What's the difference?

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.