WILL THE REAL CHRISTIANS PLEASE STAND UP?

Let's face it.

Being a Christian today is no easy thing.

First of all, look at all the different kinds of folks who say they are Christian. Though I hesitate to use the word in this context, it is a diverse group.

The people who claim the name of Christ are all over the map. There are some, though in my opinion never enough, who hate war. There are some, including persons holding high political office, who seem to love war. There are still others who say they hate war, but think it's justified anyway. There are people who claim to be Christian who strive to reach out in an embrace of all people. And there are some with the name of Jesus on their lips who are very ready cast out, and even persecute differing groups of people because they are judged as "sinners."

This list could go on ad nauseum. Most of you taking the time to read this, know it perhaps better than you would like. It goes to questions of orthodoxy (right belief) and orthopraxy (right action), and beyond. But wherever it all goes, it raises, at least in my mind, a serious question about what it means to be Christian; what it means to be Church.

Which ones are the real Christians, anyway?

For my own part, I'll be bold (perhaps stupid) enough to say out loud that there are some people who claim the name of Jesus Christ who are not Christian. Something tells me that no one is really shocked by this revelation. 'Old news you say? Maybe so, but it seems like too many people are saying too little.

To me, it's kind of like the guy who ran around pretending to be a doctor. He wore the right clothes, had a stethoscope, and he even performed surgery on folks. But he wasn't a doctor. And indeed, after a while his masquerade caused some real damage, even death. As an old friends says to me often, "Just because you sleep in the garage doesn't mean you're a Chevrolet!" Just because you say all those great churchy words and posture like a righteous person doesn't mean that you are, in fact, Christian.

There are folks out there who have some very clear agendas in mind; agendas that have to do with domination and profit, not with love and healing. And for some reason they are working real hard at stretching Christian faith over that agenda in the vain hope that we won't notice.

Well, I notice.

I want to be really clear here about this one thing.

Faith in God through Jesus Christ does not serve ideology. Jesus does not lean right or left. He doesn't claim conservative or liberal party membership. He's not Democrat or Republican, or even Green. And any group or individual across this spectrum who tries to claim this is simply lying.

Being Christian means stepping apart from this kind of divisive and even violent engagement. It means joining a community of people who take Holy Scripture seriously enough to study it with intellectual rigor and scholarship. It means moving with Jesus away from the strictures of institution into the expansive, even extravagant love of God. Being Christian isn't something we get right as soon as we get baptized. It is a journey. We are, as John Wesley reminds us, "on our way to perfection." So, we do get it wrong.... a lot. But we try to be honest about that, and pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and accept humbly the new beginning that Christ offers us.

Being Christian means being scooped up by grace. By grace I mean the unending, relentless love of God that will not let you go....no matter who you are, where you come from, what you've been through....or even who you choose to love. That love is there for everyone. And if we can accept that love, it will change our lives.

Being Christian has a lot to do with not just talking the talk, but walking the walk of Jesus Christ. And that, friends, is the profoundly counter-cultural walk of self-giving love. Our model for that is Jesus himself. He gave of himself and we are called to do likewise, even if it leads to a cross.

Being Christian is about love and acceptance, not anger and rejection.

It's about healing and wholeness, not about hurting or wounding.

We would do well to watch the very vocal ones who talk a lot about Jesus and then spend huge amounts of energy trying to split churches, pesecute people who are unlike them, and identifying their cause with partisan right wing politics.

Quite simply, we can tell a lot about the authenticity of one's faith by the "fruit" that it bears.

Look around you. Who are the people who are filled with kindness, forgiveness, grace?

See what I mean?

So, now that I've made it all clear as mud, let me close this latest posting with the following.

Go to your book shelf and pull down your Bible. Don't have one? Go online. Look up the Gospel of Matthew. That's in the "New" Testament. Read chapters 5-7. These few pages pretty well sum it up. The Christian enterprise is pretty well laid out right there. If folks claim the name of Jesus, and are at least striving to live like that....it's a fairly safe bet that they're the real deal.

My own hope and prayer is that we will build communities that live out the values and teachings that Jesus offers us. My own conviction is that God is indeed Love. And if we live in love, we live in God, and God will live in us.......and make a home therein.

Well, I'm done for now.

Peace to you all.

Pastor Schuyler