although I expect that will happen. It is about overcoming our own self importance to rely on God and overcoming out own greed so we can truly love others. It is actually wanting for others the same things we want for ourselves.

I don't know about you, but I don't think that's the easy stuff.

At least, that's the view today.

Church and Controversy

 I am teaching a class right now on the history of the Church since the formation of the Church in Acts. Today I am reading about the Iconoclasm Controversy of the Eastern Church in the 8th century. I know everyone reading this message just perked up and got very interested.

In the past several weeks we have been talking about other controversies. Some of them are, the type of substance of the Son. Is it the same as the Father? Th number of persons/wills in the Son. Is there one person? Two persons? One will? Two wills? One mind? Two minds? Are there two, but one of them is totally in control?

Today's subject has to do with paintings, because statues were just ruled out all together. But with paintings is it proper to have them? Is it proper to venerate them? Do they represent the things they are a painting of directly or indirectly?

These things involve people fighting over things that they are trying to understand and have no way of being certain that they are right. How can we possibly know the inner psyche of the Christ? And yet they not only condemned each other for their opposing thoughts, sometimes they resorted to violence, and they told others they were going to burn for eternity because of their disagreements.

Does any of that sound familiar?

I am sick of the fighting in the church. I am sick of one group of people telling another group of people they don't belong because they think differently from the ones in power in that area. And I am grieved that these attitudes cause division in our global church, but closer to home, in my own denomination, where some are trying to separate from others on matters that they are both convinced they are right on.

We should all be in this together, looking out for each other, doing what I see Jesus doing in scripture, bringing those who have been left out back into relationship. We follow Jesus as the great example of love, but so many seem to be missing love in their dealings with others. 

Hateful language is spoken in public. People are being surveilled to make sure that there is evidence to defame them later. I don't see in this a spirit of Love nor do I see the face of Christ.

Let's get back to basics. Love your neighbor. Do not judge. And don't condemn others for something you think you know but cannot possibly be certain of.

It's been done since at least the council of Nicaea in 324, and over the centuries the things those folks fought about has gone one way or another based on the prevailing wisdom. Let's not cut ourselves off from one another, especially when history has shown how harmful that is to the Church.

Anyway, that's my view today.