6/09/2022
6/09/2022
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last Sunday I preached about the moment the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples fifty days after Jesus was resurrected (we get the word “Pentecost” from the Greek word for fifty) and after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, with a “sound like the rush of a violent wind that filled the whole house”, and they began to speak in other languages “as the Spirit gave them ability.” The story continues by telling us that devout Jews “from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem” gathered at this sound. I wondered what that sound was like, the sound of God’s Spirit descending upon God’s people and bringing God’s Good News of salvation for all. More importantly, I wondered what “sound” Saint Anna’s needs to make to bring people from our community rushing to our church to hear the same Good News of Salvation. I invited the people in church to pair up and share with each other what Saint Ann’s could do to make people stop whatever they are doing and bring them rushing from wherever they are to our doors.
Afterward I invited people to share what they had heard. I heard about living lives of love and joy and hope. I was reminded of something I read in a book by Brennan Manning, in which he quotes something written by another writer, Keith Miller, in Miller’s book, “The Scent of Love”, which describes how the early communities of Christ followers grew and spread. The first time I read it I was deeply affected by the authenticity and simplicity of Miller’s observation as related by Manning, and so I thought I would share it with you all.
“Keith Miller writes that the early Church grew “not because of the [spiritual gifts] of Christians—such as the gift of speaking in tongues—and not because Christianity was such a palatable doctrine (to the contrary, it is about the most unpalatable doctrine there is) but because they had discovered the secret of community”:
Generally they did not have to lift a finger to evangelize. Someone would be walking down a back alley in Corinth or Ephesus and would see a group of people sitting together talking about the strangest things—something about a man and a tree and an execution and an empty tomb. What they were talking about made no sense to the onlooker. But there was something about the way they spoke to one another, about the way they looked at one another, about the way they cried together, the way they laughed together, the way they touched one another that was strangely appealing. It gave off the scent of love. The onlooker would start to drift farther down the alley, only to be pulled back to this little group like a bee to a flower. He would listen some more, still not understanding, and start to drift away again. But again he would be pulled back, thinking, I don’t have the slightest idea what these people are talking about, but whatever it is, I want part of it.”
Manning, Brennan. The Signature of Jesus (p. 101-102). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
What can we do to create the same sense of curiosity that brings people back again and again to our church, and makes them want to be part of what we are talking about?
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Jane+