A Moment in Time – June 20th, 2019
June 20, 2019
Christ Representers
Jonathan Reynolds sings a song called “Christ Representers.” It includes
the following lyric:
“We’re not your average boys and girls
There’s something very special on our ID
What I’m worth to the world
It’s way bigger than me
Cuz we are, Christ Representers!”
Powerful lines, right?
Over the last few days, I have been extolling the virtues of Nurse
Sophia, the Oakwood alumna I met while at a Baltimore Hospital with
my dad last week.
In case you missed the context, Sophia’s positive exposure to
Bermudians during her time at Oakwood allowed her to quickly identify
our accent and establish what we call, in communication, homophily:
which is, essentially, a common field on interest. Homophily is what I
seek to quickly establish when I speak to an audience or visit a school in
another country or neighborhood. For example, when I visit South
Africa, I may not speak the same language of Xhosa, but I can create a
context for relationship through juggling a soccer ball with the students
or mentioning a South African player they love.
In our engagement with Nurse Sophia, the kindness we experienced
from her was grounded in her commitment to her profession but also
her positive previous experiences with our countrymen. She was able
to quickly establish homophily with us as exemplified by her initial
exchange with my family in the ER; she noted: “I went to school with
some really cool Bermudians. I know a lot of them. I know Travis,
Dwayne and Wayne Caines…” We hit it off from there!
This experience begs the question:
If you were the only Christian someone met, or the only person from
your town, city, university or country, would the next person coming
behind you receive favor because of your witness?
What a question!
It’s as John McReynolds sings: We are Christ Representers!
In my home, I have a saying I share with my sons often; I encourage
them to “leave people places and things better than you found them.”
As ‘Christ Representers,’ we have the privilege and opportunity to re-
present Christ.
You see, for 33 years, Jesus literally walked this earth. Jesus’
engagement with His Father, as well as his engagement with the human
family PRESENTS, as recorded in the Bible, the perfect example of how
we should live. Now the expectation is not that we will be perfect, in
ourselves. “There was only one perfect Man, and they hung Him on a
cross,” my dad often reminds me. Praise God, Jesus’ perfection covers
our imperfection! The expectation is that through the working of the
Holy Spirit in our lives we will grow and mature in Christ… as Christ
Representers.
We live in a world that is frustrated with pseudo-Christianity. I say
pseudo-Christianity because I know that the real thing is possible and
powerful. Still, in the words of Mahatma Ghandi, many would say, “I
like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so
unlike your Christ.” What people know longer have time for are
individuals who claim to be Christians but their lives and actions
contradict their claims. Let’s be honest, the way we treat people can be
rough. And God help our thoughts.
I don’t know about you, but I have met a lot of “nice-nasty, quote-
unquote Christians.” Folks who think that a cross on their chain, a
vegan diet, or the observance of the right day as the Sabbath affirm
that they love God with all their hearts and they love their neighbors as
themselves. This is not always the case. I meet people who claim to be
pro-life but they are not pro-all life: they are pro-life when it comes to
discussions of aborting a baby, but they are silent to injustice when that
baby grows to be an unarmed teenager who is racially profiled and
gunned down by law enforcement.
I think the world is actually interested in encountering real
Christians—true followers of Christ. And I’m not talking about a works-
based, guilt-laden approach; I’m talking about a gift grounded in Jesus
life, death and resurrection that gives us access to power, through the
Holy Spirit, to love God with all our hearts and our neighbors as
themselves.
Jonathan McReynolds is right: “We are Christ Representers! And we
shine our light so bright that we make ‘em say Whoa”
Help us, God, to RePresent…to represent…Jesus today in a world that
needs Him.
This is Dr. Ty Douglas, author of Border Crossing Brothas, and I want to
invite you to experience SALT—So Amazing Life Today; it’s available to
each of us, in Christ.
You can reach Dr. Ty at www.DrTyDouglas.org and follow him at @DrTyDouglas.
Link to purchase Border Crossing Brothas: https://www.amazon.com/Border-Crossing-«Brothas»-Navigating-Critical/dp/1433135388