• What It’s All About,  John 15:9-17      (see below)
  by Rev. Karen Goltz     
   

• I Call You Friends, John 15:9-17, by Richard Gehring
   

• Our Definition of Love, John 15: 9-17, by Rev. Brian T. Flory
   

• When Victory is More than Wins and Losses, 1 John 5:1-6
  by T. Hall
   

• Don't fence me out, Acts 10: 34-43, by T. Hall

• God's Has No Witness Protection Plan, Acts 10: 34-43, by Randy Quinn

• God Does Not Play Favorites, Acts 10: 34-43, by the Iowa Star

• For The Love Of It All, John 15: 9-17, Rev. Draughon

• By Our Love, John 15: 9-17, by Brad Hall

• Unconditional Love, John 15: 9-17, Jim from B.C.

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What It’s All About
based on John 15:9-17
by Rev. Karen Goltz

            Over the years I’ve talked with a number of people who have abandoned their Christian heritage and chosen to live according to the standards and norms of our culture, instead.  Most of them were more or less good, honest, moral, upright people who simply didn’t want to be affiliated with Christianity anymore.  When I asked them why, most of them told me it was because Christianity is all about rules and judgment, do this or else, who’s in and who’s out, who’s a sinner and who’s saved, with too much of a focus on getting into heaven and not enough of a focus on making a difference in people’s lives.

            I can’t deny that that’s what Christianity often appears to be.  I myself was ostracized from two churches by the time I was seventeen.  The first time I was thirteen, and I missed the first day of CCD, which I understood as Catholic Sunday School taught on a weekday afternoon.  For missing that first class the teacher (who was not the priest) told the other students that I obviously didn’t care about God or the church, so I must be the spawn of the devil, and their souls would be in mortal danger if they associated with me in any way.  Most of these kids were in my junior high school, and promptly told me about it the next day.  (Fortunately they weren’t terribly concerned with the risk to their souls, and continued to associate with me at school.)

            The second time was when I was seventeen, and I was attending an Evangelical church with a friend and her family.  On a youth group ski trip the adult volunteer chaperone that was driving the car I was in was speeding and driving recklessly to try to make up for lost time, and caused a very serious accident.  Fortunately no one was killed, but I missed over a month of school, walked with crutches or a cane for several more months, and to this day I still don’t have the full use of my left leg.  My mother sued the church for negligence.  I was therefore deemed an unrepentant sinner beyond all hope of salvation.

            I’ve since come to realize that the people who ostracized me were not acting in an official capacity for either denomination, and neither the Catholic nor the Evangelical hierarchy would likely condone their actions.  But that doesn’t change the fact that by the tender age of seventeen, my experience with organized religion in general and Christianity in particular involved being judged, condemned, and cast out.  I was first comforted then appalled by how many other people are out there with similar experiences, with the perpetrators being not just Catholic or Evangelical, but also Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, United Church of Christ, Episcopalian, or pretty much any other brand of Christianity you can think of.

            Why do we do that?  Are the people I’ve spoken with correct?  Is Christianity just a bunch of rules used to decide who’s in and who’s out, and to give us the moral justification to judge and condemn those we don’t think make the cut?

            We do seem to have a lot of rules.  The most obvious ones that come to mind are the Ten Commandments.  But what about everything else?  What about all that moral behavior that we expect good Christians to demonstrate?  Many do to a certain extent.  But no one can do it all the time, and let’s face it, many of us don’t even try very hard or very often.  I remember a joke the pastor of the church I used to attend told during one of his sermons.  A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard.  Suddenly the light turned yellow, just in front of him.  He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.  The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.  As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.  The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.  He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell.  After a couple of hours, another police officer approached the cell and opened the door.  She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.  He said, “I’m very sorry for this mistake.  You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.  I noticed the ‘What Would Jesus Do’ bumper sticker, the ‘Follow Me to Sunday School’ bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.  Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.”   [continue]