pearwood

[I wrote this essay for our church newsletter. It is an essay that has been percolating for a long time.] Why am I still a Christian? It’s a fair question these days. Folks who identify as Christians have been loud hateful noises of late and aligning themselves on the side of the oppressor rather than the oppressed. Even my home church has declared that I am no longer quite orthodox enough, me being an LGBTQ+ supporter and all. I cannot remember a time when I was not a member of a Christian Reformed Church somewhere. When the church that has nurtured me all my life no longer has a place for me and my friends, it calls everything into question. So, why am I still a Christian? The short answer is that the Bible refuses to let me go. When I was in Army flight school fifty years ago, I hooked up with the Navigators, a very fine organization whose mantra is, “To know Christ and make him known.” They challenged me to read the Bible all the way through each year. I have been doing so ever