Homily – 6/18/17
Opening:
Let the words of my mouth…
And the meditations of my heart…
Be always acceptable in thy sight…
O’ Lord…
My strength…
And my redeemer…
Amen…
Introduction:
Euangelion (e-juan-gel-ion)…
Yeah…
You heard me correctly…
I think anyway…
I practiced the pronunciation on Google a few times…
Euangelion (e-juan-gel-ion)…
No…
No, it’s not some science fiction dialect…
It’s from the Greek…
Meaning???
Meaning—“the good news…”
Telling the story of Jesus Christ…
So…
How do we use the word today???
Evangelism!!!
Yes…
Evangelism!!!
Every Episcopalian’s favorite “E” word…
Good ole evangelism…
Just think about it…
You…
You can strap a sandwich board on your body…
You can go right up the road to Las Vegas Blvd…
Don’t forget your Bible…
And you can yell…
Better yet…
Let’s do it the right way…
I’ll tell you what…
Get a bull horn…
People love bull horns…
Get a bull horn and scream…
Scream at the top of your lungs…
Repent!!!
The kingdom of heaven is at hand!!!
And…
While you are at it…
While you are at it, tell people how God hates them…
How they should fear him…
That God is angry…
Maybe…
Just maybe…
If you are “really” serious and desperately want to save souls…
Maybe, you can even threaten them…
Threaten them with the notion of burning in hell for all eternity!!!
What do you say???
There are thousands walking around over there…
I’ll tell you what…
You guys go do that…
And in the meantime…
In the meantime, I’ll make sure we have more chairs for next week…
We are going to need them, right???
If you guys go do that…
If you do that…
Our coffers will be full…
Our coffers will be full and we can give Father a raise…
That church building…
That church building, we have our eye on…
It’s as good as built…
Just pick the elevation…
Right???
Now…
Am I a prophet or am I a prophet???
Body 1:
Evangelism…
In our Gospel today…
We hear of Jesus…
Of Jesus gathering his disciples and instructing them…
Instructing them to “go to the lost sheep of Israel…”
To “proclaim the good news…”
Evangelism…
I think for most…
For most…
The “E” word…
It can be an off-putting…
An intimidating concept…
The ideas…
The imagery it can conjure up…
That fire…
The brimstone…
That guilt…
The fear…
The very things…
The very messages in which so many…
So many…
Have been so hurt…
So many…
So many shamed…
Persecuted…
Excluded…
So many have been so hurt…
They have chosen…
Chosen to walk away…
Walk away from God…
Or maybe…
Maybe never sought him in the first place…
Because after all…
God hates them…
They should fear him…
God is angry…
God would allow you…
God would allow you to burn in hell…
So many…
So, hurt…
So much so…
So much so that I don’t blame them…
Body 2:
Evangelism…
What about the why???
Why???
Just why are we called to do it???
To fill the pews???
Is it our ego???
Is it God’s???
The greater our numbers…
The greater are we???
The greater our God???
Are we???
Are we not enough???
Not enough for us???
For God???
To fill bank accounts???
Is it the money???
Is our stuff???
Is our stuff not good enough???
Not good enough for us???
Not good enough for God???
Body 3:
Evangelism…
Let me ask you…
Who was Jesus???
Let me ask you…
Who is Jesus???
What are his qualities???
I’m glad you ask…
Loving…
Gentle…
Compassionate…
Kind…
Giving…
Accepting…
Inclusive…
Humble…
Patient…
Forgiving…
Teacher…
I can go on…
Let me ask you…
Who did Jesus seek???
Jesus…
Jesus sought everyone…
Let me ask you…
When Jesus could have commanded anything…
What did he choose???
He chose love…
You see…
You see God…
God does not hate you…
God loves you…
You should not fear God…
God is peace…
God is not angry…
God is joy…
God will not…
God will not allow you to burn in hell…
This…
This my parish family…
This is evangelism…
This is the Good News…
The story of Jesus Christ…
This is the Good News…
The story…
The story that so many…
The so many who have been hurt…
That have been shamed…
That have been persecuted…
That have been excluded…
Those so many…
Those who have chosen to walk away…
Or never who have sought God in the first place…
This is the good news…
This is the story they need to hear…
Evangelism…
Evangelism is our opportunity…
Evangelism is our chance to set the record straight…
To do it right…
To proclaim…
To reveal…
Our chance to correct the good news…
To tell the true story…
With the true qualities of our Lord, Jesus Christ…
This is evangelism…
Body 4:
Evangelism…
Why???
Just why do we have to do it???
Evangelism is not about filling the pews…
Evangelism is not about lining our bank account…
Evangelism is not about stuff…
Evangelism…
Evangelism is about healing…
Healing the hurt…
Evangelism is about eliminating…
Eliminating shame…
Evangelism is about seeking out…
Seeking out the persecuted…
Evangelism is about accepting…
Accepting the excluded…
Not only telling…
Not only telling but living the good news, the story of Jesus Christ…
To do this work…
To do it well…
We do not need a sandwich board…
We do not need a bull horn…
We do not need to seek the masses…
All we need to do…
All we need to do is live lives that demonstrate…
That demonstrate and project the qualities of Jesus…
That we seek like him…
That we follow his commandments…
And…
In time…
In time, I have little doubt that we will succeed in our mission…
Closing:
Euangelion (e-juan-gel-ion)…
Or however you say it…
Evangelism…
The good news…
The story of Jesus Christ…
I pray…
I pray that for us…
That the “E” word…
That it not be off-putting…
That it not be an intimidating concept…
I pray…
I pray for the imagery it has the potential to conjure up…
The qualities of Jesus…
Of healing…
Of seeking…
And I pray…
I pray that in our mission…
Our mission in which we are so called…
Proclaiming the good news…
Telling the story of Jesus…
The “E” word…
That it leads us to those…
To those lost sheep of the house of Israel…
And it leads them…
It leads them to God…
Amen…