Proper 7/Pentecost 5/Ordinary Time 12
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
Psalm 9 was probably once joined with Psalm 10, for the letters of the Hebrew alphabet appear in order, half in Psalm 9 and half in Psalm 10. That is, each second verse begins with the next letter of the alphabet.
There is much in this psalm that we have heard in others, but we pause now over verse 11, which advises us to "Sing praises to the Lord" and "Declare his deeds among the peoples." In other words, this psalm calls us to witness to the presence of God in our lives.
Some of us, in our less-than-faithful moments, may be tempted to fantasize about deleting certain verses from the Bible -- because, if those verses were deleted, being a Christian would suddenly become easier. If we could drop the verse about loving our neighbor, for example, there would be fewer unpleasant people we would have to tolerate. Or perhaps we would fantasize about omitting the verses about tithing or turning the other cheek.
In my fantasy, I might choose Psalm 9:11 and some other verses that say much the same thing about glorifying God in the marketplace. I'd be a lot more comfortable if I wasn't expected to witness to my faith. I'd rather just preach to those who come to church expecting to hear it than have to "declare ... among the peoples." Witnessing about our faith to people who don't want to hear it is tough. And it can be embarrassing.
But of course, we don't have the option of deleting this verse, and more importantly, we can see the logic and the importance behind it. Christianity needs to be shared, if it is to continue through upcoming generations. Paul put it plainly in Romans (10:13-14): "For, 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?"
And so Christians have to think of ways to build bridges to nonbelievers in order to share their faith. In a baccalaureate address to a senior class, Nathan Perry, former president of Harvard, said, "The finest fruit of serious learning should be the ability to speak the word 'God' without reserve or embarrassment. And it should be spoken ... with reverence and joy."
The key, however, is knowing when to speak that word. The practice of randomly engaging strangers in conversations about Christ is sometimes called "buttonhole evangelism." The problem with that -- aside from the fact that doing it would make most of us quake in our boots -- is that it treats the person being buttonholed as a "target," a soul to rack up for Jesus. United Methodist Bishop William Grove once said that "buttonhole evangelism that doesn't even take time to discover the person's name is an offense to God." Thankfully, there are some people with the gift of mass evangelism who can talk to crowds about Jesus, and there are others who have the gift for one-on-one evangelism, who can approach a stranger and engage him or her meaningfully in conversation about Christ.
Where some of the rest of us fall down is when a natural invitation occurs in normal conversation to be honest about our faith. Consider the people in our workplaces. If we have worked beside them long enough, they should have some idea that we are committed to Christ. Most of our conversations with fellow-workers deal with routine, everyday things. But as we develop relationships with others, there sometimes come moments when something more serious comes up. Perhaps the other person may even be asking for our opinion about something or wanting to talk about a personal problem. Sometimes, those are situations that are best served by a natural expression or explanation of our faith.
For most of us, being a faithful witness doesn't mean going out to the street corner and buttonholing strangers, or using gimmicks to start unnatural conversations with them, or holding prayer meetings at work. It does mean that when those moments come where another person has opened up his or her life and invited us in, that we be willing to tell about the Lord who means so much to us.
-- S. P.
There is much in this psalm that we have heard in others, but we pause now over verse 11, which advises us to "Sing praises to the Lord" and "Declare his deeds among the peoples." In other words, this psalm calls us to witness to the presence of God in our lives.
Some of us, in our less-than-faithful moments, may be tempted to fantasize about deleting certain verses from the Bible -- because, if those verses were deleted, being a Christian would suddenly become easier. If we could drop the verse about loving our neighbor, for example, there would be fewer unpleasant people we would have to tolerate. Or perhaps we would fantasize about omitting the verses about tithing or turning the other cheek.
In my fantasy, I might choose Psalm 9:11 and some other verses that say much the same thing about glorifying God in the marketplace. I'd be a lot more comfortable if I wasn't expected to witness to my faith. I'd rather just preach to those who come to church expecting to hear it than have to "declare ... among the peoples." Witnessing about our faith to people who don't want to hear it is tough. And it can be embarrassing.
But of course, we don't have the option of deleting this verse, and more importantly, we can see the logic and the importance behind it. Christianity needs to be shared, if it is to continue through upcoming generations. Paul put it plainly in Romans (10:13-14): "For, 'everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?"
And so Christians have to think of ways to build bridges to nonbelievers in order to share their faith. In a baccalaureate address to a senior class, Nathan Perry, former president of Harvard, said, "The finest fruit of serious learning should be the ability to speak the word 'God' without reserve or embarrassment. And it should be spoken ... with reverence and joy."
The key, however, is knowing when to speak that word. The practice of randomly engaging strangers in conversations about Christ is sometimes called "buttonhole evangelism." The problem with that -- aside from the fact that doing it would make most of us quake in our boots -- is that it treats the person being buttonholed as a "target," a soul to rack up for Jesus. United Methodist Bishop William Grove once said that "buttonhole evangelism that doesn't even take time to discover the person's name is an offense to God." Thankfully, there are some people with the gift of mass evangelism who can talk to crowds about Jesus, and there are others who have the gift for one-on-one evangelism, who can approach a stranger and engage him or her meaningfully in conversation about Christ.
Where some of the rest of us fall down is when a natural invitation occurs in normal conversation to be honest about our faith. Consider the people in our workplaces. If we have worked beside them long enough, they should have some idea that we are committed to Christ. Most of our conversations with fellow-workers deal with routine, everyday things. But as we develop relationships with others, there sometimes come moments when something more serious comes up. Perhaps the other person may even be asking for our opinion about something or wanting to talk about a personal problem. Sometimes, those are situations that are best served by a natural expression or explanation of our faith.
For most of us, being a faithful witness doesn't mean going out to the street corner and buttonholing strangers, or using gimmicks to start unnatural conversations with them, or holding prayer meetings at work. It does mean that when those moments come where another person has opened up his or her life and invited us in, that we be willing to tell about the Lord who means so much to us.
-- S. P.
