Thanks to Nicodemus, I started borrowing a line from Maya Angelou, recipient of the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, who said she was always amazed when people came up to her and told her they were Christian. “I think, ‘Already?’ ” she said. “ ‘You already got it?’ ”
“I’m working at it,” she continued, “which means that I try to be as kind and fair and generous and respectful and courteous to every human being.” She was in her eighties when she said that. It sounded like the perfect Christian baseline to me: how you treat every human being, neighbor and stranger alike. Even if you are still working at it, that is the mustard seed.
from “Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others” by Barbara Brown Taylor – HarperOne