Simple, not easy

Romans 13:8-10New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

You know those "Keep Calm and Carry On" T-shirts that everyone seems to be wearing these days?  Well, I found a website where you can generate your own T-Shirts and posters and whatnot with similar phrases.  And one of the ones (found here: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/life-is-simple-but-not-easy/) says "Life is Simple, but not Easy."  (So, I guess you're supposed to keep calm about that!)

The idea of "simple not easy" is one that is also common among AA circles.  Bill W., the creator of AA talked about the process being one that is simple in its steps, but not at all easy. 

A couple millennia before Bill W. talked about AA being simple but not easy, the Apostle Paul related the simple Christian message to Jesus' followers. 

It ALL comes down to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Simple, right?

Easy?

Paul himself knew it wasn't easy as earlier in Romans he bemoaned: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."

Love your neighbor couldn't be a set of simpler instructions. 

Until you realize it means:

Love the neighbor who you disagree with adamantly with at council meetings.

Love the neighbor who wants to change how we do worship.

Love the neighbor who doesn't take part in any of the activities you've planned.

Love the neighbor who starts going to another church.

Love the neighbor who voted Republican/Democrat/ Libertarian/Green Party.

Love the neighbor who is pro-life when you are pro-choice, or pro-choice when you are pro-life.

Love the neighbor who lives a thousand miles away in a different economic reality from yours.

Love the neighbor who doesn't see eye to eye with you about race relations in our country.

Love the neighbor who is pro-NRA when you are against guns.

Love the neighbor who is a pacifist and didn't go to Vietnam when they were drafted.

Love the neighbor who is LBGT when you see homosexuality as a sin.

Love the neighbor who voted against gay rights when you are LBGT.

Love the neighbor from Mexico or Central America.

Or Iraq.

Or Afghanistan.

Or Iran.

Love the boss who just won't give you the promotion you deserve.

Love the neighbor who lives under the same roof as you but whom you just can't seem to understand anymore.

Simple.  Not easy.

Not easy also when we think of all the ways in the world we hurt and violate and break each other.  Not easy to know when love means having to walk away or turn someone in or discipline them or confront them.

I'm guessing that we all have someone in our lives we find difficult to love.  Someone whom loving doesn't seem simple OR easy.

Think of who that person is. (or perhaps group of persons).  Write their name(s) on paper or on your heart.  Sometimes when loving seems impossible, praying for might be the thing to try.  Put them first in your prayers and see if maybe, just maybe, it gets a little easier to love them...maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow.  But maybe eventually.

God of love, you have given me the simplest command of all: to love.  Help me, Lord, because so often it isn't easy. But with you, all things are possible!  Amen.