The Adam-Shawn Dialogue - The Unspoken Word...

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Shawn:

You used the dirty word:

EVANGELISM

The word evangelism should mean to the Church that "generosity comes to us on its way to someone else" because the Gk. form of the word literally means "good news" and we have been talking about Apocalyptic Welcome - the Jesus command that has Christians sent out into the villages and towns to offer signs of peace upon homes, villages, and towns, and to say these words, "God's reign is at hand."

Every time I preach I make sure to listen to Will Willimon's podcast because I find in his sermons and speaking engagements deep encouragement to not pacify the Church, but rather to engage congregations in the words of the Living Word Jesus Christ. It struck me a few months ago that we preachers worry too much about people not liking our sermons and being outraged by what we have to say, but I look at Jesus' first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth (according to Luke) and see that they just about tossed Jesus off a cliff for his sermon. Is it that provocative type of preaching that Jesus is calling out of us? Does the Welcome of God (the Apocalyptic Welcome) continue to inflame the status quo of today's society and culture the way it did in Jesus' day? I think so...

I mean, that's why I continue to swim against the current in the our United Church circles that de-emphasize the cross. I know that many United Church folks will probably think of my theological understanding of the cross to be quite shallow, but I just think that the cross, in its simplest and most day-to-day understanding is one that illumines and reveals our response to those attempting to reach across enemy lines. We brutally torture, mock, and spit on anyone who would attempt to share the generosity of God beyond the walls of our own denomination. I read Tom Bandy's material and he formerly worked at Church House and I think that it was this very thing that frustrated him about the United Church of Canada.

In Jesus' day the cross was a symbol of government repression of anyone getting too creative or too popular. It was a sign of shame and defeat. It was so in the Gospels as well...well, at least until Mary of Magdala (the Church's first preacher) went back to the unbelieving disciples and proclaimed, "He's alive!!!" That's when the cross became a sign of human unity. That though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, when God shows up the foundations of hell (Gehenna - that pile of burning rubbish outside of Jerusalem) shall not overcome the city itself. When God shows up somehow, even though the night seems to have lasted forever, we can be assured that the sun will rise within hours. That's why in Ephesians it is written:

Sleeper, awake!

Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you! (Eph. 5:14)

The cross is so simple, yet so mysterious. That's why together, as a fellowship of believers in communion with a Great Cloud of Witnesses we have proclaimed for the last 2000 years the deep mystery of faith:

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Amen!