Trinity A: 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Matthew 28:16-20. “God’s Mouthwash”
The content of today’s Gospel reading has long been known as “the great commission.” It is the reason that people become missionaries. It may have played a role in the development of fervor in those who rode off to far lands during the Crusades. Today’s message is about evangelizing. In many ways, the interpretation of today’s scripture lesson can leave a bad taste in one’s mouth. That is why we must examine it and pray about it and ask God for some mouthwash.
Let’s look at history first. Let’s think about those guys who rode out on what they believed to be a Holy Mission to protect the Holy Lands. Let’s think about those Crusades in which the cross of Christ was painted on the shield of the man on horseback riding off to evangelize in the name of Jesus. Their basic message to the Jews, Muslims and Pagans they encountered was, “Confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, or off with your head!” This probably brought a lot of people to Jesus through fear, but do you really think this is what Jesus had in mind when he purportedly said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”?
What he commanded us, as we discussed several weeks ago while studying the book of John, was to learn servant leadership and humility; to love God, ourselves and our neighbors as one, and to stop worrying and believe in him and believe in God. I’m not picking any of that up in “confess Jesus as Lord and Savior or off with your head.” It leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.
Rev. Dick Donovan tells a marvelous story about a Christian woman who went to China to tell people about Jesus. She apparently found the words and guidance to speak for 20 out of 24 hours to a pair of Chinese medical doctors who then founded a Bible study and really helped Christianity come to life in China. She won them over. She apparently didn’t leave a bad taste in their mouths.
We modern Christians get very skittish about the word “evangelism.” Many of us think it means going door-to-door and doing a hard sell. We dislike it when folks do this to us. We dislike it when we get telemarketing calls during supper or any other time. We don’t even like it when fund raisers accost us at the grocery store. It leaves a bad taste in our mouths. That’s why we need to spend some time today redefining the concept of evangelism.
Every month the Rocky Mountain Conference of the United Church of Christ sends me a packet of materials for my consideration. Each one contains at least 2 pages of wisdom from a man named Herb Miller, who has done extensive research to see how churches grow. He shares many findings. One is that people are more likely to visit a church if invited by a friend or neighbor than if invited by a pastor. He says that 70% come that way. He found that the best way to get a visitor to come back a second time was for a layperson to make a short visit to the new visitor’s home within 36 hours. This produces an 85% return rate, with many joining eventually.
Rev. Donovan claims that the most important ingredient in evangelism is the ability to love the person to whom you are trying to witness. I sometimes fail in this area. I can get to the point where my inner messages are more like, “I’m afraid you won’t like us, so I’m going to be tentative in my invitation.” I want to change that inner message to, “I am so grateful to God for rescuing me from myself and my darkness that I want to share that light with you.” I can’t believe the latter message if I give the prospective visitor the power to shut me down by declining my invitation. This is known as giving my power away, or in this case, giving God’s power away.
To some extent, the ability to speak of one’s faith with comfort and encouragement is a form of persuasion. Heaven knows the art of persuasion has been well developed by the Madison Avenue wizards of our time. I discovered while in Chicago at a recent clergy gathering on “Theology in the Public Square,” that we can learn from the persuasion gurus.
A wonderful teacher named Ann Craig, who represents a type of anti-defamation league for gays and lesbians, spent considerable time with us coaching us on how to develop a cogent message that we could learn, practice, and speak with ease. You can be sure that our political candidates practice these teachings until they are ingrained in their thinking. Without these principles, it is far too easy to get hooked by a reporter who would just love to expose some weakness or controversy.
Ann Craig invited us to develop a talking points triangle. One side is a personal story. The other is an affirmative “for” statement that could start with “I believe.” The third leg of the triangle is a supporting fact or some data. I challenged myself last week to come up with a talking points triangle that would name the change I want to see in humanity in a way that is positive for the message of Jesus. How does this sound to you?
“As a child, I lived in a somewhat disconnected family. I looked to others to tell me what to do. I had no spiritual mentor to tell me that God lived within me and that I was born for a reason. I was somewhat turned off by church and mainly attended out of a sense of duty. In my adult life, various frightening experiences provided tiny openings for me to discover that I was not alone in the universe. The messages of Jesus, particularly as recorded in the book of John, began to travel from my head to my heart. The word “sin” used to create a bad taste in my mouth. But God’s mouthwash refreshed that word and I began to see sin as separation from God, from others, and from my own true Self. The word “repent” used to create a bad taste in my mouth, but God’s mouthwash refreshed that word as well. I came to see that repentance simply meant changing my mind about something. So I began practicing viewing myself as the image of God instead of something worthless, lonely or bored. I guess you could say that I learned to use a type of spiritual “refresh” icon in my inner computer.”
A lot of people in history have had an inner transformation through pondering and refreshing their beliefs about the truths that Jesus taught. In fact, if you will turn to reading #885 in your hymnal you will see many words that verify how our Christian faith saves us. Not by words that leave a bad taste in our mouth, but words like the ones that begin on the top of the facing page. “You (God, Eternal Spirit) seek in holy love to save all people from aimlessness and sin.” This says to me that each of us has a destiny and that each of us is meant to know and feel that we are securely attached to and a part of Divine Wisdom, God, Spirit, or something greater than we are.
Sometimes I think churches believe that evangelism exists in order to bring in enough money to pay the bills. It’s a lot bigger than that. It’s about the joy of giving to others, which then returns to us. It’s about seeing and knowing that we’re all in this together; that we are One. It’s about discovering the joy of discovering our destiny.
So many people thanked ME as I took their money at our e.waste recycling drive. So many people long to do the right thing and need churches like Wild Rose to find the courage to roll up our sleeves ad DO IT. In the UCC, we call this “the cost and joy of discipleship.” We’ll talk more about this in the weeks to come. Thank you for walking this road with me.
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