emekagodwin@hotmail.com

     In 2000 I went to an African American church in downtown Cambridge Massachusetts. After the service that Sunday morning, the folks went around greeting and hugging each other. A man walked past me and waved. Unconsciously I bowed slightly and waved back.

      This man stopped and came up to me, “You are from Africa?” He asked. I was shocked; the church was an African American church with 99% blacks. I was not the blackest person in that hall; I was not wearing a dashiki so how did he know I was an African? The man introduced himself and we started talking. It turned out he was from the northern part of Nigerian. I grew up in the northern part of Nigeria! He told me that when I greeted him with a slight bow he immediately suspected I was African.

      As we go about our daily life we unwittingly send off signals that give people clues of who we are and what we stand for. Take this guy I met in Framingham for instance. He went to work wearing lip gloss, he walked funny and held his hand up in a funny way, and he had his hair in a pony tail. One day I bumped into him at Stop and Shop, the guy was carrying a purse! He was exuding a very strong gay vibe. Later I heard him talking and defending his homosexuality.

      Many years ago Jesus advised his disciples saying “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works , and glorify your Father which is in heaven” Mathew 5 : 16. He was simply telling them to release the Christian vibes wherever and whenever.

   It is so hard these days to spot a Christian. You could live with someone for months and still not be able to tell if he or she is a Christian or not. The vibe is missing in our faith. God wants us to start releasing the vibe so that people would see it and glorify our father in heaven.

   Every day is an opportunity to release the Christian vibe. For starters you can try to be nice to everyone you meet. They say that nice people finish last, but as Christians we have no option but to be nice. Your Christianity lacks credibility if you at not nice. One at my work place a colleague asked me a very strange question, “Why are you so nice?” “Because I am born again” I said smiling. She nodded her head and said “I knew you were going to say that”

   Another way we release the Christian vibe is through our words. I once saw a man in a wheel chair yelling and swearing at someone. He had Alzheimer and didn’t really know what he was saying. I was shocked when I learned that he was a retired priest! The truth of the matter is that we send the wrong vibe if we don’t talk right.

   Our level of love and tolerance also is an indicative of the genuineness of our faith. I rode in an elevator with a girl from the Caribbean. Someone had just provoked her and she was ranting. Suddenly she said to me “I don’t like Brazilians. An hour later I met this girl again and she was singing a Christian song. The last time I checked the bible it said” love your neighbor as yourself”. If you are a Christian and you find yourself not liking a certain tribe or a certain race maybe it is time you reexamine your faith.

   Some times to exude the Christian vibe you just have to identify yourself. I am quick to let people know who I am and whose I am. A girl at my job told me someone sent her a funny email, she asked me if I wanted her to forward it to me. I asked her what the content of the email was. She told me it was a funny clip about a stripper. Politely, I told her I was not interested. “Why?” she asked in shock “Because it is against my religion” I said.

Copyright Emeka O. Godwin