By the time you read this over a hundred members and friends of Claremont Presbyterian Church will have begun meeting in small groups to read and experience Unbinding Your Heart: 40 Days of Prayer and Faith Sharing. Those who were not able to be part of a group will hear something about the ideas and themes of the book in our worship services during this season of Lent.

One of the questions the book asks us to ponder is, What difference does it make to your life that you are a Christian?

This can be a hard question to answer for those of us who grew up going to church and don’t have a dramatic conversion story. Being a Christian and being part of a church community is so woven into our lives that it’s hard to pick out that individual thread we can call "faith" or "Christian community".

So try to imagine what your life might look like if that thread was missing.

Imagine:

According to the book’s author, Martha Grace Reese, pondering this question is important because it helps us find reasons to share our faith and our experience of Christian community. Christians in mainline churches do not tend to share their faith because they want to "save" people from hell. Mainline Christians who do well with evangelism do well because they are clear about why faith and faith community makes a difference in their lives. Because they know what a difference it makes, they are open – dare we say it – even eager to share that with others.