Love my neighbor as myself

For the past month I have been asking myself as well as my congregation: what does it mean to love God with a total commitment, and what does it mean to love my neighbor as myself? From a personal stance the question is answered fairly easily. I make a total commitment to God; I have daily devotions; I tithe; I do all the things Christians are suppose to do in their walk with God. Seeing a neighbor in need I come along side and help. When we have a snow storm in the city, I snow throw not only my sidewalk but also my neighbor's. I am neighborly.

When I look at life with a wider lens I see complications. Somewhere I have in my boxes of books one titled, But You don't Know Harry. The command to be submissive to husbands is a clear teaching of Scripture, but if you knew Harry you would make an exception! The same line of reasoning is applied to my neighbor. If I help my neighbor I will be creating dependence, and that is not good. Suffering is a good teacher. Even beyond this scenero is my neighbor the Muslim. Muslims hate Christians; they want us all killed, so why should I love him? Or what about my neighbor the welfare cheat?

Let's go even deeper. How do I express love for my neighbor on a more public platform? We do care about public platforms because most of us voted in this past election according to our values. What is the practical way to show love to the millions of undernourished children? to those who are in under performing schools? to those living in crime saturated neighborhoods? Even on a larger scale - what about countries like Haiti?

I don't have all the answers, but I do have questions and a certain sense of dissonance - I say I love but do I really. What are the hindrances to expressing love? How can my church assist me in demonstrating love. Oh, what I would give to have Jesus walk the earth right now. Oh, no way - he is walking on earth, isn't the church his Body? Where the church walks Jesus walks. Boy, I better get my questions answered the right way or Someone will be angry!