sorority

I’m a Christian. And I’m in a sorority. I’m so used to people saying it the other way around. I’m in a sorority. And I’m a Christian. It’s almost like the fact that I’m a Christian is the surprising part.  It’s sad, really. I’m defined by my Earthly involvement. It really upsets me when people see me wearing Greek letters and think that I have to fit some mold as a party girl.  But it upsets me even more when people think that because I’m a Christian, I have to fit some mold of really conservative and judgmental.  Isn’t that exactly what God calls us to do? To break the mold and make a new one in His name that anyone can join and be a part: A mold that is accepting and loving no matter what you do with your Friday night? Sure, as brothers and sisters in Christ we should keep each other accountable, but if we're truly living in Christ's image, wouldn't we reflect the mercy and grace that He so freely gives with that accountability instead of making an exclusive group that only people with socially acceptable sins can be a part of?  One day, I was riding in a car with my best friend from college and her mother, who might be one of the most comical people you’ve ever met with the biggest heart.  Robyn, Shelby’s mom said, “I think if Jesus were alive today, He’d be a sorority girl at a state university.”  We laughed.  What in the world was she talking about?  Then, I realized she was talking about how Jesus didn't fit the mold of what people thought were the stereotype of the religious.  I often get judged by other Christians for spending some of my nights at mixers or hanging out with frat boys.  I’m not saying I’m anywhere near the perfection that was and is Jesus, but Jesus hung out with people that fit a stereotype. But He showed how they too were God's children, and individual people that God had created in His image.  He didn't just turn away and say that their sins weren't as acceptable as others.  He showed them His Father's grace, mercy and love in order to gain credibility to keep them accountable in their faith in the future. There's a story of Christ in Mark 2 that talks about Christ eating with the sinners and tax collectors.  The Pharisees saw Him, and immediately judged Him for His associations. His response :"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." He walked this Earth breaking barriers, and looking past stereotypes.  He came to be a light of God in a world full of sin that needed it most. When I joined a sorority, that’s the burden God put on my heart: be a light in a world that gets a bad rap for stereotypes,  learn to look past those stereotypes, and be a part of the world, but not of it by doing His work despite what people would say about me.  Not to say that every sorority girl meets the stereotype, but let’s face it: stereotypes come from somewhere. Which means, that stereotype that bothers me most about what people think of me when they hear I'm a Christian has to come from somewhere, too.  It's about time we break the barrier past that stereotype, and be the light in the world He created us to be: showing our faith above all else. It's about time we make our own mold in Christ’s name by being a reflection of Him in a world that needs it most, despite what stereotype you get stuck with along the way.  I will always remember Robyn's quote, and get a little giggle out of picturing Jesus walking around in Greek letters, pearls, high waisted skirt and cardigan.    

• Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
• John 15:18-21: "If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me." 
• 2 Corinthians 2:14-16: “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?"