Rev Dr Margaret Trapnell, United Church of Canada
This is a question that has been asked a number of times in different settings where I have recently been. At this time when so many in society and in the church are questioning what they believe and how, it becomes important to be able to answer clearly – “Why be a Christian?”
For me, it has to do with that indefinable "more", to be able to rely on something outside myself that can strengthen my spirit and help me get from one day to the next. I believe in community and what a community can do when working together, but to have the added depth of the spirit found in God in Jesus Christ makes it possible to do more than what we thought we were able to do.
The other answer for me is hope; hope for an unseen future, hope for loved ones whom I have put into God's care, hope in all the promises given by God in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus our Christ. To be a Christian is to live a life that belongs to something/someone else; to hold to values that seem to contradict today's society and to live with the knowledge of a God who really does care and who offers us life in all of its holy abundance.