Better Than Me

Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Practice playing second fiddle. Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy [ones]; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody. – Romans 12:9-16 (MSG, abridged) 

I often tell my congregation: “I’m not a good person, but I’m better than I would have been if I weren’t a Christian.”  

How do I know this? Because after fully 50 years of practice, I’m no more perfect than when I began at age 4, surrounded by saints in my sweet UCC church growing up. I’m still ego-driven a lot of the time. I want to curse instead of bless when bullied or put on blast. I want to snark and gossip and hoard, or just drift off into a sea of streaming romcoms, instead of doing my part to make the world a sweeter, more healed place.  

But all that Christian practice as articulated in Romans has made it easier to yank myself away from the tractor beam of my own will, and let myself be lured instead by the lusciousness of God’s. The discipline of churchgoing has really helped: people holding each other accountable to the “we” we say we want to be and the kinds of ways we want to show up in the world. A world always watching us for signs of hypocrisy—as it should. 

The reward for doing this work is not God’s love. That’s already secured. The blessing arrives with the doing itself, as we get repeatedly free from the snares of the small self and swim in the ocean of a robust and loving We. 

Prayer
Holy One, you seductive siren of joy and justice: thank you for this faith, this practice, these people to practice with. Amen.

About the Author
Rev. Molly Baskette is the lead pastor of First Church Berkeley UCC and the author of books about church renewal, parenting, spiritual growth and more. Sign up for her author newsletter or get information about her newest book at mollybaskette.com.