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It’s been an interesting few days since the end of The Episcopal Church’s General Convention. Media coverage of Convention has sparked almost as much online discussion as Convention itself. As I’ve watched the conversation, one thing has become clear to me: right now, words are necessary to preach the gospel.
For a long time, I loved this quotation from St. Francis of Assisi because it reassured me that I could preach the gospel with my life. Growing up non-Christian in the 1980′s, I was completely turned off by Jerry Falwell. His gospel seemed to be that unless I believed exactly as he did, I was condemned to hell for eternity. If he represented Christianity, I wasn’t interested. Even after I became a Christian, I hesitated to talk about Jesus. Ironically, I feared that talking about Jesus would turn people off from wanting to follow him. After all, that’s what happened for me.
I was wrong. Living for Jesus without talking about him compromised my integrity. It was intellectually and spiritually lazy. I may be going out on a limb, but I believe a generation of mainline Christians who tried to live for Jesus without talking about him led to the epidemic of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism that passes for Christianity in most of our churches. As a Christian educator, I believe I am part of that problem, and it is enormous.
The fact of the matter is, this is not the gospel:
It is somewhat truthful theological statement: no matter what, God seeks us and desires relationship with us. But just as Jesus never mentioned homosexuality, so also did Jesus never utter the words “God loves you.” On the contrary: when Jesus sent out the apostles, the message they carried was “The kingdom of heaven is near…” ”change your lives!” (Matthew 10:7; Mark 6:12)
There are those who say that the Episcopal Church has lost the gospel. I’ve even seen comments on blogs that state the Episcopal Church is now the rough equivalent to the Unitarian Universalism, just with fancier clothing. (That’s completely untrue, but it’s a matter for another post.) In this moment, I believe I need to find the words to talk about Jesus. I need to find a way to tell people what I believe and why, without shoving my beliefs down their throat. I need to study the Bible, pray, and understand my religion ever better. I’m not alone in this quest. The Acts 8 Moment in the Episcopal Church is seeking exactly this type of renewal. Twitter conversation about Mainline Summer is indicating that this is an ecumenical movement.
Fortunately, I knew when I was baptized that this would be the journey of a lifetime.
Worth sharing?
6 Responses to To Preach the Gospel, Words Are Necessary
Good to meet you! I’m Nurya…
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One big problem is that St. Francis apparently never actually said that.
In any case, St. Francis was himself a mendicant preacher. That was the whole basis of his converted life – and he did preach the Gospel, everywhere he went (even, it’s said, to the birds).
I did not know this! Thank you.
Anyway, it’s an awful lot of pressure on the weak and frail individual human being to expect him or her to “preach the Gospel without words.” I mean, perhaps a few people in the world can do this – I have my doubts, personally, but I could be wrong – but what about the rest of us?
Well, we’ll have to live in unreality; we’ll have to tell ourselves that that’s what we’re actually doing (even when we’re not) – or else we’ll have to refuse to take a realistic look at ourselves. And in that case, we can never grow and change.
The very best we can ordinarily do, in fact, is to “preach the Gospel” with words – even though we mostly can’t live up to what it requires. But at least then, we’ll be able to admit our weaknesses and work at slowly trying to correct them.
It’s no good to set ourselves impossible goals….
As a former very active Unitarian Universalist, I can say without hesitation that TEC is nothing like it. I’ve got mad love for my UU friends. Without the radical openness of that tradition, I’m not sure that I would’ve been encouraged to reencounter the Christian story in way I could get beyond my bitterness at it. The broadness of the UUs allowed me a chance to find the specific story and version of the Christian story that felt right to me–and that turned out to be the Epsicopal Church. And it’s been a grand adventure into Anglicanism.
Amen!
Its time to stand up to Moralistic Therapeutic Deism and face it head on using our words to speak to the Truth of THE Word. Logos for the win.
Speak light into the world.
Thanks for sharing, Nurya. This conversation reminds me of an article I read last semester…
http://www.barna.org/teens-next-gen-articles/528-six-reasons-young-christians-leave-church
…only some of the ways in which both “words” and “lack of presence” have attributed to a generation of christians who find church irrelevent. When we figure out how to balance the necessary words with the mandated presence revealed through the Gospel, then we have a thing in which others can’t help but notice and want to be a part of.
I think that TEC is in a very good position to offer this, and in fact, many parishes are…including the one in which you are helping to lead into a new place!
Some words are necessary, but sometimes it’s the act of simply ushering in the presence of God through being “with” someone that reveals that truth of God’s love.