Preached at Urban Abbey on March 31, 2019
Scripture: John 1:38-42
When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ 39He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed). 42He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter).
Sermon: Invitation in a World of Domination
This is a story of invitation. Andrew senses something working in this moment and rather than shy away, he not only joins in but also invites his brother. It is relational and connectional and born out of love for a larger purpose. Andrew invites Simon Peter to be a disciple and it is hard to imagine the Christian Story without him. Some folks might even call this a story of… umm… (whisper) evangelism. This can be a scary word for some of us, not because we find the vocabu-lary challenging but because we find evangelicals challenging. Some of us have had experiences that are not so lovely; experiences that were not born out of a sense of our worth but quite the opposite - experiences that were wounding. I come to this with awareness of how hard it can be for folks to hear the word and I come to this conversation with a need to repent, frankly. I have been a part of some evangelical groups in both high school and college and I have invited people and some of them are still there…not literally still hanging out with the Navigators in Lincoln on Friday nights, but theologically, I suspect they are. It was what you were taught to do, like evan-gelism is reaching the highest level of a video game. There was this intention that you invite people, and help them get the right words and the right answers and then they go invite other people, like an evangelical pyramid scheme grooming folks into just the right kind of disciples.
In the spirit of evangelism, folks commit all number of sins from yelling at students on college campus about going to hell or standing outside of Planned Parenthood yelling at women about going to hell or rejecting their gay children because they are going to hell… it’s a lot of hell and not a lot of “earth as it is in heaven.” The truth is, evangelism is not really about hell and it’s not really about making people fit our list of right behaviors or teaching them to answer questions with our ‘right’ answers. Evangelism can be and should be born out of love and a spirit of whole hearted risk taking, but this is lost when corrupted by a theology of original sin and a perspective that our terrible, gross souls need saving from some eternal, terrible hell fire - as if God cannot be at one with us any other way. And these theories can lead us down a path of wearing matching t-shirts, driving to some unsuspecting neighborhood and going door-to-door with pamphlets and asking people to recite this prayer, then come and change everything to be like us. Or at least come to our church and do all of the things we are doing. It’s a total makeover of someone’s life… like queer eye, only usually by folks who would not approve of that show… or if they did they wouldn’t tell anyone about it.
Evangelism that starts with how terrible we are rather than how sacred, worthy, valued and be-loved we are is not only dangerous, but also not Christian. Inviting people, including people, connecting with people and helping each other grow is the power of the Christian story, that’s the power of journey in the way of Jesus. But… almost as soon as Jesus wasn’t there to correct folks, historic Christians began linking arms with the empire and leaning into the old ways. Jesus said, “Go to the ends of the Earth,” get out of your little kingdoms and get out of your little tribes, go big with love and connection and then folks start taking that as an opportunity to dominate and destroy, to dismantle other cultures and name the sins of other people. Conversion becomes about compliance and control, spiritual practice becomes behavioral regulation and stories of liberation become tools of bondage. In the name of Jesus, Charlemagne beheads a whole community of people, 800+ men, women and children all because they won’t convert and be baptized into his brand of Christianity. Crusades bring violence in the name of Jesus and we still struggle to denounce them and to distance ourselves from such violent language. Today there is still an organization with this language, like Campus Crusade for Christ, and while they may not be sending an army of children across Europe (a low point in Christian history… in my opinion) they embody this theology of evangelism that is both toxic and destructive to the mind and soul… even if there is no physical harm in the process. We have a history of violence, physical and spiritual, all accomplished in the name of Jesus.
The thing is, this is not how Jesus invited or included anyone. There is no story where Jesus says, “Hey, confess me as your Lord of Savior” and he doesn’t even want Peter to draw a sword in his defense let alone tell people to join him for a crusade. Jesus never starts with how terrible some-one is (maybe sometimes how systems are terrible, but not people). To the people he starts with the kingdom of heaven has drawn near and is within you. Jesus does say “Repent for the kingdom of Heaven has drawn near… but it was his first sermon and they really improve from there. He gets to know his context, he tells stories about much mended nets and a woman needing bread dough, he feeds people and heals people, all so they can not only hear about the Kingdom of God but also so they can taste it and feel it and enact it. He sees Peter James and John fishing, and in the midst of the conversation he connects with their narratives and invites them to fish for people; to invite people into a movement. He meets people where they are, whether they are in need of healing, like Mary Magdalene, or in need of liberation from the work of collecting Roman taxes, like Matthew.
Jesus meets people where they are and begins to help them imagine a future that they cannot see but feel compelled to not just join, but to be all in. They leave everything behind to be a part of Jesus’ work. There are a few special stories of Jesus inviting people and including people, he invites a few by name but suddenly a few verses later there are 12. It is as though the Gospel writers were going along and thought, oh we have to write everyone down but there is no story attached to each name and there are only 12. Where do they come from? Who invited them? The community grows and it’s not just Jesus doing the inviting, connecting and including. In the Gospel of John, Simon Peter is invited down by the shore by his brother, Andrew.
Andrew’s invitation could have changed everything. But what if he hadn’t? What if he made a different choice or even choices? First, he could have stayed where it was comfortable, hanging with John the Baptist. Change is hard; change in jobs, change in churches, change in community organizations but change does not stop Andrew. John the Baptist points Andrew to Jesus and he is not only interested, he is so interested, he gets his brother. That’s where he could have made yet another choice, he could have said, “I want this whole Jesus movement to myself. I had to share everything, even a bedroom with this guy my whole life. I’m not sharing this too.” But he doesn’t keep it to himself, he chooses inclusion. Now he could have made the choice a lot of us make, which is not intentionally excluding Simon Peter, but assuming if he’s interested he will find out on his own. Andrew doesn’t say, “I’m sure he’s busy enough with his family or I feel weird inviting him, like some of us might when we think about including or inviting folks to church or community or gatherings. He just does it. He includes his brother. And his brother says, “Yes.” When Andrew invites his brother, Simon, it is born out of love and he must have had some sense that Simon Peter had something to bring to this community as well, not just something he needs, but something that is going to excite him and connect his gifts. Andrew invites his brother Simon, and despite all of his epic failures and mistakes… Peter becomes the rock of the church. Imagine if he had not, imagine if he had made a different choice. This moment matters. It changes everything; and it is born out of relationship, vulnerably and whole hearted risk-taking.
Walter Brueggemann defines evangelism as an “invitation to reimagine our lives.”1 Valuing the ancient in the modern context, he suggests the church as the place for “alternative conversation” which invites life-giving transformation 2. Brueggemann identifies three archetypal narratives as “the promise to the ancestors, the liberation of slaves, and the gift of the land to displaced peasants.”3 Scripture is a collection of stories or “reflections on experiences of salvation, of God’s liberating love,” of mutuality experienced in such a radical way that it changes people’s lives and transforms our world 4. Jesus invites people into the stories of their past and in community they practice abundance. People change in this experience, but it is not because he reminds them they are so sinful or because they are afraid of eternal damnation. People change around Jesus because they are more whole heartedly themselves, more bold in confronting the systems of brokenness and more compassionate in bringing healing to the people around them. They change because they are beloved and they change because they don’t just talk about abundance, they practice it, make mistakes and then try again. People change and communities change but Jesus does not work out of a system of domination or compliance or control. Transformation is rooted in worth and a willingness to see as God sees and an openness to love as God loves. That’s why Andrew invites his brother Simon Peter, that’s why Mary Magdalene travels with Jesus, that’s why Matthew doesn’t collect another tax, that’s why Martha invites Jesus into her home, that’s why Zacchaeus gives half of his wealth away and repatriates what he took with interest and that’s why fishermen leave their nets and boats to fish for something bigger. And that’s why invitations and inclusion matter, because people are liberated to be more fully themselves; beautifully and wonderfully made in the image of God. That’s the sacred work of evangelism.
I believe this whole heartedly. That’s at the heart of creating this community, making a safe and sacred place, a living sanctuary that values everyday relationships all the time. I want us to be a hub of relationship, the connective tissue in the community that brings hope and healing. It’s a great theory, but practice is hard. Because there is this reality of starting something new, both a coffee shop and a church, which is that you may not exist if folks don’t come. There is pressure to grow and grow fast. I attended countless trainings about new church starts and church growth. It’s not hard; it is real discipline. They have all these strategies like placing 30 pennies in your right pocket and moving one to your left pocket every time you talk with someone new, share your card, and invite them. Handing out flyers and being at events. I asked all the church people I knew if they could connect me with a person they knew that didn’t attend a church. I cold called people and asked them to have coffee and told them about what we were doing to create a new church community. I handed out flyers in the Farmers Market knowing that 10% would come in and 3% may give worship a try and 1% may stay… and if you are trying to connect with people and grow a community - that’s a lot of flyers and rejection! And for me it was a lot of time saying, “I’m inviting you and I’m not like those other people who invited you before.”
It was a lot of work and I can tell you that there were times when it didn’t even seem to be working, at least not fast enough for the goals I had set with the conference. In 2015, when we graduated from FUMC and became independent, thanks to luck and discipline, we had a good size community gathering in the evening. It had taken a long time but people were connected and shared stories of how much it meant to them to find this place. My hope that we would make a space that mattered was beginning to make a difference. But we still needed to grow into full sustainability. We needed to grow, whether we wanted to or not (plus the Bishop was cutting new church starts worshiping fewer than 120 folks a week, which was a great motivator, even if it was out of fear and not out of love). That year, we were gaining a second pastor, so I just doubled our goals. Right? Two pastors, twice the outreach, and bam, mission accomplished, I could get a banner we would be at 120 in no time! And that year we didn’t get close. Not even. We started a second service and still had about the same average weekly attendance. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of closing. I was afraid and I was annoyed. I remember, someone from City Lights Church, converting someone over a cup of coffee, at one of our tables, to come to their church. It was everything I remembered and I wanted to shout, “NOOOO! Don’t do it. Oh please just come here.” Why is the threat of hell so compelling, why is invitation without it so hard, why do we only have carrots and no sticks and why don’t people want them?
People asked if I thought our campus ministry would grow faster if it was um... less... um gay? If we were more normal as a church and less direct about justice maybe we would grow faster or at least maybe not host Vagina Monologues. It’s true that most of the new church starts that exist beyond the startup phase, at least that I knew of, were not progressive. They did not start in a neighborhood with research data that says, “Opposed to organized religion.” I was overwhelmed with the goals at hand and I had forgotten WHY reaching people mattered in the first place. I had to stop spinning away from the whole heart of the work. This wasn’t about growth for growth’s sake or growth to please a Bishop or growth to prove a point to people who didn’t think it was possible; it was about including people, building relationships that mattered, stringing ties to one another so we could treat one another as sacred and beloved. I forgot the why. I panicked and forgot that we were here to build relationships, all kinds of them. Community partners, folks at the coffee bar, people who want a good book, milk vendors, downtown neighbors…even or perhaps especially the ones who are never going to come to church. Vendors at the Farmer’s Market, College Students and a hundred other identities…oh and folks who come to church. That’s the difference. We are rooted with a strategically different shape to remind us when we forget, it’s not just about us, it’s not just about the church - it’s about community. Relationships are slow, they require time and care and they are not transactional…like I will spend time with you if you can commit to attending worship twice a month for the next 10 years.
One of my favorite professors invited me into this language of emancipation. Marjorie Procter-Smith pushes beyond non-sexist and inclusive models of God-Language in worship, to emancipatory language, which makes women visible. She reminds us all that language is important, that just using non-gendered language for God is not liberating enough, we still see Santa Clause when we hear the word God and that just doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t help anyone see and value women as sacred, particularly women. Her work is similar to James Cone when he said, “God is Black” and to the Liberation Theologians who call us to look at the brown faces caged by our boarder as divine. For Procter-Smith, emancipatory language challenges and transforms through “reinterpretation of terms of derision” and remembering as well as through new “collective identity” and imagining 5. Emancipatory language, liturgy, and preaching assume “that God is engaged in women’s struggles for emancipation, even to the point of identifying with those who struggle.”6 God is in the vulnerable.
I believe our work in Evangelism is emancipatory, and it is liberating. Relationships weave us into one another and our faith invites us to lay our stories up against the stories of those long past who found abundance in a world of scarcity, connection in a world of control and worth in a world that wants to place a value with each paycheck, test score or dress size. That’s why people told their brothers or invited their friends to join the journey with Jesus. It wasn’t because he had skinny jeans or a smoke machine in worship, it was because people mattered and he built relationships that empowered people, inspired people and liberated people. It mattered so much, they would risk everything in love to share that gift with someone else.
Our very existence runs counter to these toxic narratives of the world and to the ways the church has been conformed by the world in spiritual bankrupt practices of evangelism. We have a mission. Our mission is the transformation of the world. This is bigger than our coffee bar, bigger than our church, it is bigger than the Methodist Church and it is bigger than our country. And we have a means to this work which is discipleship, not cheap evangelism. That is a big mission, which means we need to invite everyone we know, and their brother and their cousin and probably even their cat. It means we are responsible for this work, sent out just like the early disciples to bring healing, teaching and feasting that show the world a different way, inviting everyone to the table of abundance, sharing the stories and really tasting and seeing abundance. Transformation of the world is a tall order especially when it relies on folks like Peter and Matthew and you and me. We make mistakes and fail in epic ways. We get small and petty about things, we get focused on numbers or shortcomings. We get nervous about sharing our stories and we get caught up in liking things small and manageable or wanting to count things that don’t really matter. That’s not what this is all about. We are called to show up, to weave a web of relationships and to care deeply. May we have the courage to see and to celebrate the worth and value of others. May we have the courage to listen, and may we have the courage to build and strengthen the relationships that make us all better!
May it be so!
Amen.
Questions for Reflection:
Do you have experiences with the word evangelism or the practice of evangelism?
What does it mean to you to increase people and invite people? Who might be seeking what you know?
What person or organization are you committed to growing a relationship with?
- Walter Bruggermann, Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe, (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1993), 10.
- Ibid, 47.
- Ibid, 10.
- Sallie McFague, Abundant Life: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001), 61.
- Marjorie Procter-Smith. In Her Own Rite: Constructing Feminist Liturgical Tradition. (Akron, Ohio: Order of Saint Luke, 2003, originally 1990.), 55.
- Ibid, 56.
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