Someone once questioned how I would live differently without
my faith, and then added that she didn’t think I would. She didn’t mean it as a
criticism, and wasn’t trying to fight. She meant it as a compliment, basically
saying that she thought I was a nice guy, with good moral values, and I would
be just as righteous without my religion.
I thought, ha! If she only knew. My faith is all that keeps
me from having several super-model mistresses on the side, embezzling millions
of dollars and hiding it in Swiss bank accounts, hiring hitmen to get rid of
people who displease me. There but for the grace of God go I.
OK, maybe she’s right. But if my faith doesn’t separate me
from any other nice guy, that doesn’t mean Christianity is weak, it means I’m a
weak Christian.
What’s a real Christian?
I was recently volunteering at the homeless shelter in
Columbia… now I could just mention that casually and leave the impression that
this is the kind of thing I do all the time, but that would be false. It is
very rare I get outside myself enough to put forth any effort to help other
people. This shelter is the only one in town that you can go to if you’re drunk
or high. I’d helped once before, so I knew it can be a pretty rough crowd
there. To be honest, I kind of felt like a tough guy when I went down there on
my own, coming face to face with people who had no where left to go.
When everything is going as planned, there’s a big crew of
volunteers there from one of the local churches. Everyone has their own little
job. A police officer is present for the first few hours of the evening while
everyone is getting checked in and settled down.
The night I was there it wasn’t like this. There was one
elderly couple that was there to help set up cots, and then they went home and
it was just me and one other volunteer. No cop or other volunteers, just us and
30 homeless people.
This other volunteer was a woman a little older than me. She
has muscular dystrophy, which makes it a
little challenging for her to walk. But whenever anyone needed anything, she
quickly got up a made her way across the room, sometimes holding on to the wall
when she needed to, and retrieved whatever they needed. She was doing this
constantly.
That morning, when she was going to church, a car slid
sideways on the icy road in front of her, and although she got over as far as
she could, it hit her front fender. Her car wasn’t badly damaged, but the
fender was pushed into the tire, and the wheel, and maybe more, was bent. It
wasn’t driveable, and since it was an older car with a lot of miles, it was
probably totaled, which meant she’d have to come up with some money for a
replacement.
She went on to church, and after church she hung out at the
library until the homeless shelter opened that evening. Then she reported in
for her volunteer shift, just like she does every Sunday. I should say four
shifts, because she does the set up shift, the 7 to midnight shift, the
midnight to 6 shift, and a clean up shift. She said that since she comes all
the way from Ashland, she might as well make it worthwhile, rather than just
doing a single shift.
She was worried about her car being out of commission,
because she didn’t know how she was going to get to the VA hospital, where she
volunteers a couple of days a week.
When I left when my shift was up at midnight, this woman was
joined by her daughter. Her daughter is a college student who also works at a
convenience store. She had gotten off work a couple of hours earlier, and was
going to volunteer with her mom at the shelter from midnight until morning.
There’s more to being a Christian than just being a nice guy
who doesn’t steal and cheat. This woman volunteering at the shelter wasn’t
Jesus, but she was sure getting a lot closer than I am.
In Matthew 25, Jesus reminded us that when we feed the
hungry, provide water for the thirsty, clothes for people who need it, care for
the sick, visit the imprisoned, that’s how we serve him. Let’s pray.
Dear God, it’s easy to give ourselves a passing grade, and
feel good about how we could doing a lot worse. May our eyes be opened so we
can aspire to the best rather than meeting the minimum standard. Amen.
