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Homily for Sunday, Readings: “Don’t pick me — nuh, huh!” said Isaiah, said Peter, said Paul. They did not start out willing. They protested that they were not worthy. Only EXTRA ordinary experiences transformed these men into spokespersons for God. God picks regular people, people who protest — accurately — that they are not worthy. This means God could pick you, or YOU, or me. If picked, we would also say: “Don’t pick me – nuh, huh!” Actually, I think we don’t have to worry about being picked. I may be wrong, of course, but most of we billions of human beings will have a less dramatic experience of the call to be a spokesperson for God. But we still have an assignment to let others know about the good news of salvation. Peter told the Christian community in Asia Minor in his first Epistle, Chapter 3:15-18: If you are asked about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. But you must do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak evil against you, they will see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ. I’m not very good at evangelizing — I’ve never converted anybody. I have this experience of God’s love, this belief in salvation, but I have not shared it with anyone except you all and friends who are already converted. Like all of you, I have the blessing of God’s love, and the salvation earned by Jesus, but what am I doing in return? I know what I’ve been taught, of course, that God’s love is a gift, not a contract in which God will do this and I will do that. It’s that I want to do something in return. I don’t want the gift of God’s love to be another thing I’m complacently comfortable having. For example, I have comfortable shelter, more than enough to eat, disposable income, entertainment, leisure time, good health and the means of keeping it good, etc. Is the knowledge of God’s love and salvation just another of the many comforts that I insulate myself with? Do I gather it around me like a cozy shawl that’s just for me? No — I have to share my faith. But how? Not “Called” to be a great preacher or a Christian educator, how do I share my faith with others? The last few years, I have tried to express my faith with lots of volunteer work. Acting on Marian Wright Edleman’s advice that “Service is our rent for being,” I have given a lot of volunteer time to neighborhood groups and to my nursing organization. But I could be doing all of this and be an agnostic. I got to thinking this when I studied those ads that were hanging in Metro this past Christmas - perhaps some of you saw them. The ads featured smiling young adults in Santa hats with the caption “No God? No Problem! Be good for Goodness Sake!” Whether it was those ads or not, I recently realized that this volunteer work I was doing was not explicitly sharing my faith with others. At least I was on the right track with action – Peter said give testament and also live a Christian life. Dunstan and I are reading a wonderful book by Gordon Livingston, a Psychotherapist, entitled “Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart.” In short , zingy chapters, this writer cuts to the chase. In Chapter 2 he unflinchingly says: “We are not what we think, or what we say, or how we feel. WE ARE WHAT WE DO…. How many times do we have to feel betrayed and surprised at the disconnect between people’s words and their actions before we learn to pay more attention to the latter than the former…The point is that love is demonstrated behaviorally. Once again we define who we are and who and what we care about, not by what we promise, but by what we do.” OK then, those of us not called to verbal evangelism can share the good news of salvation by demonstration, by how we live, with our behavior. To prepare this homily I prayed to God “How do you want me to be your spokesperson?” The answer filtered down into my hamster brain only yesterday: “Live Rejoicefully.” I can’t believe I’m getting off so easily! Could it be this easy? How exactly do I live “Rejoicefully?” Paul answers my question in Colossians 3:15-17: Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. This is an assignment all of us can do. We do not need to be full time spokespersons: we need to live rejoicefully. At our January retreat, Yonce claimed 2010 as “The Year of Joy.” It looks like we have a theme going here! AMEN |
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