Since our church has embarked on a six-week journey to "unbind our hearts," I wondered if some might find it helpful to have the text of some of the sermons. Copied below is the text of the introduction to the series that I preached Sunday (Sept 14). Please note though (disclaimer!) that writing-to-speak and writing-to-read are somewhat different. If sections read "weird," try reading them out loud - it may help! [I'd have rather attached the original file... If someone knows how to attach PDF files to blogger, please let me know!]
For those who are not aware, we are using the "Unbinding Your Heart" book written by Martha Grace Reese. Our church leaders, 25 people in all, participated in the initial leaders' study, "Unbinding the Gospel," last May. Each of the next six Sundays we will focus on the themes from the six chapters of the book. We also have a Saturday evening worship experience that we are experimenting with as part of this journey together. What a wonderful time of intentional focus on our faith-relationship!
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And some were evangelists...
Well, here we are ready to start our Unbinding Your Heart series – and you’ve shown up. That’s a significant step – being willing to be part of a discussion on “evangelism.”
Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist? Someone who tells others about Jesus – someone like Philip? (read scripture – Acts 8:26-37, The Message version)
I suspect that very few of us have a good image of evangelism and evangelists. The idea of evangelism seems to either make us feel guilty because we’re not doing it, or turn us off because there’s no way we would ever want to do it. In fact, most people in churches like ours would rather do anything than do evangelism!
Why is that? … There are many reasons – a few probably quickly came to mind for you. The first reasons that come to mind for me are: I don’t want to be anything close to the stereotype that comes to my mind when I think of an evangelist – one of the typical folks we think of as tele-evangelists. And I don’t want to offend people by pressuring them with images of where they will spend eternity – and I’m not so sure I agree with that anyway. Besides that, I wonder sometimes what business I have telling people what they ought to be doing or believing. I have enough trouble in my own life doing and believing what I should!
So why can’t we simply just do the best we can, be the best Christians we can be, and hope that is a good enough witness to others? Perhaps you’ve heard the quote, “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” I personally have not found it easy to talk faith with others – it is something I have to work at sometimes. … Wouldn’t it just be great if words were never necessary?
I’d like you to take a moment and think back over your spiritual journey, think back to when you first began to believe in God – for some of us that may be all the way back to our childhood; for some of us that may be in our adult years; and for some of us that may be just a short time ago… … Now, think about how you came to understand about God and about Jesus – Was believing in God something that “just happened” or can you name someone, or maybe several someones, who told you about God and about Jesus and about how faith is in their life? I suspect we can all name someone who shared words of faith that have helped us along our journey.
So why is it that for some people faith-sharing seems to come just as naturally as breathing? Why is it that other people seem to be like Philip – ready to share words of faith – and all I seem ready to do is to change the subject, perhaps afraid I won’t have the “right” words? ...
One reason may be:
[Philip was open to God and followed God’s leading, and he shared faith in context. The scripture begins by telling us that God’s angel spoke to Philip and Philip responded. Now who knows if that means some audible voice, or if that’s just some simply sense of nudging that we often get. But the point is, Philip did it. How often I struggle to be open to following God’s leading and not trying to wrest the control from God. We also see in this passage that the eunuch asked Philip a question about what he was reading, and Philip used that question to talk about Jesus. Philip didn’t try to make his point from his own place, but met the man at his place of need and shared Jesus from there.]
This can be the same for us – We can be open to God’s leading and find ourselves in the place where we are the one available when someone needs to have faith shared.
[I once had a friend say to me, seemingly out of the blue, “I wish I had what you have.” “What’s that,” I asked. “Peace. You seem to have this sense of inner peace no matter what, and I wish I had that. … I know it’s because of your faith – I wish I had that.” Wow, what an opening. That time, instead of turning away, I “grabbed my chance,” as the scripture says, and asked about her faith and upbringing, and then shared what I could about what I knew, believed, and tried to live. I tried my best to communicate my understanding of God’s message of grace above all else.]
Sharing faith is not always about knowing the scriptures – that can be a great help, sure. But sharing our faith comes from knowing our own faith. It comes from knowing our own story and being able to share that with others. If you were asked “Why does believing in God make a difference in your life?,” would you be able to answer? Would others be able to see in tangible ways that it does – like through your prayer life, or through remaining calm in times of distress, or through how you treat others even when you believe you’ve been wronged?
In the introduction portion of our book, the author shares the way our American society has changed over the past few generations. She shares statistics about faith in America and about Christian faith in America.
She lifts up the fact that: even though a few decades ago when America was believed by most people to be a “Christian nation”, we really weren’t. Sure, Christianity was considered part of the mainstream of our society, but most American’s weren’t Christian. And in this present day, America is considered a mission field by many. Missionaries are sent to the United States from Korea and South America and Africa – missionaries are sent here to preach the message of God’s grace and redemption because it is not being spoken. ...
One way we change this, one way we help others find the spiritual connection and strength that we have found, is by sharing with them what we have and what it means to us. One place to start is at home with our family, our children, and grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. One place to start is here, at Riverside, with the children and with each other… Here where we feel “safe” sharing with one another, so we can be emboldened to share in other places.
Today’s introduction to this study asks us to consider if we might be a barrier that keeps people from experiencing God’s love. … If you saw someone struggling with a task that they weren’t equipped for; and if you had what they needed – would you share it?
One thing I have come to better understand over the past few years is that – my faith journey is not about me. My faith is about others. ... Now, yes, it is also about me. But if I live believing that what the gospel message, the good news of God understood through Jesus – if I believe that what Jesus has shared is only about my relationship with God; then I’ve missed the most important part of Jesus’ message. Once we have faith, God calls us to share it – once I have faith God asks that I help plant the seeds in the lives of others so that they might come to know God, to experience God’s love. When I learn more about God, when I experience God’s grace at a deeper level in my life, when my connectedness to God deepens in tangible ways – then I am able to see you more clearly. I am able to see you as the child of God that you are; to see you through God’s eyes; and, I hope, to love you with greater compassion than I ever could I my own. You see, my faith is not about me; it is about God’s love for you and how our connection to one another can help each of us become whole. ...
It is on that basis that we begin this next phase of our journey together – seeking to unbind our hearts from whatever holds them; seeking to deepen our connections with God and with one another so that we can help each other become whole.
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[classes begin this week (chapter 1)]
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[40 days of prayer begins tomorrow/Monday]
When the members of the general board and the different department leaders came together last spring and supported the idea of having the entire congregation take part in this study in some way; the desire was for three things to happen:
- first, we would each find a deeper understanding of our own faith story
- second, we would find the strength/grace to share it here with one another
- last, for those who are willing, they will be emboldened to step out to share with others
I pray our spiritual journey together these next six weeks is enriching to our individual journeys of faith. And I pray that this time together bears fruit for years to come. Amen.
