So… In our gospel lesson today, we read that news was spreading fast about Jesus and the whole city of Capernaum had gathered outside of the house that he was staying in… That’s right… The whole city was there… And we’re not even out of chapter one yet… People had gathered around the house and they were bringing their friends… Their neighbors… And their loved ones, to see Jesus… To see just what all the fuss was about… Now… I don’t know if there was a long line… Or if perhaps people were waiting their turns patiently and politely as they waited for Jesus to see them, but what we do know is that people were so excited about this Jesus guy, that they couldn’t help, but to tell their friends and neighbors that they had to come and see for themselves…
Isn’t that beautiful… That’s true evangelism in a nutshell… You find something that amazes you, and then you tell people that they have to come and see… That they too have to experience this incredible thing that you have found… You know… I often think about evangelism… I guess I’m just weird that way… But I love our church… I love everything about our church… And that is because I believe that we can find healing, and hope, and truth, and beauty, and love, and purpose, and salvation, in this church… And I feel so strongly about that, that is to say, I am so excited by all of that, that I want to share just what I have found with other people… But we tend not to talk about evangelism very much in the Episcopal Church… And I often wonder why that is???
For a long time, we just simply had to paint the doors red, and people would COME… But that isn’t how things work anymore… Nationally we’ve witnessed our churches shrinking over the last 40 years or so… And people have just really started looking around while thinking… “Huh… maybe we should do something about this…” (To the Camera) Yeah… Maybe we should… Somewhere though, I think we must have lost our way when it comes to evangelism… I can’t really say when or what the catalyst was… I mean honestly, I can think of about 100 different things that likely contributed, and that’s just off the top of my head. But I think it’s best if I just focus one for today… I know you all are at home right now turning to one another relieved that this sermon isn’t going to turn into a three hour lecture…
Anyway… At some point, somewhere along the way, I think Episcopalians somehow got the notion that evangelism meant that they would have to say things like, “Hi friend, I’d like to talk to you about our Lord and savior Jesus Christ” or “Do you know where you’ll end up when you die?” (Yikes…) And worse… Not only would we have to talk to people about Jesus, but we would have to… convert them… And we had heard that the best way to do this, was by memorizing tons of bible verses… Not something many Episcopalians tend to do… (Shrug)
But what if I told you that none of that is true… What if I told you that evangelism doesn’t require you to do any of that stuff… What if I told you that evangelism doesn’t even require you to be certain about your beliefs… What if I told you that all that’s really required to be an evangelist is to be excited about something, and then to share that excitement with someone else… Eventually then, it becomes natural to invite someone to come and see for themselves… But Fr. Kenn you might ask… What do we have to be excited about??? Well, I’m glad you asked!
So, as a number of you have learned by now, one of the questions that I have been asking people as I call around the church, is “What does St. Barnabas do the best? Why would someone drive past another church so that they can come here… And here is some really great news… I’ve been given a bunch of different answers… Some people talk about the music program and how much they love being in the choir… Others have mentioned the sermons and the relaxed feel of our liturgy here… More than one person was extremely passionate about our vestment and altar dressings all of which were hand made by parishioners here… A bunch of people even mentioned that lemonade on the lawn is what they love the most… I want you all to know that I am completely serious when I say that there were a ton of different answers to that question… and those answers… Shared with the right people… Well… That… is… Evangelism…
You see, when the people in Capernaum had heard their friends and neighbors excitedly tell them about this Jesus guy, they just had to go see him for themselves… When they heard that he was reaching out and offering healing and hope to people… Well, they knew that had to go see… They knew that they just had to go and see for themselves if this Jesus guy was going to live up to all the hype… They needed to go see why their friends were so excited… And it’s the same for us… We don’t need to try to convert people or talk to them about their eternal salvation or anything like that… We just need to let someone know how excited we are about what’s going on at our church… We just need to share how the hope and healing we found here has the capacity to change lives.
And this… This should just happen naturally… Because you should be excited about this church…Seriously… You’ve got a lot to be excited about… And all it takes after that, is to say, “hey, you’ve gotta come and check this place out sometime… And then we can go out to brunch afterwards.” I mean, who doesn’t love a good brunch… I am not above bribery when it comes to getting people to come to church… That’s it… Really… That’s all evangelism is… (Well… The talking about what you’re excited about and asking them to come part… Not the bribery part…) Leave the rest up to the Holy Spirit… Well, the Holy Spirit and this incredibly welcoming congregation…
Incredibly welcoming… You know… while I definitely heard a great variety of things that people said St. Barnabas does best the thing that almost everyone started with… I mean nearly 100% of the folks I’ve talked to so far have said that St. Barnabas is incredibly welcoming… That when people come through your doors, you treat them with love, and dignity, and respect, and generosity… In a nutshell… You love people… You’re kind… You’re really, really kind… And that’s sooo important… Especially now… With all that is going on in the world… Especially when people everywhere are choosing not to be kind… Especially when people are fighting and hurting one another… A little kindness, can go a long way…
I’d like to read you a story about someone being kind that has really been inspiring for me… It’s a little on the long side, but trust me when I saw it’s worth it… so relax… Maybe hit the pause button and go grab a drink or a snack, or something then, come back… kick back a little… And grab the nearest box of Kleenex.
Okay Right, so here it is… Quote; “I work in a decent sized, local, indie bookstore. It’s a great job 99% of the time and a lot of our customers are pretty neat people. Any who, middle of the day this little old lady comes up. She’s lovably kooky. She effuses how much she loves the store and how she wishes she could spend more time in it but her husband is waiting in the car ‘OH! I BETTER BUY HIM SOME CHOCOLATE!’ She piles a bunch of art supplies on the counter and then stops and tells me how my bangs are beautiful and remind her of the ocean (‘Wooooosh’ she says, making a wave gesture with her hand.
Ok. I think to myself. Awesomely happy, weird little old ladies are my favorite kind of customer. They’re thrilled about everything and they’re comfortably bananas. I can have a good time with this one. So we chat and it’s nice.
Then this kid, who’s been up my counter a few times to gather his school textbooks, comes up in line behind her (we’re connected to a major university in the city so we have a lot of harried students pass through). She turns around to him and, out of nowhere, demands that he put his textbooks on the counter. He’s confused but she explains that she’s going to buy his textbooks.
He goes sheetrock white. He refuses and adamantly insists that she can’t do that. It’s like, $400 worth of textbooks. She, this tiny old woman, boldly takes them out of his hands, throws them on the counter and turns to me with an intense stare and tells me to put them on her bill. The kid at this point is practically in tears. He’s confused and shocked and grateful. Then she turns to him and says ‘you need chocolate.’ She starts grabbing handfuls of chocolates and putting them in her pile. He keeps asking her ‘why are you doing this?’ She responds, ‘Do you like Harry Potter?’ and throws a copy of the new Cursed Child on the pile too.
Finally, she’s done and I ring her up for a crazy amount of money. She pays and asks me to please give the kid a few bags for his stuff. While I’m bagging up her merchandise the kid hugs her. We’re both telling her how amazing she is and what an awesome thing she’s done. She turns to both of us and says probably one of the most profound, unscripted things I’ve ever had someone say: ‘It’s important to be kind. You can’t know all the times that you’ve hurt people in tiny, significant ways. It’s easy to be cruel without meaning to be. There’s nothing you can do about that. But you can choose to be kind. Be kind.’
The kid thanks her again and leaves. I tell her again how awesome she is. She’s staring out the door after him and says to me: ‘My son is a homeless meth addict. I don’t know what I did. I see that boy and I see the man my son could have been if someone had chosen to be kind to him at just the right time.’”1
This is a prime example of someone living into the moral economy of the kingdom of God. This is an incredible example of kindness, and of love, and, it’s an example of evangelism… This required vulnerability to be open enough to show love and compassion to another person regardless of whether they deserve it or not… This is a radical story of love and kindness that people just want to share… And that is because love and kindness are contagious… Love and kindness are inspiring… Love and kindness lead to hope and healing… People want to be a part of a story like that… People want to be part of a loving community that not only has the power to change a person’s life for the better… Lots of places lots of people have that kind of power… People want to be part of a loving community that actually comes together to use that power… A community that comes together to use their gifts and actually Change hearts, minds, and lives, all in the name of God’s Amazing grace, hope, and love…
That’s the story of St. Barnabas that I’ve been hearing from all of you… It’s our story to share… And it’s our incredible community of kindness and love to share… We don’t have to be the best kept secret in Wilmington… We don’t need to hide this place under a bushel… All we need to do is to passionately tell other people why we love this place… The Holy Spirit will take care of the rest…
Amen.
Fr. Kenn