7th Sunday after Easter

7TH Sunday Of Easter – Year A – Being a Christian

What is it to be a Christian? Especially in today’s world where so much is derided and discarded about Christians in general and Roman Catholics, it seems, in particular.

Peter speaks in our second reading about the privilege of being called or known as a Christian; that if we/they/he should suffer as a result of this calling, “…he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one.”

But what is this Christian to which he refers? He says it is someone who has, “…some share in the suffering of Christ” and is glad of it and for it.

It is someone who accepts when, “… they insult you for bearing the name of Christ because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you.”

Peter was speaking to the people of the early church: the people to whom the idea of Christ and of God was something new, maybe strange, but wonderful to consider and to take into their hearts and minds. A people for whom theses ideas of love for neighbour – any and all neighbours – was strange, foreign and alien and certainly against the grain. But a people who were prepared to open their eyes, ears, hearts and minds to this new message; this new idea of love, of caring for one and all, irrespective of who they were or where they had come from.

Peter offered them Christ’s teaching that a life worth living was a life that was filled with the love of God expressed and demonstrated through their love of each other and of all mankind. That if they followed these teachings, they would indeed be Christians, followers of Christ. That it would mean that they had, “the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on (them)”.

But he didn’t sugar-coat this teaching in any way. No – he told them that they would have to face challenges, they would have to face suffering, they would have to be strong in adversity and be prepared to stand up and to proclaim loudly and proudly what they believe. I am a Christian. I believe in Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour. I believe that God loves me, a lowly sinner so much that he sent his only Son to be born for me, to live, suffer and to die for me and that he raised him up after three days to resurrect me, and all mankind, from sin and that it is on me, and for me, to look at how I can show my love of him every day and in every way possible. And that they would have to face all kinds of ridicule, rejection, isolation and condemnation for their beliefs and for the practice of their faith.

And John echoes this in today’s gospel where he recounts Jesus proclaiming that, “…all that you have given me comes indeed from You, for I have given them the teachings that you gave to me.” The teachings that you gave to me.

All that Peter had offered to the early church, the early Christians echoes true for us here today. We have been offered this same offering. We know the story. We know the truth of what Peter was saying. We know the context much better than these early Christians. We know the back-story leading up to Jesus’ birth, to his life and to his death and resurrection. We know what it is to be a Christian. Don’t we? Do we?

We have recently celebrated, all be it in a very strange way this year, the great feast of Easter, of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We celebrated this past week His Ascension into heaven. We remembered his final set of words to his apostles – go forth across the whole world, teaching what I have taught you, baptising every nation in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. And know that I will be with you to the end of time.

But this year, much more then any other year certainly in my lifetime, it has all taken on a new meaning, a new focus, a new challenge if you like. This year, the times in which we are living have made me stop and think really hard about this question: What is it to be a Christian? What does it mean in today’s society and in today’s world? How do I live a life “filled with the love of God expressed and demonstrated through (their) love of each other and of all mankind?”

How do we do this when we live in almost complete isolation? When we are no longer gathering together in church for mass and services?

I would offer that it is especially in these times of restriction, of containment, of feeling possibly alone, frightened, scared, isolated, forgotten – that we should rise to the challenge as Peter exhorts us to do. These are the times when we need to reach out in any way that we can to each other, to show “the love of God expressed and demonstrated through the love of each other and of all mankind.”

These are the times, and the period of Easter is the most special of times, to show people, our neighbours and society around us what it is to be a Christian, what it means to live a life of faith in the love of our Lord and God his Father. We are strong. We are joyful. We celebrate life and its living. We rejoice in the knowledge that we are saved. We look to see how, where and when we can connect with others safely, actively, conscientiously and lovingly to offer our care, our support and our praise for God in all that we do, say and pray.

These are testing times. These are the times when we need to be Christian and show it to all.