Why have we got it so wrong?

After three pounds of Alaskan crab legs dipped in drawn butter, two s'more-oreo cookies and one numbing run through the freezing rain in a skirt and heels later, it finally hit me. Being a Christian is not about keeping away from the alcohol, or staying away from pubs, or resisting the urge to shake it when a secular song comes up. Or being the first one into church on Sundays. Or making sure Friday and Saturday nights are spent in Bible study. Or hanging out with only Christian friends. Or saying "Praise God" at every intersection of the conversation.

Being a Christian is about looking out for the person that is standing alone in a group setting, and talking to that person. It's about going up and caring for the most unpopular person in class. It's about stepping away from your normal comfortable group and introducing yourself to that girl in the corner who looks awkward at her first service. It's about not judging. It's about putting others first. It's about shifting the attention so that the limelight will always be on someone else. It's about giving that person you talking to, regardless of status or relationship, your undivided attention. It's about reaching out to know someone better. It's about reminding people, that they are special.

Jesus drank wine, attended wedding parties and hang out with his disciples, friends and even tax collectors. Sounds like quite a happening life eh. What He did that made Him stand out from the others was that He didn't judge the adulterous women who was about to be stoned, He didn't turn away the outcasts of society aka lepers, He took time to talk to and care for the Samaritan woman who had five husbands at the well, He comforted Lazarus' sisters and helped them, and He washed the feet of His disciples.

The people that made it into the Bible were not the ones that kept the law religiously and turned away from people who didn't. It was the good Samaritan, not that Priest that made the "Hall of Fame" if there was one.

So why have we got it all reversed? Why has Christianity become a list of don'ts and not dos? Why have we enforced our personal moral yardstick on others without first getting to know them has human beings? Is this why the word Christian has became synonymous with the word hypocrite? Why is it always me, me, me, me, me?

"Love your neighbour as yourself."

The second greatest commandment of the New Testament that somehow got lost in the sea of rules and rituals, and our need to be a stellar Christian in the eyes of others. It's easy to not be a stumbling block for others, than to be a stepping stone for others.

Thank you Jane (haha....yes inside joke) for the six hours of great conversation about everything from religion to boys to economics, as we picked apart crab legs and put our marshmallows on fire. Your views and the situation we caught ourselves in at cosi's inspired this post. Here's to crab legs and racial minority!