The Rev. Robert Lundquist Proper XB 7/16/06 St Paul’s, Ft Collins

“Curious pagans and bored Christians welcome.” So reads a sign at St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Washington, DC. For some 45 years St Mark’s has served its community. It is a growing and progressive congregation. Jim Adams, the former long-time Rector, referred to progressive evangelism (an oxymoron to some) as “spiritual generosity.” A most appropriate term, I think.

Today’s lessons are about prophecy and invitation. Draw near, go forth.

Invitation – welcoming the curious and the bored. What have we to offer here at St Paul’s?

v Questions rather than answers

v Community rather than dogma

v Faith rather than religion

Religion is so often misused and abused that there can be small wonder at the boredom and disdain in which it is sometimes held. Author John Irving, in A Prayer for Owen Meany, tells of the Sunday School experience of the protagonist. Mrs Walker, the teacher, would sternly read a passage of scripture to the young children before telling them to silently meditate upon it. She would then leave the room, presumably to smoke a cigarette. Of course the room would erupt in chaos each week when she left. And the youngster is left to wonder at the point of the entire exercise.

The late author M. Scott Peck once wrote of his first visit to Sunday School as a child. He was told to draw a picture of the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, and then to color it. He never returned. I’m reminded of my own observation that we so often inoculate our children against our faith by having them color pictures rather than inviting them into the richness of our story. When we “dumb down” the faith we lose the children who are hungry to grow in their knowledge and love of God. I find myself cringing at the numerous breath-taking stories of religious abuse and neglect. Our spiritual generosity can, at times, be sorely lacking.

One antidote to his troubling phenomenon – a strong prophetic voice. Biblical prophecy is not, of course, seeing the future. A prophet speaks on behalf of God. Amos spoke of a plumbline, a measuring point. A plumbline is simply a string with a weight on one end. Held at the other end, gravity pulls the string into a straight and true line. It is used by builders to insure that their structures are properly aligned and upright.

Amos stood in the midst of the people with God’s plumbline, to give a measuring point to them in their relationship with God. I can’t help but think of how badly we need to observe a plumbline in our own midst, in the halls of government. Our Congress churns the various “moral issues” of our day: flag-burning, gay marriage, steroid use in major league baseball… while the real moral issues go unexamined: lying, hypocrisy, callous indifference to those who have little, clean water, enough food, treatment for AIDS and malaria… The last is a completely and cheaply treatable condition, yet it continues to kill thousands each year. Where is our moral plumbline when we permit this to happen in our world?

And war. E. Raymond Wilson said, “You can no more win a war than win a fire.” Yet Operation Iraqi Freedom has lasted longer than the US involvement in World War II. And it is accomplishing what? It’s wrong. It’s shameful. And it is not in plumb.

In our first reading today we hear than Amaziah the priest was furious with Amos’ prophecy. “Go away, earn your keep making prophecies elsewhere!” For the prophets of the time were attached to a ruler’s court, offering encouragement and support to their employer, reassuring them that God was indeed smiling upon them. We heard Amos’ poignant reply: “I’m not a prophet or the son of a prophet. I’m not a professional seer. I raise sheep and tend trees. It was God who took me away from the life I love and said, “Speak to Israel for me.”

So what are we to make of the curious and the bored? Let’s look to Jesus in today’s Gospel lesson. Remember how he was stymied in last week’s reading, being a prophet without honor in his own country. So he has sent out his followers instead, in groups of 2. In those times 2 witnesses could legally attest to the truth of something. And 2 can support each other in the difficulty of the ministry with which Jesus charged them. “Take no equipment, because you are your equipment,” (from The Message, Eugene Peterson’s translation). In other words, your story of God’s love can change lives. Your testimony can touch hearts.

Some will not be ready to hear what you say. If that’s the case, just move on. Take no pay (after the example of Amos). Plus [and this is the big one] – I will give you my authority. Authority to confront evil, and to face down demons, and to banish disease and illness.” The disciples went out with incredible excitement! The proclaimed the radically different life make possible in Jesus. They went out 2 x 2, with absolute joy. It’s a mission to which you are called as a follower of Jesus.

Curious pagans and bored Christians. Well, curiosity is the first step. But boredom is tragic. Gandhi once said that Christianity hasn’t been tried and found wanting – it just has never been tried. The Dalai Lama was quoted as saying, “We Buddhists think there is something to Christianity – but we don’t think Christians know what it is.” We are heirs to a treasure that we don’t always fully believe, even though others can see it and point to it.

What we Christians do know is that Jesus gave it all up, to change the world, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Our salvation story is only boring if we 1) don’t tell it at all, or 2) tell it but don’t really mean it. How hard can it be? In 1995 at a meeting of Anglican evangelists from around the world, I heard the then-president of the Mothers’ Union make the off-hand remark in her talk that each member of the Union was expected to speak with 100 people a year about their Christian faith. Responding to the gasp throughout the room, she stopped. “Surely you do the same! Why, that’s only 1 person every 3 or 4 days. Everybody can talk about Jesus that often, can’t they?”

Certainly you can testify to the power of God’s love in your life. I don’t mean assaulting strangers at the bus stop with a big floppy Bible. I mean bearing witness (as in a courtroom) to the reality of Jesus. A witness isn’t supposed to convince or persuade or cajole – a witness simply tells the truth. The challenge for you is this: don’t let anything get in the way of your telling the Good News!

Amen.

A Parish For All People!