What is Christianity about?
At its most simple expression, Christianity is about following Jesus Christ. Jesus lived in Palestine two thousand years ago. In the Bible, the four Gospels, St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John, tell us of his life and teaching. They also tell us of his cruel death under Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator in Jerusalem at that time. But most uniquely and significantly, they witness that beyond death Jesus was seen to be alive, and to have broken the power of death.
The church came to understand that in Jesus we meet God, come amongst us, and death could not hold this one who was both truly God and truly human. Many pictures and images are used to try to explain this mystery and wonder at the centre of the Christian faith.
A faith that circles the globe, a faith that encompasses people in every nation, culture, condition, and has a history of two thousand years, cannot not be simply stated. To me a cut diamond shining in the light gives an image that helps me understand: The purity of the diamond cries out to be revealed: in its cutting, its clarity, what it is, is allowed to be reflected out, to be seen. We see Jesus as God with us: God in human form, and in coming to know Jesus, we catch of glimpse of God. The Christian Church has many denominations, each represents a facet of what see Jesus as revealing. One facet alone would not allow much of the diamond to be seen. I see the church worldwide as reflecting, albeit not perfectly, something of the clarity, the love, the truth of Jesus Christ to the world.
For me the core of the faith, as it is expressed in the Anglican Church, is that Jesus, God with us, teaches us to follow his way of inclusive, open, genuine love for all people: a love that allows for no outsiders, that breaks barriers between people, a love that challenges us to follow his example in our own lives.
Yet all of us, if we pause to think about it, are only too well aware of our failures to be people of love like Jesus was. We exclude people we don’t care for from our circle, we are judgemental, cruel at times, thoughtless, often! We are all aware that the Ten Commandments provide a moral basis for life. Jesus said that all the commandments could be summed up in just two: Love God with your whole heart, and your neighbour as yourself. As we read the Gospels we uncover a whole new depth of what keeping the commandments involves, and recognise our failures to live lives of love for God as others as Jesus commands us to. The small word we use, to sum up all our failures, is “sin”. All who are honest with themselves know how many are failures. As the Christian Scriptures put it, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” and teach us that the death and resurrection of Jesus is to open the way for forgiveness and new life for all. We are taught to say we are sorry for our sins, and to be assured of God’s forgiving love for anyone who truly turns to him.
If you would like to know more of the Christian faith, and in particular in its Anglican manifestation, we have provided some links on our “Find out more” page – why not follow them and discover more. Of contact your local priest or minister to discuss these issues.