"I'm a Christian, and...."

Working on Step 2, I read the first three pages of "We Agnostics" this morning. Several phrases caught my eye:

• Lack of power, that was our dilemma. We had to find a power by which we could live, and it had to be a Power greater than ourselves. Obviously....
• And it means, of course, that we are going to talk about God....
• ...even though it was impossible for any of us to fully define or comprehend that Power, which is God.
• The Realm of the Spirit is broad, roomy, all inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.

The BB reading juxtaposed itself beside a snippet from an otherwise productive conversation last night. That snippet was, "I'm a Christian, and...." Now, the conversation was not in a void. But that statement, from a person my new sponsor has already identified as having very solid footing on my resentments list. Why is it the people who have to point out they're a Christian don't seem to be? And why do I feel a lot freer to talk about my history in the church--that I've been church staff in three churches, have a degree in Christian ed, wrote UMC literature--and I would tend to choke on the words, "I'm a Christian, and..." in casual conversation.
OA Tradition Three says the only membership requirement is a desire to stop eating compulsively. There are those who would list a set of prerequisites, a plan of salvation, for the right to say, "I'm a Christian," but that list grates like the phrase to me. A convicted felon said, "Don't you fear God since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." And then, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." That was enough. Asking. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." (quotations from NIV, Luke 23:40-43)

An earnest desire. It's enough. "It is open, we believe, to all."

I walk on my side of the street. I have no obligation or right to clean up the other side. If she asks my assessment of the spirituality of her walk, I can make suggestions, tell how habits she thinks are supportive come across as one-ups-man-ship. She hasn't asked. The character defects that bug us in others tend to be our own. I'm haughty. About my religious credentials, about all kinds of things. But it's a character defect God can remove from me, from my side of the street.

I'm having trouble finishing this because God's working a miracle in my family right now! My son has an interview for a dream job! Thank God!