Who needs faith, when we are so self-sufficient & so intellectually astute? Who needs a Saviour that tells us to sell everything and share with others? Who needs a Teacher & Lord that tells us to not only love our neighbours but also to welcome the stranger, and to offer love and compassion to those considered enemies? Who needs the demands of faith that tell me I should take time to pray in the midst of my busy schedule, that instructs that I rest and worship on Sundays, that asks me to give 10% of my income to the work of my congregation & to helping others?
Who needs to be a Christian? I do! I need the Way of Jesus to shape and guide my life, to root and ground me in something bigger than myself and my own limited ways of thinking. And I believe the world needs people who follow the Way of Jesus – desperately needs us.
I must say upfront that I believe that the world also needs the gifts of other faith groups, who work for hope and peace and the betterment of humanity. We have much to offer each other. I believe that the Way of Jesus has much that is needed in this world today.
I also believe that the Christian church has lost its way. I am so tired of Christianity being seen as this judgemental institution, with no earthly value. Indeed Christianity has been judgemental and biased and too much caught up in sharing white Anglo-Saxon culture rather than the true message of Jesus of Nazareth.
I believe in the Way of Jesus, thoroughly, completely. Our world would be transformed if those of us who claim the name, Christian, devoted ourselves to living the teachings and faith of Jesus today. Jesus would have welcomed as equal and valued participants in his movement those of the LGBTQ community, those of every race and culture, those with a variety of abilities. No one who wanted to sit at Jesus’ table would have been excluded.
So we, as Christians, need to stop doing that!! We need to stop judging others. If they want to be at the table, ready to work side by side with us in serving others, then they are welcome – they are we! We need to stop declaring that people will go to hell. (I sure don’t believe in hell in the way it is usually described). All of us are broken people who have hurts that need to be loved. None of us are in the position to declare that someone else is not worthy of God’s love. As 1 Peter 4:6 reminds us, God’s love extends into the hells in which everyone lives, in this life or the next, and is always offering a way to life and hope.
Love! That is what Jesus asked us to proclaim and live. Love God! Love your neighbours. Love yourself! Love and welcome strangers. Love and do good to your enemies. Can you imagine a world in which we really truly lived those words?
I can. And that is why I am Christian, a follower of the Way of Jesus. I am committed to living the love of God that we experienced in Jesus.
To make this commitment to follow Jesus is a choice, a choice I make every day. I think that the Christian church has slid too much into supporting and living the culture around us. It is time once more to become what Jesus was, what the early church was – a counter- cultural movement. It means that we will need to make choices that aren’t easy. It means that we will need to live our lives in ways that don’t fit the pattern around us. It means that we need to take Sunday seriously as a day for faith and family and rest. It means that we need to intentionally make time for prayer and for reading scripture. It means that we will choose to live simply, sharing our income and resources, so that others may simply live. It means that we will care for our environment, limiting our use of water, recycling, reducing our consumption, and whatever else we can do to decrease our impact on the earth. It means that we will, as beloved Christian teacher Walter Brueggemann says, “see human beings, not as problems to be solved, but as mysteries to be valued.”
In ways we don’t fully realize, all of us have bought into the narrative of market and commodities. Human beings are treated as cogs in a wheel, or pieces in a factory line, in everything from our education systems to our medical systems. As Brueggemann says, there is no room in the market and capitalism narrative for generousity, hospitality, and forgiveness. The narrative is all about meeting production quotas, in which the rich get richer and everyone else works hard & plays by the rules yet never gets ahead.
I am a Christian. I choose to follow the Way of Jesus. It is a wonderful choice and a dangerous choice. Wonderful because it connects me with the Loving Source from which Jesus drew his courage and wisdom. Wonderful because it allows me to be with people in the midst of their deepest sorrow and pain and be the presence that proclaims, “You are not alone; for God is with you, the community of God’s people are with you.” Dangerous because to choose to follow the Way of Jesus puts me at odds with the ideas and opinions of others.
It is not easy to follow the Way of Jesus. I find myself longing sometimes for what I see that others have in material goods, yet I know the riches of what I have in Jesus. I find myself at times wishing that I didn’t care so much about those who are suffering, those who are refugees, those who are living in the midst of violence, those who are grieving and facing serious illness. Sometimes I wish I wish that I could just take the money our family gives to the church and other charities and use it for my own whims.
But in the end, I know that those things would not fill my soul and bless my life the way that following Jesus fills my soul. I know that an abundance of material wealth and a bigger house would not bring any love or hope into my life. I know that choosing to not care about the suffering of others would only leave me feeling empty and alone.
I am a Christian. I gladly share what I have. I gladly commit to a path of loving others, all others, challenging myself to release my judgements and see each one as a valued, precious person. I gladly choose to live the generousity, hospitality and forgiveness I see in the life of my Saviour, Jesus. I gladly choose Jesus as Lord of my life, and submit to live in his Way. For in Jesus, I find all the hope, all the joy, all the peace I need – and that is so very good!
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