Reclaiming Good News
I am going to ask you to indulge today in some fantasy thinking with me.
We are in the middle of a global pandemic and like me, you’ve probably seen an infection map, where they identify patient “0” and then map out all of the positive infections associated with exposure to that patient.
(Image is shared) (Pause)
The one that you see now traces cases of COVID 19 associated with a man in Ohio who attended a church event in mid-June. The result was 91 positive cases surrounding him.
This virus – it spreads like wildfire.
(pause to leave the image up a few seconds…) (back to Pastor)
So here’s where the fantasy thinking part comes in.
If someone told you that if you exercised three times a week and ate a reasonably healthy diet, you would have the ability to inoculate people against this virus just by being with them, would you do it?
Would you make the lifestyle investments?
Would you reach out and touch people – be with people, spend time with people?
What if your connection to people had the ability to spread resistance like wildfire?
Wouldn’t that be amazing?
The truth of the matter is that some would and some would not reach out and touch people in such a fantasy scenario. The reasons a person chooses to use or not to use the power of goodness are complicated by lots of factors – psychology is a tricky subject.
But imagine if you could change a life that way!
Today we end our series about becoming a disciple – which is not quite true, because in some ways, every sermon is about becoming a disciple, but since Easter we’ve been on this journey. We know that a disciple is one who:
experiences the forgiveness and acceptance of God
follows the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
demonstrates the fruit of the Spirit
shares in the life and witness of a community of disciples
serves in some form of ministry every day
anticipates a future life in the presence of God….
And finally, a disciple yearns to lead others to become disciples.
You heard it right…a disciple actually longs for the opportunity to lead others to the path of following Jesus.
Leading others to that path of discipleship is evangelism 101.
So if this is part of our own discipleship venture, someone please tell me why the “evangelism committee” is nearly defunct at most Protestant churches today?
Take a moment. What has been your experience with the word “evangelism?”
I am willing to bet that for some of us, the word evangelism is associated with an uncomfortable conversation about the choice of heaven or hell, held at our front door or in a public transportation center or at a youth event with cool music where someone is trying to put a four-point tract into our hands and explain that it is as simple as these four steps and this special prayer.
And maybe you don’t personally have that experience, but I am willing to bet that you have heard about someone else’s cringeworthy experience.
As a result of our bad evangelism experiences and stories, many of us have decided it is SO MUCH SAFER to hang out with folks like us and we put our “discipleship energy” into spending time with other church people – where we can “assume” we generally know and believe many of the same things.
In 2017, the most recent data I could locate, the United Methodist Church received 55,979 new members on a NEW profession of faith – these were folks not doing this as a result of going through confirmation – these were presumably mostly adults making a commitment to Christ for the first time.
Those 55,000+ were in 31,299 churches. So… averaging about 1.5 per church – but we know MANY churches report no professions of faith for YEARS on end. And that lays next to about 212,000 members lost due to withdrawal or death. Not great for sustainability…but I am less interested in sustainability than I am in vitality – in the idea of people living their fullest abundant lives in a community of faith with the power of the Triune God at the center.
And so we keep hanging out together in a smaller and smaller group…
…in part because it feels safe.
Maybe we evangelize to one another. Or maybe we just reflect back to one another.
And when evangelism comes up, we might look at our feet, or at the ceiling, or examine our cuticles but avoid making eye contact… Surely that is someone else’s work. Someone else’s gift.
I wonder…
What would it take for us to reclaim the word “evangelism?”
To make it less intimidating?
To make it a part of how we move in the world?
Did you know that at its root, the word evangelize means to bring or announce good news?
That seems pretty lovely.
What is the Good News of God for you? Take just a moment – say something out loud to yourself, or to whoever you’re with…and if that is too much exposure, write something down.
Let me try…
You are God’s beloved creation. That’s Good News.
You are gifted in ways that help you to love others as God loves them. That’s Good News.
That Jesus came that we could have abundant life not weighed down by constantly second-guessing ourselves. That’s Good News.
Good news is so…GOOD.
Makes you kind of yearn to share it, eh? And if you are feeling it for yourself, doesn’t it kind of bubble over and ooze out of our pores sometimes?
But let’s get back to the work before us – This task of “yearning to lead others to become disciples?”
Because frankly, the word LEAD also causes some folks to break out in hives. So now we are putting the idea of evangelism and leading into the same sentence.
But…this discipleship journey has had us looking at the example of Jesus. Right? We’re seeking to follow the life and teachings of Jesus.
So…
How did Jesus evangelize? How did Jesus lead others to discipleship?
Author David Williamson, writing about this very topic in the book we’ve been following, outlines Jesus’ model:
Jesus sought those who were different from him and on the outside of organized religion.
Jesus invited them into friendship and community with him.
Jesus gave them a front-row seat to his life and modeled before them a life of kindness.
Jesus invited them to ask questions as often as they needed.
Jesus corrected them (sometimes gently and sometimes not) when they got something wrong.
Jesus experienced disappointment and even betrayal and abandonment in those relationships.
Jesus saw past their mistakes to the people that they COULD be through his grace, and he forgave them and loved them ALL THE TIME.
So…that is the Jesus way of discipling folks, in a nutshell.
When Jesus met up with Simon and Peter, he agreed to teach them how to fish for people – and then he spent about three years doing all that work we just outlined – the kind of relational work it took for people to begin to follow.
And Jesus modeled by drawing folks like Simon and Peter in with the amazing good news he shared. News about healing. News about grace. News about their being enough. News about how you are loved.
Has Jesus drawn you in?
How does that feel?
As we prepare to launch a year-long journey through scripture together, we’ll be taking this idea of a lifelong venture toward becoming a disciples with us. Finishing up this series doesn’t mean we have arrived at our discipleship destination.
Far from it!
We are becoming. And I suspect that we’ll take some steps forward and some steps back. And some steps will take by ourselves and some will take with others.
Along the way we’ll seek to:
experience the forgiveness and acceptance of God
follow the life and teachings of Jesus Christ
demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit
share in the life and witness of a community of disciples
serve in some form of ministry every day
anticipate a future life in the presence of God….
And eventually, hopefully, enthusiastically yearn to lead others to become disciples.
Before I forget something important…we talked about the intimidation of evangelism and of leading anyone in anything…here’s a thought. While we play a role, ultimately it is GOD who transforms someone’s life. It is God’s relationship that begins to change someone as a disciple…
Maybe…just maybe that makes the work a little less intimidating.
God’s got this.
We’re along for the adventure.
But back to my fantasy world I started with.
Our scripture for today calls us to be Salt and to be Light.
Are we salty and glowing?
Are you?
Because I think when we are, it spills over naturally. It seeps from our pores. It infuses our relationships. It’s not that we shouldn’t hide our light under a bushel – it is that we cannot.
And those who see us all salty and glowing – they want to know what that is.
And how they might glow like that too.
How they might be in relationships that lead to life.
Imagine yourself in the most glowing, God-connected moment you can recall…
What if in that state, everyone you touched – everyone with whom you were in relationship – got a glimpse of God? What if everyone with whom you shared good news got a new opportunity to connect?
Might that be life changing?
Might that be world changing?
So here is my prayer – that we will seek to be speakers of Good News, that our lives will ooze with the glow of being in a relationship with God, that like Jesus we will seek out relationships with unexpected folks, we’ll model kindness (and along the way, likely have kindness modeled to us!), we’ll invite questions, ask some of our own and offer and receive loving correction, and perhaps most importantly, we will see the full potential as a child of God in each person we meet along the way.
May it be so.
Amen.
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