Gospel passage for June 22, 2008: Matthew 10:26-33
Have No Fear
“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."
I been evangelized!
I was evangelized by Gord Johnson.
If you think that's shocking…just wait until Gord finds out.
In his defense… he did it reluctantly.
But more about that in a minute. Our summer homily series this year is on the theme of "How do we share our faith". We will get to hear many voices on this theme and this excites me, for there are many different ways of stating this simple message of "How do we share our faith?"
Some ways are poetic, like "How are we salt and light to the world?" some are deep and probing, "How are we extensions of Christ?", and sometimes the language might make some of us just squirm a bit – how do we evangelize?
Language is a powerful thing – we associate deep meanings based on our personal experiences and even our bias. How many of us when we hear the words, "Born Again" think of the ultra-conservative, judgmental, narrow-minded type of Christian – and how many of us when we hear "born again" think of the innocence, freedom and beauty of a new born babe.
What image do you carry with you of evangelism, and of evangelists? Is it a high haired, shiny suit wearing preacher giving an over-rehearsed spiel, a pressure salesman who confronts you one second and gives a "NutraSweet smile" the next – or do you think of someone bringing a message, of bringing good news – it is interesting to reflect that the word evangel and angel come from the same Greek root - and this root word also translates into "good message"
So how can something rooted in this good message be given such a bad name?
It is not that I feel like we can, or should reclaim the word evangelism, (some words maybe just stay branded) – but perhaps we should place our disdain on the late 20th century type of evangelists that produced all those negative feelings and images and try to reclaim the intent of the word.
In DNSS, our adult Sunday school time at GOW, we have been talking about the Kingdom of God, about mission, about the emergent church, and about something called re-evangelism in our current culture.
Throughout our discussions, and my reading and planning of the sessions I kept coming upon the question of how do I share my faith? How do I share my faith in a city, a country, a continent and very likely a world where we just are no longer the dominant culture? But not even just how, (I'll talk more next week about the "How") but why? Why would we want to do this?
I don't think you need stats Canada to tell you that church attendance is shrinking (but the stats are there if you desire them) – the infiltration of our media, our consumer and capitalist culture, our political structures, our rampant individualism, all tell us pretty loudly that things have changed in the last few decades. Like Dorothy, we are no longer in Kansas - Except Kansas here is the state of Christendom. Those practicing a Christian faith are no longer the dominant culture – we are in what some writers refer to as post-Christendom.
For the rebels in us, this may be comforting, maybe we don't want to be the dominant culture, we can think of our coming to worship here as a subversive act. It sure isn't something everyone is doing! But why might we want more people to be doing "it" – and here, by "it", I don't mean just attending worship, I mean living and following the teachings, the way, the path that Jesus has modeled for us, the way that Jesus is. I always like that phrase the "way" – it suggest that this is a different way of acting a different way of being…daily, hourly, all the time. The way is all encompassing.
"No way…" "Way".
So what about that reluctant evangelist I started out with?
I wonder if Gord asked himself the "why" question – I'm not sure, I plan to ask him. Why should he share this message? What if he was met with rejection, with hurt, with pain, with downright insulting behaviour? And maybe there was some despair, some apathy thrown in there as well – why bother? No one believes this stuff anymore. What's the point? I'll probably do more damage than good.
The amazing thing in all this is that Gord was not alone. Along with Gord was One whose knowledge was so great that they knew the number of hairs on Gord's head (and it was a few more back then). One that perhaps spoke softly in his ear, saying do not be afraid, what I tell in the darkness, speak in the light.
Our Gospel today is in the context of the apostles – a word meaning literally "one who is sent out" - being sent, they are the King's messengers as William Barclay calls them. They were going out to proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is near. They went to heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons – and they couldn't take anything for the journey, not a bag, shoes, or even a staff – how scary is this? In Matthew 10:16 "Look you, it is I who am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves." Jesus in sending out the apostles was deeply honest, he told it how it was. Hear is my task for you – at its grimmest and at its worst – do you accept it? And he warns them further, in Matthew 10:23 – When they persecute you in one city, flee into another."
Are you getting the sense of the gravity and tension of this situation?
It is in this context that the message of God's protection is put forth (from today's Gospel) – yes, this is a very dangerous and frightening mission, but you are cared for, if God cares for the sparrows, surely he cares for all. Not one can fall without God's knowledge.
The courage of God's messengers is that whatever happens, they cannot drift beyond the love of God, times are forever in God's hands, God will never leave nor forsake – if that is so – of whom then shall we be afraid?
I am not suggesting that a message like that was whispered into Gord's ear – or if any message was whispered at all. And if Gord would have proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven was near there's a very good chance I would have turned and run the other way – proclaiming that my new neighbourhood, Wolseley, was full of nutbars.
But the point here is that we can see any sharing of our faith, any way of passing God's message as a scary thing, even if we do it in the most subtle ways, even if we do it with great reluctance, there can still be fear. And that we need to know that God is with us, not just speaking through us, or into our ears, but is with us just the way we are. And like the Francis of Assisi quote, we can share the good news, and we may not need to use any words at all.
As I said, next week, I want to say a bit more on the "how" of how we share our faith.
But to close today, I want to share from a book that inspired a lot of this homily:
More Ready than you Realize – Evangelism as dance in the post-modern matrix, by Brian McLaren
– now don’t be scared off by the postmodern title, or even the word "matrix" – this is a wonderful and easy to read book.
I want to close by reading some points Brian McLaren has on why we should share our faith.
Listen for the way that this sharing of faith is compared to music, to singing, to dancing – a beautiful metaphor for how we move with God and God moves with us.
We share our faith for:
1. For the sheer beauty, truth and goodness of the song. Something this wonderful must be shared.
2. For the good of our frineds, neighbours, planet-mates, who share the human predicament with us. As individuals, their lives would be enriched if they heard the song and learned to move with it.
3. For the sake of the whole human race and the entire plante. If we humans don't learn to live by the beauty of the music, we'll live by our own destructive, greedy noise and despairing, consumptive silence, which will be disastrous for everyone and everything concerned.
4. For the sake of the composer, the singer, the player – the Triune God, whose song rings in every note and every beat with a spirit of sharing.
Craig Terlson
June 22, 2008