| Sermon for Sunday, June 12, 2005 ARE YOU CONTAGIOUS??By Rev. Dr. Harvey C. Martz |
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Scripture: Acts 2:37-47
Judy and I stopped by the LIFEspot location on Thursday to see how that youth ministry outpost is going now that summer is here. We had a chance to visit with our interim staff person who is in charge now that Jennifer Strimling is on maternity leave for a few months. Derek was telling us about the first of our young adult worship services that had occurred last Sunday evening. There was a good spirit but fairly small turnout, though we know that the crowd will build up as the word gets out about it. Derek was also telling us that most of the people present were not from our own church but they were there because he or one of you had invited them to come and give it a try. That same process of growth in new people has been taking place in the entire LIFEspot ministry the past few months—kids have been coming in the door for the first time because they have been invited or they have heard about it from a friend or from a member of our church youth group. That pattern of word of mouth, invitational evangelism has been true ever since the beginning of the Jesus movement 2000 years ago. People have a good experience in a faith community and they just spread the word; in fact some of them just can’t help talking about a good experience of spiritual growth and belonging and openness of mind and heart. I heard about that it in one of the businesses I frequent for coffee in this neighborhood where the person behind the counter told me she is going to come and give our church a try very soon because she keeps hearing good things about this church from some of you members who stop there for coffee after worship here. You have been telling her about this church and inviting her to check it out for herself. That is what the disciple Andrew did in the Bible-when he had spent a couple of days with Jesus, he was so turned on spiritually that he had to tell some of his family members about it. He said to his brother, “Come and meet the fellow who I believe is the messiah—the one who is the way to God.” You remember his brother’s name—we already heard about what he did on Pentecost day in speaking to several thousand people and many of those were baptized into the community of Christ. His brother’s name was Peter, one of the foremost leaders of the early church. That same invitational spirit, that attitude of inviting others to come and take a look was very strong and dominant for the entire book of Acts, the story of the spread of the Jesus movement. In fact, in this very important book of the Bible written by Luke, in almost every chapter we are told about the same thing we heard from today’s reading—more and more people joined the church, became part of the movement. And in the Bible, four kinds of growth were going on always: people were growing spiritually, they were growing personally (think about where the disciple Peter had been fifty days earlier—left ashamed and disgraced for denying he knew Jesus), they were growing missionally as they reached out to the poor and marginalized, and the movement was growing numerically: they were reaching more and more people. There is a word for this process of people inviting others to take a look at Christ and following Christ. It is a scary word for most of us because we have seen it misused and seen it lose its good biblical roots. Do you know what the word is that describes people sharing God’s great news with each other and inviting others to new life? The word is evangelism. It comes from the Greek word for sharing good news with others. It has become such a confusing word, a loaded word for so many people. People today think of TV evangelists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson and Jimmy Swaggart or, a long time ago, Oral Roberts. We think of manipulation and narrowness and judgmental, dogmatic religion. Or we think of churches that describe themselves as evangelical which usually means that they try to read the Bible literally and are really just offering in my view, a warmed over fundamentalism from the 1920’s battles over the Bible in the US. I have been reading for tomorrow night’s book group the very important book on Islam by a female Muslim scholar that I highly commend to you. In it she talks about the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism that are no different from the dangers of Christian or Jewish fundamentalism. The attitude from any right wing religious sect is that their way is the only way, that if you do not think their way that you are going to hell, that it is not acceptable to doubt or question, and that women are considered to be second class or in some cases, even property. The first part of that approach can be seen in some of the recent controversy at the US Air Force Academy where there have been accusations of religious intolerance and favoritism toward a right wing version of the Christian faith. Jewish cadets have been called Christ killers and told that the Holocaust occurred as a just punishment. They have been told that anyone who does not accept Christ in a certain way is doomed to an eternal fiery hell. I have placed one article about this on the foyer table for you. And I take great encouragement from the address this past week by the AF Academy commander who is taking the allegations very seriously and committed to an attitude of openness for all faiths and for people who have no traditional faith. That is how it should be in a US military academy, and that openness aligns with the statement from Roger Williams, leaders of the pilgrims in America over 350 years ago who said, “Forced religion stinks in God’s nostrils.” For some people, those religious abuses are what they think of when they hear the word evangelism. In the Bible, evangelism was this process of telling others about Christ and about one life and inviting others, as Andrew did, to come and take a look for themselves. The best definition today that I know about is from a 20th century Christian missionary to India who said, “Evangelism is simply one hungry beggar telling another hungry beggar where to find bread.” Does that make sense to you? If you were hungry and knew of a source of food, you would share that wouldn’t you? What if we are talking about spiritual food, the inner nourishment that every person needs especially when they look around at their life and wonder if this is all that life is about? The challenge for us mainstream church folk who have reacted so much against the manipulation and the narrowness and judgmental religion that has been identified with “evangelism” is that we just feel uncomfortable talking about faith or church or God with anyone. I really understand the reluctance of some people to deal with faith discussions. On the other hand many of you have become more comfortable and have invited people to church. And many others of you are here because you have heard about this church from a friend whom you trusted. That word of mouth recommendation is the absolute best way for people to begin a relationship with a faith community. We can be suspicious when a stranger comes to our door with a pamphlet or magazine or asking if we died tonight where we would spend eternity. But when we have a friend whom we trust and we know they are not religious wing nuts and they tell us about their spiritual growth and sense of belonging in a church, we tend to listen to them. And many of us are contagious about our church involvement here. Others of us would like to be more contagious because we know that we are comfortable about recommending other experiences to our friends—a new book we have read, a restaurant, we liked, a film we saw. I had a conversation last week with another film lover about the movie “Crash” which I am recommending to every person in the world right now. I share my enthusiasm with him and encouraged him to see it. Many of you are doing that about your spiritual life also and your church experience here and that is how it should be. A healthy faith community will be producing people who are joyfully contagious about their faith experience. And people are looking for the kind of church this is. Most people in your neighborhood are not actively involved in a church. The Rocky Mountain West is one of the most unchurched parts of the country, second only to the Pacific Northwest. People need a place of belonging and spiritual growth, a community that is really open and not afraid of people’s questions and is willing to say what Jesus said—you can really come as you are. I have mentioned to some of you that there will be an article in this fall’s 5280 magazine done by a freelance writer who writes about her search for a church in the south Denver area. She has been visiting many churches and interviewing the ministers and has written about that experience. She visited here and interviewed me and said that what she likes about this church and about United Methodism is that we do not say that the Methodist church is the only way to God and that everyone not like us is obviously going to hell and that there is an openness to explore and think and feel and form your own faith. Can you feel good about inviting a friend or co-worker to come and take a look at this kind of church? I can, and I do that regularly with folks in my friendship circles. Think with me for a moment—is there someone you know or work with whom you think might benefit from being in this kind of open community of faith? This is all about inviting people—sharing something good with people and asking them to take a look at it for themselves. Let me end with a very personal story about how important this is. Judy and I had a few days off together last week to celebrate our fortieth anniversary. We were talking about our church experiences as youth and children and figuring out that we were probably in the same confirmation class as fifth graders in our home church. (We don’t remember knowing each other until junior high.) But let me tell you about how Judy and her family wound up in a Methodist church. Her family was not involved in church until she was about 8 or 9 years old. The catalyst for them becoming part of a Methodist church came from an invitation from their next door neighbor who invited Judy to the Vacation Bible School at the neighborhood Methodist church down the street from their house. Judy went and had a good time and talked with her parents about going to church as a family. They decided they would not go to that small neighborhood congregation but there was a larger congregation about five minutes away that they did begin to attend and then joined and then she and I met one another in youth group and became friends. Judy Martz’s family got involved in church at all because a neighbor thought that 9-year-old Judy would enjoy the Vacation Bible School at the neighborhood Methodist church and invited Judy to give it a try. It was a very important invitation and one I am eternally grateful for. This communion table is based on an invitation also. It is an open table. It is here for everyone and anyone who is a follower of Christ or who wants to decide today that they will follow Christ. Here is how we talk about it: “Christ invites to his table all who love him and who seek to grow into his likeness.” That is the invitation and it is open to everyone! |
