I went on vacation. I’m back and I’m feeling particularly spunky.
So what am I feel spunky about?
How about Pope Benedict declaring all Protestant churches “defective” because somehow (he believes) we don’t fall in the line of apostolic succession? (If you don’t even know what apostolic succession is, that’s ok, cuz basically the rest of this blog is not about weighty doctrinal language but about poking fun at idiocy).
Articles and blogs have had Protestant leaders getting their underwear in a bunchy about the Pope calling us defective. Well, what’s so wrong with that?! We ARE defective! The point that my comrades missed about the idiocy of the Pope’s statement is that he fails to see how the Catholic Church is defective TOO! We are ALL defective.
It’s not that one church has it “right” and the other/s don’t. NEITHER of us, NONE of us do! You know that line in the Lord’s Prayer that goes “YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done…” No Christian or church has completely figured it out yet. That’s why when we talk about Christ’s second coming—it’s not here yet! Cuz if WE’RE to be the BODY of Christ, it’s not until we act fully as he would have us do that the kingdom will come! Jesus isn’t going to skateboard down on some cloud and zap everyone into good behavior someday. It’s up to us, his followers—who are fallible, often unknowing people—to try to live by God’s grace to be Christ’s body on this earth—to make the world, the “kingdom,” as God and Jesus would have it to be.
In sum,… I would have liked to have said (and thought) that we were a little closer to the kingdom coming before the Pope’s latest snafu. But looking at world-wide church leadership and its complete lack of self-awareness… Hmm… guess two thousand years since Jesus lived isn’t long enough for us to have figured it out. I’ll be optimistic: give us another thousand.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Monday, August 6, 2007
What Evangelism IS
So I beat one of my parishioners with a Bible in worship yesterday. OK, yes, he knew it was coming and he agreed to it.
In my sermon I was talking about what evangelism is, and what evangelism is not. Yeah—the Bible thumping, Bible beating was a demonstration of what evangelism is NOT.
As mainline Protestants we’ve let too many fundamentalists and so-called “evangelicals” run away with this word and its true Greek meaning: good news. They’ve stolen our good news and tried to beat people up—maybe not physically—but certainly verbally and theologically with the Bible. Especially our GBLT brothers and sisters.
The Gospel of John, chapter 4:7-30 tells the story of Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well. Sharing the good news with her wasn’t an attack by Jesus-- beating her up with the latest papyrus copy of the Hebrew Scriptures. Instead of a one-time verbal attack or domination of dialogue, Jesus takes a five-step approach to sharing the good news he has for her life. He INITIATES contact with the woman by meeting her at the well (a place where he was crossing cultural, linguistic, and sexual boundaries by talking with her). He engages in CONVERSATION with her (the text is great here—this is one of the handful of times that the gospels are really drawn-out in their dialogue). They both share in REFLECTION of the thoughts and opinions of the other (what a refreshing way for us to consider talking to someone about our faith lives?!). The Samaritan woman is RE-DIRECTED, physically (heads back to the city) and spiritually, after her encounter with Jesus. The woman is REJUVENATED—she’s given new energy and new life by learning about the “living water” and she runs back to tell others. Those who listen to her are so excited about what they’ve heard, they then leave the city and turn to find Jesus for themselves.
Conclusion?
What evangelism IS according to Jesus:
Purposeful initiation of contact, engagement in conversation, dialogue that encourages thoughtful reflection, redirection of life after a mystical encounter, and living and sharing a rejuvenated life because of the experience.
In my sermon I was talking about what evangelism is, and what evangelism is not. Yeah—the Bible thumping, Bible beating was a demonstration of what evangelism is NOT.
As mainline Protestants we’ve let too many fundamentalists and so-called “evangelicals” run away with this word and its true Greek meaning: good news. They’ve stolen our good news and tried to beat people up—maybe not physically—but certainly verbally and theologically with the Bible. Especially our GBLT brothers and sisters.
The Gospel of John, chapter 4:7-30 tells the story of Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well. Sharing the good news with her wasn’t an attack by Jesus-- beating her up with the latest papyrus copy of the Hebrew Scriptures. Instead of a one-time verbal attack or domination of dialogue, Jesus takes a five-step approach to sharing the good news he has for her life. He INITIATES contact with the woman by meeting her at the well (a place where he was crossing cultural, linguistic, and sexual boundaries by talking with her). He engages in CONVERSATION with her (the text is great here—this is one of the handful of times that the gospels are really drawn-out in their dialogue). They both share in REFLECTION of the thoughts and opinions of the other (what a refreshing way for us to consider talking to someone about our faith lives?!). The Samaritan woman is RE-DIRECTED, physically (heads back to the city) and spiritually, after her encounter with Jesus. The woman is REJUVENATED—she’s given new energy and new life by learning about the “living water” and she runs back to tell others. Those who listen to her are so excited about what they’ve heard, they then leave the city and turn to find Jesus for themselves.
Conclusion?
What evangelism IS according to Jesus:
Purposeful initiation of contact, engagement in conversation, dialogue that encourages thoughtful reflection, redirection of life after a mystical encounter, and living and sharing a rejuvenated life because of the experience.
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