I’ll be honest. I struggle sometimes with being called a christian.
I suppose it could be the struggle of any label for any community. Even as the word “diversity” is taking a bit of a beating these days, the fact is that we are, on so many levels, diverse. Everyone is unique and different and, even when we are united in our beliefs, ideology, culture or any other arbitrary metric, or we simply conform, labels never fully describe any community.
Sure.
That being said, christian carries a lot of baggage. That baggage includes a history of hurt, abuse and just evil behaviour that is the complete antithesis of Christ. Jesus’ heart has been broken so many times. And still is.
That baggage also includes great acts of kindness and grace, care for the sick, the poor and the homeless, and courageous acts of resistance to injustice, even standing for the rights of all human beings and the creation in which we live. Jesus’ heart must be bursting with joy so many times. And still is.
Hmm. So it’s tricky. How will we know what kind of christian we are?
“Love one another,” Jesus says. “Just as I showed you how to love, so you should love each other. That’s how people will know that you are from me.” (John 13:34-35)
These aren’t warm, fuzzy words of niceness and comfort, they’re a challenge to change the way we live. Jesus’ life shows us what we’re capable of: love. I know the words aren’t there in the stories, but I imagine Jesus frequently telling the disciples, and anyone who would listen, “if I can do it, so can you.” The same divine spirit and earthy humanity that’s in Jesus is in all of us - Jesus was trying to show us how to reconnect with that spirit, with the energy of the earth and each other. That’s the point: we are capable of love, just like Jesus.
Jesus never said we should make people behave a certain way (our way), Jesus never said that we should control people or tolerate them. He said we should love them, just as he loved us. If a so-called “belief” hurts people, denies them basic human rights, dignity and respect or disempowers them, it’s not Jesus and it’s not the spirit of God and it’s not love. When Jesus loved, he challenged those things. He lived love and challenged hate, he lived love and treated all with dignity and respect, he lived love and brought healing to brokenness, he lived love and empowered people to live true to their hearts, trusting that they would come to see the good there.
Maybe our first mistake - our original sin, if you like - was to tie “christian” to traditions and flawed interpretations that didn’t grow with knowledge and understanding, to religion, rather than Jesus, to what we made of Jesus rather than Jesus’ own story. The Jesus who loved. And loved and loved.
We make mistakes. God knows, and Jesus never demanded perfection. He only offered more encouragement and more love. Look who Jesus chose to be his closest companions. He didn’t choose “holy” men or women. He chose ordinary people, flawed and weak people who made mistakes. Very human mistakes.
Let people know who you are. Love like Jesus.