Tuesday, February 2, 2010

What I’m Reading Today: Mark 1:21-45

One of the greatest challenges progressive people of faith face is trying to figure out how to share our faith perspectives with the world. That challenge is understandable since a huge piece of who we are is about respecting the fact that there are different ways to approach our search for healing and wholeness. Our message, therefore, isn’t easily reproducible to quaint slogans.

So how then do we get the word out?

Well, ironically I’ve stumbled upon two resources the past few weeks that have helped me arrive at a clearer understanding of that very question. The first resource came from my Co-Dependents Anonymous Literature. In the section of the literature that deals with the 12 Traditions of 12 Step programs, the tradition reads: “Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion.” That wording captures perfectly the way we progressive people of faith can “get the word out”: attracting people by living lives of authenticity and integrity (not by promoting our faith through clichés and glossy brochures).

This leads to the second resource that helped me figure out how to get the word out: today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark. In that passage, the stories reveal a pattern about the way in which Jesus lived his life. When it came time to heal others (i.e. Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, the hoardes of people, and the leper), it is significant to note that not once did Jesus seek out individuals who were in need of healing. In each instance, Jesus waited for the opportunity for healing to present itself. And when it did, Jesus was ready. And when Jesus went to the rest of the villages to preach, did he set up shop in the center of the public square to impose his message on others? No, he went to the meeting places and spoke to those who were ready to hear. In other words, Jesus used the principle of attraction not promotion.

As you live your life today with authenticity and integrity, know that I give thanks for your life and all of the ways it is attracting others to seek out the God of love, compassion, and justice that they meet through you.

Til next time…