During Bible study this morning our little group discussed the efforts of the early church as narrated by the book of Acts. We also read Hebrews 12 verses 1 through 3: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God." The question was asked (if I remember correctly) "what was the joy set before Jesus?", responses to which included the love of God and more to the point, the Resurrection. In thinking more about the message of the verses -- the race to run, and disregarding the shame of the cross -- my mind went to thoughts of being a Christian in the world outside the church walls.
"The shame of the cross" -- Jesus as "a model of endurance in the face of hostility" (according to the notes in my Bible) should "encourage the reader in their plight" to run the race, live life as Christians despite the hindrance of sin. And also, I expect, the other challenges of living that way -- everything from the raw negativity that the world throws up at one quite often, to the delicate nature of personal relationships with people who simply want to live their lives differently from you.
I don't get many opportunities to be the church outside of the immediately personal sphere and church itself, because church is also my job. "The shame of the cross" probably meant something else in context; but it made me think of fear of rejection, fear of disconnect between myself and people I care about, when the subject of faith comes up. I am friends with many more non-religious people than otherwise, and I used to be one of them, so finding the boundaries and the space to talk about faith in those relationships can be challenging. It was suggested during the conversation at Bible study that too much evangelizing in one's personal life can actually be abusive, and while there are undoubtedly extremes there that I haven't approached, it's still alarming to think I've abused anyone with my desire to communicate "the good news." I mean, it's not enough to be afraid of opening my mouth, I also have to watch out that I don't knock anyone down before I shut myself up. Yeah, that's important too.
Cathie expresses her own thoughts on all this with admirable clarity, and seems to have the right idea -- just do your thing, and let people respond to you as the Christian they see in you. I know that the "living out," the "walking the talk" is the most important proof of your good news for most people.
Two people have asked me, in the past week, if I had a college education. The first was a woman in the check-out line at Lunds, who at first glance looked young and stylish and quite sane; but as she went on, I found out that she doesn't like people who don't go to college, particularly older people who never went (though it wasn't clear why); and that she's "the type of woman who would date my son" (age four, standing next to me holding my hand.) I nodded politely as she left. The second person was someone I know from church, who went on to compliment me on my public speaking skills and administrative abilities. Generous compliments, but they also made me stop and think specifically about speaking out -- in fact, I didn't learn this in college. I didn't learn it anywhere. I can, and often enough I do, when I'm feeling so inspired. Lately I'm thinking I need to shut up and be less visible. Was the lady in the checkout line a missed opportunity to be a better Christian, or was it enough just to listen and nod attentively? Is speaking out on social justice issues or blogging on matters of faith sufficient unto evangelism, or is there more expected of me? I don't wear a cross all the time -- what constitutes "telling the story?" I know it's about living out the love of God -- I just don't want to be the one in the checkout line getting the polite nod from my neighbor, when I gracelessly throw in a comment about my new boyfriend Jesus.
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It's been interesting reading the last few posts here because they come from a perspective very different from my own. As the son of a minister in a small town my identity as a Christian was as public as my name, and indeed my schoolmates sometimes viewed me as a reasonable source for theological inquiry (memorably, a young woman in my grade once turned to me and very seriously said "your father hates Catholics, doesn't he?").
In college I improbably divided my time between an extremely liberal Lutheran students organization and a branch of a well-known international evangelical students group - evangelical in the sense that is used these days to denote politically and theologically conservative Christianity. I found myself again, without really intending it, a public representative of Christianity, and I also experienced for the first time the secular and liberal disapprobation that can be leveled against religion in more pluralistic social settings.
Evangelism in the sense I think most people mean it was extremely important to the latter Christian group I was active in: proclaiming a religious message, often to strangers, and actively seeking to convert people to Christian faith. I don't think it would be going too far to say that one's enthusiastic participation in these activities was viewed as a pretty straightforward measure of the depth of one's religious commitment and faith (and was frequently promoted as a necessary component of a fulfilled life). I came to see it, in time, as the essence of (to put it in a Lutheran theological perspective) works-based righteousness.
I thought of those days in context of the question in this post, "is there more expected of me?" I don't think I necessarily have a very good or sophisticated answer to what evangelism does or should mean in a modern society where there is no shortage of evangelizers preaching a far from unified message. But I remember the great weight of "what is expected of me" that came with a particular definition of evangelism.
Trying to steer a course that is more fundamentally guided by Christ's mandate to love one another (and confident in the belief that in Christ's loving sacrifice we are graciously fulfilled, without any expectation or requirement) has led me into a much more ambiguous - but ultimately happier - relationship with the world.
Wow, to use a word I've used a lot today. I appreciate this perspective (in no small part because there's DIALOGUE here and I haven't had many opportunities for that generally.) More to the point I continue to be interested in understanding where people are right now in their faith and how they arrived at this place -- in the same way that I long yearned (though passively) for some connection to a religious community, I still sometimes wish to have been brought up in such a community -- if only to more fully understand that experience, the one of life-long faith almost taken for granted. While you haven't necessarily ever taken this for granted, still, your depth of experience makes me wonder in turn what trends can be observed over the past 20 or 30 years -- trends in the Lutheran interpretation of "evangelism." Thanks again.
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