This is going to be rough – be forewarned. I have been thinking a lot lately about the significance of the Christian community. We had a Pakistani bishop on campus yesterday and he spoke of the conditions Christians in Pakistan must endure. A question was asked about ramifications since Gene Robinson’s election and consecration. According to the bishop, it has only made life harder on Pakistani Christians. They face much persecution from the Muslim majority.
What is the responsibility of individual Christians to the entire Christian community? Americans love to think of ourselves as free-spirits, individualists, independent, and in some ways having an attitude of “to hell with everyone else.” Our sense of personhood and extreme individuality causes us individually and collectively to have little concern for the effects of our actions on others. We see this in our politics, both nationally and internationally. We see this in individual lives as we attempt to claim our ‘rights.’ I am the center of the universe! We are the center of this world!
This may be very American, but it is not very Christian. There are positive aspects of these kinds of attitudes, but I believe that as a Christian I must have a weary-eye as I live life in this culture. The United States is a City of Man, not a City of God, a Kingdom of this World, not the Kingdom of God. I must be concerned of the effects my actions have on my brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.

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