We Don’t Walk Away
My Dear People,
"Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being 'Christian' or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to 'belong' to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else." --author Anne Rice, in the summer of 2010
We all have had--and we all will have--moments of exasperation with the Church, with "Christianity", with other Christians, with, well, each other. However, if we are to follow in the way of Christ, that means that we don't walk away. Bearing with one another, we model for the world the love that God has for us, and for all God's children.
We stick with each other because God first stuck with us.
As one of our Eucharistic prayers says,
"When our disobedience took us far from you, you did not abandon us to the power of death. In your mercy you came to our help, so that in seeking you we might find you. Again and again you called us into covenant with you, and through the prophets you taught us to hope for salvation."
Just as God doesn't abandon us, we don't abandon each another. Instead, just as God does, again and again, we seek covenant.
Again and again. Just as God did.
Again and again. So do we.
We don't walk away.
We are Christians.
Your brother in Christ,
Wallace+
