The bumper sticker had a big cross on it and read, “Back to basics: Feed the hungry, House the poor, Cloth the naked.
Those are the basic values of being a Christian, aren’t they?
Personally, I'd never guess that by the behavior of so many Christians in our country. Christian has become such a loaded term that folks I know actually call it the C word... man oh man...
So what do people say about those that call themselves the C word? Here are some responses I got from random folks on the street:
"Whenever I think of Christians, I can't help but think of dead babies."
"What?"
"Yea, you know those people who stand with signs outside abortion clinics..."
"People who say they follow Jesus but don't act anything like him."
"People who hate gay people and any else that's different."
Does the Gospel say to do that???
In looking at the Gospels, Jesus is constantly healing people and eating with people. Very rarely, do I find Jesus, as he is healing or feeding people asking, “Wait, what do you believe, or who do you live with?” He simply feeds or eats with outcasts and heals people—even people who are of a different religious background than his!
This is the litmus test for being a Christian--Following a Jesus who says love is the only commandment and commands us to feed and heal and eat with outcasts. So, I wonder, how are we doing as a Christian nation with the basics? Maybe thinking about our nation begins by looking at our own corner of the world.
So how are we doing in Thurston County? The last time I checked, there was a two year waiting list for public housing, the food bank in Thurston County was in high demand, there were over 700 children homeless in our county with places at the local shelters not even able to house half that number, the local tent city, Camp Quixote was still wondering where it will go next after St. John’s, and the Cold weather emergency shelter was scrambling to find a enough churches to host overflow for those that are cold and in need of a place to stay.
What I hear from Christian people grieves me; people who are spending more time arguing about who gets into heaven, who can come to church rather than tending to those that the Gospel requires us to tend to. We don’t have time to bicker about how scripture is supposed to be understood or if you are of the right kind of faith.
I wonder what would happen if all the churches of Thurston County decided to set aside their differences and declared their desire to make sure that people in our community have enough to eat, a place to sleep and clothing on their back, what kind of change would we unleash in our community?
In light of all the need that there is in our immediate community right now, I invite all Christians to roll up their sleeves and to be part of the answer to prayer. What prayer, you might wonder—the Lord’s Prayer! Perhaps the Lord’s Prayer maybe the one thing we all hold in common. Part of praying is that we open ourselves up to be part of the answer to prayer. As one Christian once wrote, “Christ has no hands in the world but yours, no heart in the world but yours… now you are the hands of Christ.”
We ask for our daily bread—maybe we can help be the answer to someone else’s prayer by making sandwiches and give them away to people who need them most.
Those are the basic values of being a Christian, aren’t they?
Personally, I'd never guess that by the behavior of so many Christians in our country. Christian has become such a loaded term that folks I know actually call it the C word... man oh man...
So what do people say about those that call themselves the C word? Here are some responses I got from random folks on the street:
"Whenever I think of Christians, I can't help but think of dead babies."
"What?"
"Yea, you know those people who stand with signs outside abortion clinics..."
"People who say they follow Jesus but don't act anything like him."
"People who hate gay people and any else that's different."
Does the Gospel say to do that???
In looking at the Gospels, Jesus is constantly healing people and eating with people. Very rarely, do I find Jesus, as he is healing or feeding people asking, “Wait, what do you believe, or who do you live with?” He simply feeds or eats with outcasts and heals people—even people who are of a different religious background than his!
This is the litmus test for being a Christian--Following a Jesus who says love is the only commandment and commands us to feed and heal and eat with outcasts. So, I wonder, how are we doing as a Christian nation with the basics? Maybe thinking about our nation begins by looking at our own corner of the world.
So how are we doing in Thurston County? The last time I checked, there was a two year waiting list for public housing, the food bank in Thurston County was in high demand, there were over 700 children homeless in our county with places at the local shelters not even able to house half that number, the local tent city, Camp Quixote was still wondering where it will go next after St. John’s, and the Cold weather emergency shelter was scrambling to find a enough churches to host overflow for those that are cold and in need of a place to stay.
What I hear from Christian people grieves me; people who are spending more time arguing about who gets into heaven, who can come to church rather than tending to those that the Gospel requires us to tend to. We don’t have time to bicker about how scripture is supposed to be understood or if you are of the right kind of faith.
I wonder what would happen if all the churches of Thurston County decided to set aside their differences and declared their desire to make sure that people in our community have enough to eat, a place to sleep and clothing on their back, what kind of change would we unleash in our community?
In light of all the need that there is in our immediate community right now, I invite all Christians to roll up their sleeves and to be part of the answer to prayer. What prayer, you might wonder—the Lord’s Prayer! Perhaps the Lord’s Prayer maybe the one thing we all hold in common. Part of praying is that we open ourselves up to be part of the answer to prayer. As one Christian once wrote, “Christ has no hands in the world but yours, no heart in the world but yours… now you are the hands of Christ.”
We ask for our daily bread—maybe we can help be the answer to someone else’s prayer by making sandwiches and give them away to people who need them most.
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