We are about to spread some grass seed on our lawn at home. Hopefully, it will sprout before the temperatures get too cold for green-growing things. Before we spread the grass seed, though, we need to prepare the soil. The seed needs some soil to take root.
The same can be said for ideas. Our minds sometimes need to be “prepared” for ideas to take root and grow.
So, when introducing our short sermon series on “The E-Word” last Sunday, maybe I could have “prepared” our congregation by doing some work beforehand.
I did try to explain in the sermon what my concept of evangelism “is not.” Still, I feel like I could have/should have spent even more time trying to describe the gently gracious evangelism of the Celtic Christian Spiritual tradition.
In his book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism, George C. Hunter writes that “for most people, ‘Christianity is more caught than taught.’” The idea here is to live our faith with as much love for our neighbors as possible – whoever those neighbors may be – so that, as the old song goes, “they will know we are Christians by our love.”
This love for our neighbors can be, in its simple way, a form of evangelism – sharing God’s good news by the gracious, loving, and peaceable way we live. This is not a coercive way of life – trying to convince someone why they’d better change their ways or else. No, this is a warm and welcoming way of life that is more interested in building relationships with our neighbors than driving them to a forced decision. “Church” or “Jesus” might not even enter the conversation until the Spirit moves and the fertile ground of trust and friendship has been prepared.
I know that the word “evangelism” has negative baggage. People have misused evangelism to seek earthly power, and they have done so in ways that have not been spiritually healthy for the church or for vulnerable individuals.
I also know, though, that people are attracted to the ways we live out our faith and talk about God at Bedford Presbyterian Church. In this place, we give permission for people to discover faith for themselves at their own pace. There are people in our congregation who might be recovering from negative church experiences in the past, and this place is a place of healing.
I hope that by introducing the concept of “evangelism” last week, I did not disrupt any spiritual healing that was taking place.
Our exploration of sharing good news—in and through how we live—is meant to free us to talk about God and share grace in our daily lives in honest, hopeful, and open-hearted ways. I want to leave it to the Holy Spirit to lead each of us—at our own pace—toward a way of life that celebrates and, ultimately, lovingly shares God’s grace with all.
See you in church!
Grace and Peace,
John
PS – But I won’t see you in church this week! I will be in North Carolina, taking part in a planning meeting for a Middle School Youth Conference I am helping to lead next summer through the Montreat Conference Center. The Reverend Dr. Scott DeBlock, our Resource Presbyter in the Presbytery of Northern New England, will be preaching this week. I’ll miss you, but know that Scott will offer a word of grace, challenge, and hope! See you NEXT Sunday!
Prepare for Worship
This Week: “Undo Send?” – The Reverend Dr. Scott DeBlock, Guest Preacher
- Read Psalm 19
- Read James 3:1-12
- Read or sing Hymn # 693 – “Though I May Speak”