Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 110; Isaiah 62:6-7, 10-12; Luke 2:8-20; Titus 3:4-7; Psalm 85
Lots of folks began their day today by opening gifts – gifts that contain things like new sweaters, or dresses, or coats, or scarves. And in coming days they will take advantage of almost every opportunity to showcase those gifts by wearing them out. What’s the first thing that happens when you wear a gift out? Folks will compliment you on the item and – before you know it – you’ll be engaged in a conversation telling the other person all about the gift: who bought it for you; where they bought it; and so forth. While we are excited to jump on any opportunity to talk about most of our gifts, there is one gift in particular that many of us are hesitant to talk about. The gift of God’s love revealed in the manger. Why is that? I suppose part of the reason is because many of us were taught to believe that talking about our faith (evangelism, if you will) is about memorizing and reciting certain Scriptures to others or being aggressive and pushing your particular theology down someone else’s throat. Because of the negative experiences we might have had in the past with such approaches, we end up becoming totally silent about the gift of our faith. Today’s passage from Luke gives us another way to talk about our faith. Verse 17 tells us how the shepherds responded to their encounter with the Christ child: “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (NIV). The verse tells us the shepherds didn’t worry about trying to memorize all of the right Scripture to impress others. Nor did the shepherds try to establish an air-tight theology that would win folks over to their particular beliefs. No, the shepherds did none of that. Instead, they simply had an experience, got excited, and told others about their personal experience. Isn’t that what God calls us to do? Share our experience. In the days following Christmas, if someone comments that you look particularly happy or content, take a chance and let them know it isn’t your new sweater or dress that is the source of your happiness. Let them know what the real source is! Til next time…
Lots of folks began their day today by opening gifts – gifts that contain things like new sweaters, or dresses, or coats, or scarves. And in coming days they will take advantage of almost every opportunity to showcase those gifts by wearing them out. What’s the first thing that happens when you wear a gift out? Folks will compliment you on the item and – before you know it – you’ll be engaged in a conversation telling the other person all about the gift: who bought it for you; where they bought it; and so forth. While we are excited to jump on any opportunity to talk about most of our gifts, there is one gift in particular that many of us are hesitant to talk about. The gift of God’s love revealed in the manger. Why is that? I suppose part of the reason is because many of us were taught to believe that talking about our faith (evangelism, if you will) is about memorizing and reciting certain Scriptures to others or being aggressive and pushing your particular theology down someone else’s throat. Because of the negative experiences we might have had in the past with such approaches, we end up becoming totally silent about the gift of our faith. Today’s passage from Luke gives us another way to talk about our faith. Verse 17 tells us how the shepherds responded to their encounter with the Christ child: “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child” (NIV). The verse tells us the shepherds didn’t worry about trying to memorize all of the right Scripture to impress others. Nor did the shepherds try to establish an air-tight theology that would win folks over to their particular beliefs. No, the shepherds did none of that. Instead, they simply had an experience, got excited, and told others about their personal experience. Isn’t that what God calls us to do? Share our experience. In the days following Christmas, if someone comments that you look particularly happy or content, take a chance and let them know it isn’t your new sweater or dress that is the source of your happiness. Let them know what the real source is! Til next time…
No comments:
Post a Comment