Isaiah 61
For our Christmas Eve Candle-light service, we went to our grandparents Methodist church, as we normally do. The pastor was very gifted, very organized, and a very good communicator. Nothing he said was particularly wrong or anything I disagreed with. Yet, I hated his message. (I usually hate people that use the word "hate" (and I hate irony), but if you think about it, in order to love something, you have to hate something; therefore, in my mind, I feel justified.) The jist of his sermon was this: God did the impossible through a virgin birth, so God can do the impossible in your life....what things in your life seem completely impossible to happen?....God can do it.
Martin, what's so wrong with that message? I could understand you maybe not getting much out of it, or maybe wishing the message was a little different, but why would you HATE it? Are you that arrogant with your non-Methodist ways that you hate anything that's doesn't meet your standard??
My response:
The pastor prayed earlier for God to bless all those who are less fortunate, who will have less joy this holiday season. That was nice of him, but what about all the people who are lacking joy right there in the congregation? What about all the people who are miserable, sad, depressed, and lonely in that church? The people who are finding out that nothing that they're getting for Christmas really satisfies them...the people who desperately want meaning in their lives but find none...the people who have been hurt by others, who feel unaccepted, unworthy, unlovable. You have this being the most attended service of the year, where there'll be tons of non-Christians, tons of people who realize something in their life is missing. Here's one of the best opportunities of the year to show how the Gospel of Christ, the coming of the Kingdom speaks into every single one of these people's situations, every one of these people's personal hell.....but you barely even give them a taste. You're sitting on a gold mine, but you don't really mention it. You have the medicine, but you give them none of it. If Christmas just stands as an example of how God can do unlikely things, then it doesn't meet the deepest need of the human soul. But if it's more than just an example, if it actually does meet people's greatest needs, then the coming of Jesus is the most relevant news ever.
Martin, what's so wrong with that message? I could understand you maybe not getting much out of it, or maybe wishing the message was a little different, but why would you HATE it? Are you that arrogant with your non-Methodist ways that you hate anything that's doesn't meet your standard??
My response:
The pastor prayed earlier for God to bless all those who are less fortunate, who will have less joy this holiday season. That was nice of him, but what about all the people who are lacking joy right there in the congregation? What about all the people who are miserable, sad, depressed, and lonely in that church? The people who are finding out that nothing that they're getting for Christmas really satisfies them...the people who desperately want meaning in their lives but find none...the people who have been hurt by others, who feel unaccepted, unworthy, unlovable. You have this being the most attended service of the year, where there'll be tons of non-Christians, tons of people who realize something in their life is missing. Here's one of the best opportunities of the year to show how the Gospel of Christ, the coming of the Kingdom speaks into every single one of these people's situations, every one of these people's personal hell.....but you barely even give them a taste. You're sitting on a gold mine, but you don't really mention it. You have the medicine, but you give them none of it. If Christmas just stands as an example of how God can do unlikely things, then it doesn't meet the deepest need of the human soul. But if it's more than just an example, if it actually does meet people's greatest needs, then the coming of Jesus is the most relevant news ever.
posted by Martin | 1:15 PM
4 Comments:
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Martin...I think you're dead on and I'm glad you articulated that as you did. I had a very similar experience at the Christmas Eve service I attended. It really bothers me how infrequently the hope of Christ is proclaimed from the pulpits of "Christian" churches. I need to hear about Christ-centered hope as much as the non-believing people sitting next to me.
I'm afraid the Church is filled with way too many motivational speakers who mistakenly thought they were called to be ministers of the Gospel...men who excitedly preach their own gospel of self-improvement and unwittingly leave the souls sitting in their pews cold, confused, and hopeless. We need revival desperately...in our own bodies, and in our shared Body.
Hey, Martin, it's OK to have wanted a more evangelical message, but be careful that you aren't saying that God's plan for that message wasn't good. God intended that preacher to prepare that message for that service, and God did a lot of planning to get all those people there, by name. God's glory was made manifest by that sermon, even if it ends in condemnation for those listening, or, and I should tread carefully here, perhaps even for the shepherd whom God called to that flock.
Perhaps what can be flamed in you is a passion to tell people about the Jesus you know, the God Who is good in the face of the crap that they are experiencing, and the Redeemer who came so that they could know the Father. The God Who is too often not preached from the pulpit.
I can identify with what you said, Martin. I need to hear the Gospel every day. It truly is a gold mine and the only thing that can satisfy anyone, even more than the favorite Christmas present that time and use will eventually consume.
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