“Are you a Christian?”

“Are you a Christian?”

That was the first thing he said to me,

"Are you a Christian?"

Well, I was raised a Methodist.

Isn’t that a Christian?

I had just moved off Campus and he lived in the rooming house

He came into my room and asked

"Are you a Christian?"

It was the first time I had ever had a stranger ask me that.

And he was a stranger ... and strange.

Evidently not enough of a Christian for him.

"Are you a Christian?"

I told him yes, but I did not fit HIS definition of

a REAL Christian.

You see I did not go to

his Church.  My beliefs did not fit his

mold for being a Christian.

Never mind that I accepted

the teaching of the Christ..

Never mind that the Golden Rule was my guide stone

or that I believed in giving to the poor.

I had to be “saved” and “going to heaven”

Wherever that is?

"Are you a Christian?"

I’ve been thinking about that question for

a long time -  50 years off and on now.

"Are you a Christian?"

What did I look like?  A Hindu, a Moslem, a Sikh

Wiccan, Episcopalian;

Quaker, Mormon, Jew?

What does a Christian look like?

There are so many different kinds -- (33,000+)

sort of like all the different apples that grow on trees,

or  the various peas in a pod; alike but so different.

Over the years I have attended, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal,

Congregational, Episcopal, Lutheran (who don’t like to pray with me because my idea of God might be different from theirs) Christian Science, Unity, Unitarian and I am sure there are some others.

I used to pray out loud but decided that the

“divine auditory nerve” didn’t need to hear from me

since He/She probably already knew what I wanted.

And besides the Master told me to “pray in secret” so I do.

Silently in the silence of my heart.

I used to go to church 

but didn’t find many people there following in His footsteps. 

Besides the smell of flowers is much better that that of incense

and the song of birds in the forest is grander than any choir.

               and so all the world is my church.

There are many paths to the top of the mountain but

“the view is always the same.” 

All the various religions will get me there

or for that matter if I don’t want to believe in one

I will still get there because God made us all and

keeps us all, in His Mind.

Each person is like a snowflake, unique, individual one-of-a-kind.

(If a snowflake can be unlike any other snowflake so can a person) 

One in all of time.

"Are you a Christian?"…

Well, more of a Christian than you, I think.

The guy who used to come home from the bars

Singing “Nearer my God to Thee,” at 2:30 in the morning

Was probably more of a Christian than any of us..

Because he celebrated the JOY of being and that is

What Christianity is all about.

January 7, 2013