Proper 21 | Ordinary Time 26
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 or Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Roman Catholic
Numbers 11:25-29
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Episcopal
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 4:7-12 (13--5:6)
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Theme For The Day
Christ calls us to lead the wanderer home.
Old Testament Lesson
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Esther Saves Her People
Risking her own life, Queen Esther -- a Jewish woman -- has managed to position herself so that King Ahasuerus of Persia, her husband, offers to fulfill one wish for her. Her wish is that she and her people be saved from a pogrom that the king's wicked minister Haman has been about to begin in the king's name. The king complies with her wish, and Haman is executed, having received no mercy from Esther after pleading with her for his life. The first part of today's passage is the one in which Esther makes her plea to the king. The second section, from chapter 9, deals with the establishment of Purim -- the feast celebrated by the Jewish people to this day, to commemorate Esther's courage in saving her people, and God's having placed her in the palace "for such a time as this" (4:14), so she could save her people. Controversy has always swirled around the book of Esther, and particularly its place in both the Jewish and the Christian biblical canon. The name of God is never mentioned in it, and most of the characters, including Esther herself, have significant moral failings. Traditional homiletical approaches emphasize the role of a silent and invisible God, who orchestrates events in such a way that the covenant people of Israel are saved in the nick of time.
Alternate Old Testament Lesson
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
God Gracefully Responds To A Grumbling People
The Israelites, craving meat in the wilderness, are grumbling about the blandness of the manna the Lord has provided: "now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at" (v. 6). The Lord is angry at this, and Moses -- rather audaciously -- becomes angry at God, complaining that the Lord has saddled him with an ungrateful people who are impossible to lead. Strikingly, this passage contains powerful maternal imagery for God, as Moses complains that he has been, essentially, a wet-nurse to the children borne by Mother God (v. 12). Moses asks that he be relieved of his responsibilities as leader, even if it means his death. The Lord calls a conference of seventy elders of the people, and gives to each of them a share of the spirit that has been upon Moses. The elders then prophesy ecstatically -- even two absentee elders, Eldad and Medad, who have not made it to the tent of meeting. When Joshua challenges Moses to stop these two unauthorized elders from prophesying, Moses replies, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" (v. 29).
Homiletical possibilities include: 1) how the Lord provides for the people their daily bread, one day at a time, but the ungrateful people distrust the goodness of this provision; 2) how the Lord graciously accommodates to the needs both of the people and of Moses; 3) the dispersal of spiritual gifts among many people; and 4) the impossibility of confining the Holy Spirit's activity within particular boundaries -- as in the episode of Eldad and Medad.
New Testament Lesson
James 5:13-20
The Power Of Healing Prayer
In this closing portion of the letter, the author encourages the people to rely upon God in all circumstances. If they are suffering, they should pray. If joyful, they should sing songs of praise. If sick, they should call the elders of the church for prayer and anointing with oil: "the prayer of faith will save the sick" (v. 15). Healing and forgiveness are linked together (v. 16). Elijah is cited as one example of the power of prayer. Verses 19-20 celebrate the contribution of anyone who finds a believer who has wandered from the truth and brings him or her back into the fold: "whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (v. 20). This passage speaks to the condition of the church at a time of relative maturity, after the loose ecclesiastical order of previous generations that is seen in the Pauline letters. In these latter days, there is at least one formal church office, the eldership, and a formal rite of prayer and anointing for healing. This is an excellent text for encouraging churches to rediscover the ancient ministry of prayer for healing as a communal act.
The Gospel
Mark 9:38-50
Competition, Temptation, And Salt
There are three mostly unrelated pericopes in this passage: one concerning an incident of an unauthorized exorcist casting out demons in Jesus' name (vv. 38-41), another relating Jesus' teachings on the spiritual dangers of temptation (vv. 42-48), and a third containing several sayings that include the concept of salt (vv. 49-50). In the first, the disciples come up to Jesus with some agitation, reporting that a man who is not a visible part of their band is performing healings in Jesus' name. Far from being upset, Jesus instructs that he be left alone: "Whoever is not against us is for us" (v. 40b). The mission of healing and serving others is primary, taking precedence over matters of institutional organization. (Curiously, Matthew 12:30, if considered beside this verse, seems to contradict it: "whoever is not with me is against me." The difference, however, is in the first-person pronouns: plural in the case of the Markan verse and singular in the case of the Matthean one. While the unauthorized exorcist is not against Jesus at all, he can be said to be working independently of the company of the disciples.)
The second pericope has to do with those who would "put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me" (v. 42); for such a one, the punishment will be harsh. "Little ones" probably refers not to children, but to new believers. Regarding any sort of temptation, Jesus says it is best to resist it by all possible means: even to the point of cutting off one's hand or foot if that is causing one to sin (v. 43-48).
Finally, there is a series of epigrammatic sayings dealing with salt: "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (vv. 49-50). These salt sayings are rather obscure, and do not seem to directly follow from the narrative that precedes it. The "salted with fire" phrase is particularly mysterious, although it may have something to do with the role of fire and salt in sacrificial rites. Salt, of course, is more than a seasoning; it is a pure substance of great value throughout human history, particularly for the preservation of food. Salt has a job to do, and it does it. A sermon on this passage will probably have to focus on one of its three parts, for it is hard to find a unifying theme that runs through it in its entirety.
Preaching Possibilities
Somewhere out there, on the bumper of one of America's cars, is a sticker with this slogan: "You are a child of God. Please phone home." It gets the point across, doesn't it?
How many children of God do we know who have wandered away from home, never to return? The sociologists tell us our country is full of them, and their numbers are growing all the time. "The unchurched" -- as they call them, collectively -- is one of the fastest-growing segments of American religious demographics.
Most of the unchurched are not atheists or agnostics -- they are those who have a nominal belief in God, but who have drifted away from actively practicing their faith. Some of them feel kindly disposed toward the institutional church. Others of them have had some kind of bad experience that has made them draw a distinction between personal faith and what they would call "institutional religion." Still others are in a kind of waiting mode: they slipped out the back door of the church some time ago, for whatever reason, and are playing a kind of waiting game. They're waiting to see how long it will take for someone to invite them back.
If it's any comfort, this matter of wandering away from the Christian community is nothing new. It's as old as the Bible: as old as the Letter of James, anyway. "My brothers and sisters," he writes, "if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (vv. 19-20).
Jesus tells a few parables about wanderers coming home. He speaks of a lost sheep, who wanders away from the flock. What does the shepherd do, but leave the 99 other sheep grazing on the hillside, and set out after the one that's lost? Then there's the woman with ten silver coins, who loses one of them. Immediately she lights a lamp, takes up her broom, and sweeps out every nook and cranny of the house: hoping against hope that her broom will turn up the lost coin. Finally, there's that famous parable of the prodigal son: the tale of a young fool who demands his inheritance before his father even dies, squanders it, then comes crawling back, hoping for some measure of forgiveness. Dad surprises both his sons -- not to mention the world at large -- by embracing his faithless son with open arms, showering him with unconditional love (Luke 15).
Maybe some of the people to whom we'll be preaching have been wanderers at some time in your spiritual lives. If so, they know what it's like to wake up and come to the same realization the prodigal son discovered in the pig pen, just before he headed for home. Some of them know the same fear and trepidation he felt, not knowing what to expect at the hand of his father. The reason Jesus told that particular parable -- and the reason the Letter of James reads the way it does -- is to assure us there's always a way back to God, always a warm welcome for all who have been wanderers at some time in their spiritual lives.
The problem is, those who have been in the church for many years sometimes find it hard to relate to the wanderers out there who may be ready to come home. The old-time evangelist Sam Shoemaker used to refer to certain long-established churches as "aquariums." He would cite Jesus' famous teaching about his disciples needing to be "fishers of men" (and women, too, of course). Then he would point out that many followers of Jesus, in long-established churches, are more like "keepers of the aquarium" than "fishers of people." An aquarium is a closed system. It's a beautiful thing to look at, but aquarium fish just swim around and around in that limited space, enjoying one another's company (or so we presume). Far better, for the sake of the gospel, to be sailing out over the open ocean, encountering newcomers whom God is sending our way.
Perhaps the most important thing Christians need to do -- in order to be truly hospitable to those who are at that creative juncture in their lives when they may be ready to come back to church -- is to listen. Listening, as Henri Nouwen says, is at the heart of hospitality:
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
-- Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (New York: HarperCollins, 1997)
So much of what churches do in the name of evangelism is centered around talking. Certain types of evangelism center around a kind of "witnessing" that has a lot of similarities to a sales pitch. A far more potent form of witness is to spend time not speaking, but listening to what the other person has to say. Only after we've truly listened have we earned the right to reply.
We all crave someone to truly listen to us: to find such a person is a great gift. The "spiritual hospitality" -- to use Nouwen's term -- that is listening is far more likely than speaking to make an impact on another person, for the sake of Christ. It's one of the best ways to bring the wanderer home.
Prayer For The Day
Give to us, O Lord, a heart for the wanderer. Direct our attention beyond the familiar walls of our church community. Here are people we know and love; but there, beyond the walls, are people you already know and love, whom you are calling us to serve. Give us loving hearts and listening ears, that we might speak the word of affirmation and welcome they need to hear. Amen.
To Illustrate
There's a fable that comes from the Jewish tradition. It's a story about a man who left his own home to seek the great city of light far away. He walked and walked all day, until just before the sun went down. Then he found a likely place to camp for the night. The last thing he did before going to bed was to place his shoes on the ground, facing in the direction he was headed. That way, he figured, he'd set out in the right direction the next morning.
In the middle of the night, though, something happened. A stranger came along and turned the man's shoes around. In the morning he awoke, put on his shoes and set out on his journey again, toward the great city of light -- or so he thought. He walked and walked all day, until -- just before sunset -- he looked up ahead and saw a city that looked rather familiar to him. He entered through the city gate, and found a neighborhood that also looked rather familiar to him. He entered the neighborhood, and came to a house that looked rather familiar to him. He entered into the house ... and he lived happily ever after.
The journey of faith is always the journey homeward.
***
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-- T. S. Eliot, "Little Gidding," from Four Quartets
(London: Faber & Faber, 1942)
***
Sometimes wanderers find their way back to the church on their own -- but when they walk through the door, they're not home yet. In such cases, the greeting they receive -- or don't receive -- is often of crucial importance.
Greeting strangers is not always the easiest thing for Christians to do. Some of us are naturally shy. Some of us are so preoccupied with our own concerns, we may not even notice the person who's sharing the pew. Some of us are afraid of accidentally extending a welcome to someone who's been here all along -- and who may not appreciate being mistaken for a newcomer.
Those are the common fears, anyway. Yet the truth is, being greeted is something nearly everyone enjoys. Most first-time visitors to worship are yearning for a welcome. "Is this a friendly church?" they want to know. "Is there a place for me here?" A smile and a handshake go a long way toward helping guests feel at home. As for the fear of welcoming someone who's not a newcomer, but a longtime member -- that's easily remedied. Instead of saying, "Welcome to our church" or asking, "Is this your first time here?" just say, "I'm not sure we've had the chance to get acquainted, my name is ______." No one could possibly feel offended at that sensitive approach.
One sort of greeting is to be avoided at all costs. When a familiar, but long-absent face shows up in the pews, some words that may not help at all are, "I haven't seen you for a while," or "It's good to have you back." Most wanderers who have drifted away from the church would rather not have attention drawn to the fact that they've been away.
The single most important word any of us may say, on a Sunday morning, is a word of greeting. Who's to say what sort of wanderings may have led a stranger -- or even a returning friend -- to worship? Who could possibly know how the Holy Spirit may have been preparing the way before them, making them uniquely receptive to the welcome we extend?
***
Evangelism is spiritual generosity.
-- Anonymous
***
We have all been inoculated with Christianity, and are never likely to take it seriously now! You put some of the virus of some dreadful illness into a man's arm, and there is a little itchiness, some scratchiness, a slight discomfort -- disagreeable, no doubt, but not the fever of the real disease, the turning and the tossing, and the ebbing strength. And we have all been inoculated with Christianity, more or less. We are on Christ's side, we wish him well, we hope that he will win, and we are even prepared to do something for him, provided, of course, that he is reasonable, and does not make too much of an upset among our cozy comforts and our customary ways. But there is not the passion of zeal, and the burning enthusiasm, and the eagerness of self-sacrifice, of the real faith that changes character and wins the world.
-- A. J. Gossip, From the Edge of the Crowd (Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1924); also found online at
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 or Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Roman Catholic
Numbers 11:25-29
James 5:1-6
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Episcopal
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
James 4:7-12 (13--5:6)
Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48
Theme For The Day
Christ calls us to lead the wanderer home.
Old Testament Lesson
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Esther Saves Her People
Risking her own life, Queen Esther -- a Jewish woman -- has managed to position herself so that King Ahasuerus of Persia, her husband, offers to fulfill one wish for her. Her wish is that she and her people be saved from a pogrom that the king's wicked minister Haman has been about to begin in the king's name. The king complies with her wish, and Haman is executed, having received no mercy from Esther after pleading with her for his life. The first part of today's passage is the one in which Esther makes her plea to the king. The second section, from chapter 9, deals with the establishment of Purim -- the feast celebrated by the Jewish people to this day, to commemorate Esther's courage in saving her people, and God's having placed her in the palace "for such a time as this" (4:14), so she could save her people. Controversy has always swirled around the book of Esther, and particularly its place in both the Jewish and the Christian biblical canon. The name of God is never mentioned in it, and most of the characters, including Esther herself, have significant moral failings. Traditional homiletical approaches emphasize the role of a silent and invisible God, who orchestrates events in such a way that the covenant people of Israel are saved in the nick of time.
Alternate Old Testament Lesson
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
God Gracefully Responds To A Grumbling People
The Israelites, craving meat in the wilderness, are grumbling about the blandness of the manna the Lord has provided: "now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at" (v. 6). The Lord is angry at this, and Moses -- rather audaciously -- becomes angry at God, complaining that the Lord has saddled him with an ungrateful people who are impossible to lead. Strikingly, this passage contains powerful maternal imagery for God, as Moses complains that he has been, essentially, a wet-nurse to the children borne by Mother God (v. 12). Moses asks that he be relieved of his responsibilities as leader, even if it means his death. The Lord calls a conference of seventy elders of the people, and gives to each of them a share of the spirit that has been upon Moses. The elders then prophesy ecstatically -- even two absentee elders, Eldad and Medad, who have not made it to the tent of meeting. When Joshua challenges Moses to stop these two unauthorized elders from prophesying, Moses replies, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!" (v. 29).
Homiletical possibilities include: 1) how the Lord provides for the people their daily bread, one day at a time, but the ungrateful people distrust the goodness of this provision; 2) how the Lord graciously accommodates to the needs both of the people and of Moses; 3) the dispersal of spiritual gifts among many people; and 4) the impossibility of confining the Holy Spirit's activity within particular boundaries -- as in the episode of Eldad and Medad.
New Testament Lesson
James 5:13-20
The Power Of Healing Prayer
In this closing portion of the letter, the author encourages the people to rely upon God in all circumstances. If they are suffering, they should pray. If joyful, they should sing songs of praise. If sick, they should call the elders of the church for prayer and anointing with oil: "the prayer of faith will save the sick" (v. 15). Healing and forgiveness are linked together (v. 16). Elijah is cited as one example of the power of prayer. Verses 19-20 celebrate the contribution of anyone who finds a believer who has wandered from the truth and brings him or her back into the fold: "whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (v. 20). This passage speaks to the condition of the church at a time of relative maturity, after the loose ecclesiastical order of previous generations that is seen in the Pauline letters. In these latter days, there is at least one formal church office, the eldership, and a formal rite of prayer and anointing for healing. This is an excellent text for encouraging churches to rediscover the ancient ministry of prayer for healing as a communal act.
The Gospel
Mark 9:38-50
Competition, Temptation, And Salt
There are three mostly unrelated pericopes in this passage: one concerning an incident of an unauthorized exorcist casting out demons in Jesus' name (vv. 38-41), another relating Jesus' teachings on the spiritual dangers of temptation (vv. 42-48), and a third containing several sayings that include the concept of salt (vv. 49-50). In the first, the disciples come up to Jesus with some agitation, reporting that a man who is not a visible part of their band is performing healings in Jesus' name. Far from being upset, Jesus instructs that he be left alone: "Whoever is not against us is for us" (v. 40b). The mission of healing and serving others is primary, taking precedence over matters of institutional organization. (Curiously, Matthew 12:30, if considered beside this verse, seems to contradict it: "whoever is not with me is against me." The difference, however, is in the first-person pronouns: plural in the case of the Markan verse and singular in the case of the Matthean one. While the unauthorized exorcist is not against Jesus at all, he can be said to be working independently of the company of the disciples.)
The second pericope has to do with those who would "put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me" (v. 42); for such a one, the punishment will be harsh. "Little ones" probably refers not to children, but to new believers. Regarding any sort of temptation, Jesus says it is best to resist it by all possible means: even to the point of cutting off one's hand or foot if that is causing one to sin (v. 43-48).
Finally, there is a series of epigrammatic sayings dealing with salt: "For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (vv. 49-50). These salt sayings are rather obscure, and do not seem to directly follow from the narrative that precedes it. The "salted with fire" phrase is particularly mysterious, although it may have something to do with the role of fire and salt in sacrificial rites. Salt, of course, is more than a seasoning; it is a pure substance of great value throughout human history, particularly for the preservation of food. Salt has a job to do, and it does it. A sermon on this passage will probably have to focus on one of its three parts, for it is hard to find a unifying theme that runs through it in its entirety.
Preaching Possibilities
Somewhere out there, on the bumper of one of America's cars, is a sticker with this slogan: "You are a child of God. Please phone home." It gets the point across, doesn't it?
How many children of God do we know who have wandered away from home, never to return? The sociologists tell us our country is full of them, and their numbers are growing all the time. "The unchurched" -- as they call them, collectively -- is one of the fastest-growing segments of American religious demographics.
Most of the unchurched are not atheists or agnostics -- they are those who have a nominal belief in God, but who have drifted away from actively practicing their faith. Some of them feel kindly disposed toward the institutional church. Others of them have had some kind of bad experience that has made them draw a distinction between personal faith and what they would call "institutional religion." Still others are in a kind of waiting mode: they slipped out the back door of the church some time ago, for whatever reason, and are playing a kind of waiting game. They're waiting to see how long it will take for someone to invite them back.
If it's any comfort, this matter of wandering away from the Christian community is nothing new. It's as old as the Bible: as old as the Letter of James, anyway. "My brothers and sisters," he writes, "if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins" (vv. 19-20).
Jesus tells a few parables about wanderers coming home. He speaks of a lost sheep, who wanders away from the flock. What does the shepherd do, but leave the 99 other sheep grazing on the hillside, and set out after the one that's lost? Then there's the woman with ten silver coins, who loses one of them. Immediately she lights a lamp, takes up her broom, and sweeps out every nook and cranny of the house: hoping against hope that her broom will turn up the lost coin. Finally, there's that famous parable of the prodigal son: the tale of a young fool who demands his inheritance before his father even dies, squanders it, then comes crawling back, hoping for some measure of forgiveness. Dad surprises both his sons -- not to mention the world at large -- by embracing his faithless son with open arms, showering him with unconditional love (Luke 15).
Maybe some of the people to whom we'll be preaching have been wanderers at some time in your spiritual lives. If so, they know what it's like to wake up and come to the same realization the prodigal son discovered in the pig pen, just before he headed for home. Some of them know the same fear and trepidation he felt, not knowing what to expect at the hand of his father. The reason Jesus told that particular parable -- and the reason the Letter of James reads the way it does -- is to assure us there's always a way back to God, always a warm welcome for all who have been wanderers at some time in their spiritual lives.
The problem is, those who have been in the church for many years sometimes find it hard to relate to the wanderers out there who may be ready to come home. The old-time evangelist Sam Shoemaker used to refer to certain long-established churches as "aquariums." He would cite Jesus' famous teaching about his disciples needing to be "fishers of men" (and women, too, of course). Then he would point out that many followers of Jesus, in long-established churches, are more like "keepers of the aquarium" than "fishers of people." An aquarium is a closed system. It's a beautiful thing to look at, but aquarium fish just swim around and around in that limited space, enjoying one another's company (or so we presume). Far better, for the sake of the gospel, to be sailing out over the open ocean, encountering newcomers whom God is sending our way.
Perhaps the most important thing Christians need to do -- in order to be truly hospitable to those who are at that creative juncture in their lives when they may be ready to come back to church -- is to listen. Listening, as Henri Nouwen says, is at the heart of hospitality:
To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept. Listening is much more than allowing another to talk while waiting for a chance to respond. Listening is paying full attention to others and welcoming them into our very beings. The beauty of listening is that those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you.
-- Henri J. M. Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (New York: HarperCollins, 1997)
So much of what churches do in the name of evangelism is centered around talking. Certain types of evangelism center around a kind of "witnessing" that has a lot of similarities to a sales pitch. A far more potent form of witness is to spend time not speaking, but listening to what the other person has to say. Only after we've truly listened have we earned the right to reply.
We all crave someone to truly listen to us: to find such a person is a great gift. The "spiritual hospitality" -- to use Nouwen's term -- that is listening is far more likely than speaking to make an impact on another person, for the sake of Christ. It's one of the best ways to bring the wanderer home.
Prayer For The Day
Give to us, O Lord, a heart for the wanderer. Direct our attention beyond the familiar walls of our church community. Here are people we know and love; but there, beyond the walls, are people you already know and love, whom you are calling us to serve. Give us loving hearts and listening ears, that we might speak the word of affirmation and welcome they need to hear. Amen.
To Illustrate
There's a fable that comes from the Jewish tradition. It's a story about a man who left his own home to seek the great city of light far away. He walked and walked all day, until just before the sun went down. Then he found a likely place to camp for the night. The last thing he did before going to bed was to place his shoes on the ground, facing in the direction he was headed. That way, he figured, he'd set out in the right direction the next morning.
In the middle of the night, though, something happened. A stranger came along and turned the man's shoes around. In the morning he awoke, put on his shoes and set out on his journey again, toward the great city of light -- or so he thought. He walked and walked all day, until -- just before sunset -- he looked up ahead and saw a city that looked rather familiar to him. He entered through the city gate, and found a neighborhood that also looked rather familiar to him. He entered the neighborhood, and came to a house that looked rather familiar to him. He entered into the house ... and he lived happily ever after.
The journey of faith is always the journey homeward.
***
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
-- T. S. Eliot, "Little Gidding," from Four Quartets
(London: Faber & Faber, 1942)
***
Sometimes wanderers find their way back to the church on their own -- but when they walk through the door, they're not home yet. In such cases, the greeting they receive -- or don't receive -- is often of crucial importance.
Greeting strangers is not always the easiest thing for Christians to do. Some of us are naturally shy. Some of us are so preoccupied with our own concerns, we may not even notice the person who's sharing the pew. Some of us are afraid of accidentally extending a welcome to someone who's been here all along -- and who may not appreciate being mistaken for a newcomer.
Those are the common fears, anyway. Yet the truth is, being greeted is something nearly everyone enjoys. Most first-time visitors to worship are yearning for a welcome. "Is this a friendly church?" they want to know. "Is there a place for me here?" A smile and a handshake go a long way toward helping guests feel at home. As for the fear of welcoming someone who's not a newcomer, but a longtime member -- that's easily remedied. Instead of saying, "Welcome to our church" or asking, "Is this your first time here?" just say, "I'm not sure we've had the chance to get acquainted, my name is ______." No one could possibly feel offended at that sensitive approach.
One sort of greeting is to be avoided at all costs. When a familiar, but long-absent face shows up in the pews, some words that may not help at all are, "I haven't seen you for a while," or "It's good to have you back." Most wanderers who have drifted away from the church would rather not have attention drawn to the fact that they've been away.
The single most important word any of us may say, on a Sunday morning, is a word of greeting. Who's to say what sort of wanderings may have led a stranger -- or even a returning friend -- to worship? Who could possibly know how the Holy Spirit may have been preparing the way before them, making them uniquely receptive to the welcome we extend?
***
Evangelism is spiritual generosity.
-- Anonymous
***
We have all been inoculated with Christianity, and are never likely to take it seriously now! You put some of the virus of some dreadful illness into a man's arm, and there is a little itchiness, some scratchiness, a slight discomfort -- disagreeable, no doubt, but not the fever of the real disease, the turning and the tossing, and the ebbing strength. And we have all been inoculated with Christianity, more or less. We are on Christ's side, we wish him well, we hope that he will win, and we are even prepared to do something for him, provided, of course, that he is reasonable, and does not make too much of an upset among our cozy comforts and our customary ways. But there is not the passion of zeal, and the burning enthusiasm, and the eagerness of self-sacrifice, of the real faith that changes character and wins the world.
-- A. J. Gossip, From the Edge of the Crowd (Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1924); also found online at
