January 4, 2006

"Pushing the Easy Button"

One of the most interesting gifts I received during the Christmas season was an "Easy Button" from one of our younger clergy here in Indiana. If you have seen the TV commercial for Staples, then you have seen one of those buttons. It is bright red, with the word "easy" on it, and when you push it a recorded voice says, "That was easy."

I have had some fun with that button already. I used it with both Cabinets, and right after we had a very difficult discussion and worked hard to make a difficult decision, I pushed the button and we all heard "That was easy." It brought a good laugh.

I would like to have an Easy Button for my work as bishop here in Indiana. If I could push that button and make things easy, here is what I would do:

1. I would push the Easy Button for every pastor who is feeling discouraged, or confused, or not very appreciated by his/her congregation. I would push the Easy Button and that pastor would be reminded of God's call, be affirmed for the many good things accomplished in their ministry which are unseen, and be filled with a sense of God's presence blessing that pastor's life and ministry.
2. I would push the Easy Button for every layperson who is struggling to find their way in the midst of the world's confusion, and who is not finding much help from their local church. So many people I hear from are hoping that their pastor and their church and their faith will guide them through tough business decisions, through family problems, and through the myriad of social issues facing our world. I would push the Easy Button and they would find a caring church to support them, a pastor whose messages and ministry bless them, and a faith to guide them even through the ambiguities of life.
3. I would push the Easy Button for every youth and young adult who is struggling to know God's will for their life. In the midst of mounting pressures from a society which seems hell-bent on destruction and a world which seems unfair and unjust, I would push the Easy Button and those young people would hear God's voice calmly leading them into their life pathway.
4. I would push the Easy Button for every injustice in our state of Indiana and every injustice in our world. We seem surrounded by a culture which is not just apathetic to Christian values but actually antagonistic toward God's dream of peace, justice, harmony, and love. I would push my Easy Button and all injustice would cease as the world entered into a time of living within God's designs and purposes.
5. I would push my Easy Button and every local United Methodist Church here in Indiana would discover in a fresh way their call to mission and ministry for others in 2006. Rather than any church remaining stuck in a mode of self-preservation and negative thinking, my Easy Button would help them to be filled with God's power and purpose as they care for their own members but also move beyond their walls to care for all of God's people.

That's what I would do with my Easy Button. If only it were that easy.

May God bless you with a New Year of 2006 which is filled with God's answers -- both easy and not so easy.

from Bishop Michael J. Coyner

Indiana Area of the United Methodist Church
"Making a Difference ... in Indiana
and around the world"

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