Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Why I call myself a Christian.

I was born an Episcopalian.
Crossing myself right out the womb.
I was never re-born or had to find Jesus.
I was lucky to be given Him from the start, in a little beach church, with lots of different kinds of people, all trying to love as well as possible and do good stuff in a hard world.

I never planned on becoming a youth minister, I was supposed to be a teacher.  I was supposed to get summers off.  Life just doesn't work out the way we plan it.

I also didn't plan to surround myself with a bunch of Jesus loving liberals.  But sometimes God is REALLY good.

My Facebook went red today with this.

It was proof of all those liberals I love.

Sometimes I did a double take at who put it up and nodded and smiled.

But then there was 'that post'.
The one that was probably meant for us.
Written about us.  
Written for me.  
Asking how someone can call themselves a Christian if they pick and choose the parts of the Bible they want to follow and leave the rest.

The Bible.
Written by humans.
Full of history and letters and poetry and laws and stories and tales and metaphors.
It seems like people really like the laws.

And I do pick and choose which ones I follow because
I still cut my hair Don't cut your hair nor shave. Leviticus 19:27
and today I am wearing a cotton-poly blend Don't wear clothes made of more than one fabric Leviticus 19:19
and don't get my started on the period ones... I break those suckers left and right.

BUT... I do choose to follow the ones that Jesus (our main man... who created this community I have given my life to) underlined, italicized, and bolded for us.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 
This is the first and greatest commandment. 
And the second is like it: 
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:37-40

I work super hard to love the people around me.
Sometimes that is some exhausting work.
Today it meant loving the lady with the nasty Facebook post directed towards me.  And I do, I love her, she is a woman who desires an authentic relationship with Christ and I respect that.  I do not love her belief about homosexuality or her way of condemning my beliefs in a backhanded manner.

When I first started this gig as youth minister I thought I needed to keep my beliefs about equality to myself.  I was scared to ruffle feathers or offend.  But this journey in ministry has given me a deep rooted foundation based on the life that Christ lived on Earth and the way I want to live it as well.  He was outspoken.  He called out the hypocrites.  He loved the ones that everyone else pointed at. He told us that when we choose to condemn another we are usually ignoring the condemn-able in ourselves. He wrote LOVE WINS on the heart of his people when he died on the cross.

That is why I am a Christian.

I'm a Christian who breaks Old Testament laws and sings the praises of Christ's radical love from mountain tops. I'm a Christian that believes in communion and reconciliation for all and that none need it because of their sexual orientation. I am a Christian that believes in a Living God and Living Word that must be interpreted and analyzed and lived out in a broken world.

And on a final note... I am an Episcopalian because of this...