"Does the word 'Christian' make your stomach turn?"

That is the question that was posed by Friendly Christian. Frankly I was surprised that he got only 63 comments. There is are many people who are cynical or hostile towards Christians and usually they are not shy about speaking up ... often with good reason. After all, I used to be one of "them" and the list of complaints my friend Hey Jules thoughtfully sorted is very similar to the one I had myself.

My admittedly unoriginal thought is that we are living in the equivalent of the first century and there are a lot of forces out there who do not paint Christians or Christianity in a very positive light. Movies, television, reporters, and more are intent on pushing an agenda that is decidedly at odds with Christianity.

Also, as we all know, many times we ourselves reinforce the negative images with both hands. Let's face it. We are sinners. Period. That means we fall and sometimes we fall quite ungracefully with plenty of witnesses around. Some of those witnesses take our every action to be representative of Christianity as a whole. That's a fair cop because, warts and all, we are ambassadors of Christ.

So how is one to respond to these complaints? My initial thought is that there is no group of people where one can't pick out at least one member who embarrasses the others by their lack of ability to live up to their common standards. Yet, again, we are supposed to be better than other groups. We are followers of the Son of God after all.

The first century Christians were pointed out by others because of "how they love each other."

How do we do this too? How do we show this love so it shines forth?

How does the kingdom of God grow? Through ambassadors of Christ, believers who have been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Through people like St. Lawrence, who are made capable of loving and serving Jesus to limitless degrees!

The Word Among Us

The first century Christians picked up babies abandoned to die on street corners and adopted them, they took care of the sick in epidemics when everyone else fled, they fed the poor and asked for nothing in return. They showed their love in the way that speaks loudest when you don't have a common language ... actions. They didn't go around talking about it. That was the quick way to martyrdom. They lived it.

We must help provide alternatives and not simply parrot ideals. We have to be active in our love as well as simply want the best. Each person has a different spot where God has placed them to show his love and change the world a little for the better ... whether it is through their family, their friends, or their community at large. We must seek God's will for the place we should be ... and then get in there and do it.

The first century Christians were martyrs. They endured torture and horrible deaths because they loved God so that they couldn't imagine turning their backs on Him.

God must be the center of our lives. He is truth and love. If he is the center of our lives then we too will live from a center of truth and love.

Are we willing to be martyrs ... because we are so in love with God? We can say yes because there is very little likelihood that we will be asked for that ultimate sacrifice. In it's place can we than endure the pinpricks of daily life with love for our neighbor ... the person who cuts us off in traffic, who pushes past us and lets the door slam in our faces, who yells at our child, who reports the old lady down the street to the city for brown grass, who accuses a teenager of scraping their car and then wants the payment in cash?

Remember, loving someone doesn't mean that we have mushy, feel-good emotions but that we have their best interest, their greatest good at heart. It means we act on our will and harness our emotions which often aren't good ones at all. It means saying a prayer for them (and often for ourselves as we struggle), "Lord have mercy on me and bless them" and still being polite or friendly or helpful when they don't care a whit.

Above all we must pray ... for ourselves and for others, for God's grace to carry us through when we can't carry ourselves.

The ultimate answer comes from many places as God uses everything around us to pull us back up again and again. We are to keep trying, never be defeated, and always, always love our neighbor as ourself ... even, and especially, when that means humiliating ourselves by asking forgiveness when we have done the wrong thing.

Am I good at this? Heck no. I wish I was. But eventually I manage to pick myself back up and launch myself into the fray again. That is my job. Whether I do it well or badly depends on how close I am to God. To my shame I am rarely close enough to do it well. But, again, I keep trying to get closer and to do it well enough to make Him proud, to show my love. Thank God for His grace or I'd never get anywhere!

God uses us, imperfect instruments as we all are, to shake up a cynical and hostile world. All we need to do is cooperate by living lives of love as best we can. Often we are unwittingly used by God. We think we are just living our lives while behind the scenes God is busy pulling strings.

Sometimes He uses a yellow sticky note to jolt someone out of cynicism.

As we were wrapping up I grabbed my purse off of the desk, and lying next to it I saw a stack of some broadcast documents and personal papers that belonged to him. On top of the papers was a bright yellow sticky note with the words "PRAY FOR REBECCA" written in large letters. ...

Sometimes He uses a little girl's plea.

"Mommy, can I pleeeeeeeease borrow a dollar?"

This became her standard question. And the first time she asked it, I almost gave my standard answer: No, they'll just use it to buy drugs. It's the answer that was drilled into me during my time in L.A., the answer I hadn't spent much time second guessing until my daughter stood before me in Chicago with her plaintive plea. ...

And sometimes he uses two accountants ... a bad one and a good one.

... So, kneeling at Mass one day, I made God a deal. All He had to do was to get a me a new house as a sign. Then I’d know He was there … and I’d have a new house. ...