A few thoughts on participating at CBF
Submitted by Heather on December 05 2000 20:59:06
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The priest at my old parish used to give the same sermon every Sunday. The words would vary, but the theme was always the same: People are judging the Church by your actions. He was right, of course. If a Christian turns the other cheek, then nonChristians learn that the Church teaches that you should love your enemy. If a Christian says something nasty to someone who has just hurt him, then all the words in the world about the Gospel message will make no difference. NonChristians will have learned what the Church is, and they will have learned that the Church is composed of people who, when they have been hit, hit back. The same is true of any group, of course. Whoever we are, Christian or nonChristian, boylover or nonboylover, people who see us posting here are judging the group we belong to by the way in which we act toward other people here. If we are nasty and vindictive – even if we are nasty and vindictive in defense – then observers who do not belong to our group will say, "I always knew that Christians/nonChristians/boylovers/nonboylovers were hateful people." And the trouble is that, though the people saying this are simplifying matters tremendously in generalizing about a group based on a few people's actions, it remains true that a body of people is no better than its members. Those here who are Christian may recall that Paul speaks in I Corinthians about the importance of each member's actions to the body of Christ: "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together." And, he might have added, if one member sins, all sin together. None of us, whether Christian or nonChristian, is likely to forget the words Paul speaks immediately afterwards. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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