The Importance of Being Christian

First Wednesday of Easter

     In what will be a couple of blogs about my own spiritual journey, I want to begin by dealing directly with Jennifer's question: "One question I have wanted to ask you for a long time how you began your journey to Christianity(other than being brought up in the church) and decided that this was the path for you. I know that you have studied many religions in depth. Philosophically, what led you in your belief and service?"

     The question as stated is difficult for me to answer, because I don't really think in the terms that the question was asking, but I'll try my best.

     My spiritual journey began at my baptism when I was an infant. There have been bumps in the road, a few wrongs turns, but the car has never broken down or run out of gas. It's still going. I'm still learning, still growing, still changing.

     I was thrown off course by the part of Jennifer's question that said, "(other than being brought up in the church)." It was the parentheses that threw me off. Being brought up in the church was definitely not parenthetical for me. It was central. It was everything. There was no "other" that began my journey. 

     I did not decide that Christianity was the path for me. God decided that, once again, at my baptism. I've never entertained the thought of being anything else but Christian. I will admit to a brief adolescent flirtation with agnosticism, but a little serious theological reading brought me out of that fairly quickly. Being Christian has always been a given for me. It's like my being male. It's just the way I am. It's just the way I was created. My parents didn't ask me whether I wanted to be baptized. They just did it. God didn't ask me whether I wanted to be Christian. God just did it. 

     Actually I have not studied many religions in depth. I've done enough study to get me twice through being forced to teach the introductory World Religions course, but that's about it. I'm knowledgeable about Judaism and Christianity but little else. I've started the Qur'an a couple of times, but not gotten very far. I was amazed that the early part of it is a lot about Jesus and the Virgin Mary. In fact, the Virgin Mary is the only woman mentioned in Qur'an. Muslims, unlike many Christians I know, believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. I've also been to Zen Buddhist meditation twice. I liked the sound of the gong that began and ended the meditation, but I didn't much like the lack of any sound during the hour in between. Meditation, like its Christian counterpart, Centering Prayer, is just not something I'm good at (I know that at least two of you who are reading this are dedicated meditators. I admire you). 

     The last part of the question, "Philosophically, what led you in your belief and service?" I'm going to save for tomorrow. Right now, I want to say that it was not philosophy but God that led me in my belief and service. That seems a little flippant. I'll meditate and philosophize on it for tomorrow. Sorry, I'm being flippant again.

Faithfully

Christian

P.S. Speaking of being flippant, the title of this blog is a pun on my name, and an allusion to a 19th century play. A gold star to the first person who can identify that play and its author. 5 gold stars wins a candy bar. Stuart leads the race with 1 gold star.