Question: Does she know I'm a Christian?

 

One night, when I was a junior in high school, I was spending some time with my confirmation sponsor and a good friend of ours. We had decided to go to Burger King. Important to note: this particular Burger King had a child’s play area in a little patio outside, complete with a ball pit and a large tube slide and everything! My friend and I decided that we were going to slide down the slide on trays, much to the chagrin of my sponsor. Why not go sliding, right? We may have been a few inches over the height limit, but the place was empty.

So we took off our shoes and gathered our plastic vehicles, and proceeded up the stairs. This was going to be A-MAZING! See, when you go down a slide on a tray, you aren’t as easily slowed by jeans and rough clothing. Nope, it’s all slick and quick.

Laughing hysterically, we reached the top and continued with our descent. WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE…….oof! Uh-oh…

Who should meet us at the bottom? A Burger King employee.

(Though my memory is not the best,
I am sure this is probably what she looked like)

“You need to leave,” she ordered us. We reluctantly complied.

There was no more fun to be had. We had been kicked out.

We put our shoes back on and walked outside the gate which led from the play area to the parking lot. Where was my confirmation sponsor???? Her car was not there. I can’t believe she abandoned us at the restaurant! We wandered around for a moment looking for her, and spotted her car at the gas station next store. Oh, she’s getting gas. She’ll come back, we trusted. Sure enough, she did.

We climbed in the car, still laughing at our mischievous ordeal and gleefully explaining the whole event and the moment when the woman came and told us to leave, but she was silent. Gradually, our smiles faded.

After some time, she said very soberly, “Does she know you’re a Christian?”

Well…no. What reason had I given her to believe I was a Christian, in my immature disregard for rules and restaurant etiquette? In fact, if she did know I was Christian, I had just given her reason to believe that Christians were immature and probably not much different from the rest of the world (at least, the youth world).

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul writes, “I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call [some translations write vocation] you have received” (Eph. 4:1). He goes on, in the rest of the chapter, to describe what that entails:

·         Humility, gentleness, patience

·         Striving for unity

·         Not being led astray by false teaching or “deceitful scheming”

·         Living the Truth in love

·         Speaking the truth to one another

·         Not sinning in anger, and not “letting the sun go down” on our anger

·         Not stealing, but doing honest work and sharing with those in need

·         Building up others with our words, and not using foul language

·         Putting aside all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, reviling and malice, and replacing these  with kindness, compassion and forgiveness

That’s a tough load, I tell ya. But then, the call to beatitude – to union with Christ in heaven! – is a lofty call. We cannot earn heaven, but Christ invites all of us and offers us the gift of redemption that He Himself won for us. We ought to show ourselves worthy of this gift, this call, grateful for His generous mercy.

As Christians, members of Christ’s Body, our lives should direct others toward Christ our Head. Just as it would be strange to carry on a relationship with a headless person, people should not come to us and find only . . . us. Hopefully, by our actions and by our language, we encourage others to look to the Head. Hopefully, by our actions and by our language, we reveal the beauty of Christ, rather than detract from it.

There are times the words of my confirmation sponsor still resound in my head.

Does she know I’m a Christian? Do I love as Christ loves, or am I judgmental and self-righteous?

Does he know I’m a Christian? 
Do I confidently and uncompromisingly live my faith and morals, or do I say one thing and do another?

Does the world know I’m a Christian?

Is there anything that sets me apart, or do I act just like everyone else?

It is not easy to be a Christian. By that, I mean that it is not easy to take the call seriously, and truly live what we profess to believe. It is easy to compromise. Everyone does this. I don’t feel like it. I don’t want to upset them. All my friends cuss. It’s just a joke. I’m just having fun. It’s just a little lie. I have a right to be angry. I’m only like this at home. I'm doing what I think is best. It’s not that big of a deal…

Sliding down a Burger King slide on a food tray didn’t seem like a big deal either, but some things look different in the light of eternity.