Friends For Christ
Sermon
Over recent years there's been a sea change in the perception of how people come to Christianity. In the nineties I was sent by the diocese on an evangelism course which was to be in the form of a mission to a town in England. We were to learn on the job. But it turned out to be one of the worst times in my life, for I found myself totally at odds with the leaders of the course and very uncomfortable indeed with the form of evangelism I was supposed to be learning.
The mission was still run on quite old-fashioned lines, of personal testimonies followed by a call to come to the front and give yourself to Jesus. Nothing wrong with that, except that the type of Christianity expounded was somewhat narrow and blinkered, and research has shown that most people come to Jesus by a very different route!
It has now been recognised that few people come to faith through just one powerful moment, although many people do have at least one and maybe more, powerful moments along the path. For the majority, coming to faith seems to be a gradual process which may have started years previously and which has slowly built up, and it's most commonly based on friendship. People are brought to Christ by their friends.
Jesus of course knew this, and therefore made friends with the most unlikely folk such as prostitutes and collaborators and down-and-outs, most of whom responded to his approach. But they only responded because he offered a genuine friendship. He really cared about them, and they knew it.
Genuine friendship has no strings attached. It values people for their own sake not for what they can offer, so genuine friendship doesn't depend on whether or not those approached decide to attend church or whether or not they come to Christianity. It's also unconditional and non-judgemental, so it accepts people wherever they are and whatever their perceived sins. And it's caring without being indulgent, so it offers honesty as well as love.
When this sort of friendship is offered it's usually very attractive and does tend to draw people, as the early Church discovered. People flocked to the early Church because it was offering something that the old Judaism apparently didn't offer - unconditional love. The early Christians were so overwhelmed with their vivid experience of Christ that outsiders used to say about them, "See how these Christians love one another".
This is perhaps brought out in the opening of St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, which is so affirming and loving. At the start of his letter Paul is full of praise for the Corinthians, for their speaking and knowledge, their testimony in Christ and their spiritual gifts. At this point Paul is concerned only to express his love for the young Church at Corinth and doesn't mention any weaknesses - they come later!
And this is quite surprising, for Corinth was renowned as a city of corruption and depravity. It was a bustling seaport and a commercial centre in its day, so it was a melting pot full of followers of various pagan cults and all sorts of questionable moral practices. Paul had established a Christian community in Corinth about the year 51, on his second missionary journey, less than twenty years after the death of Jesus.
At this stage morality doesn't appear to have been top of the Christian agenda. Meeting with Christ and being baptised in the Holy Spirit seem to have been more important than moral issues, hence the Corinthian Christians possess spiritual gifts and knowledge, although we discover later from Paul's letter that their morality sometimes left a bit to be desired. For instance, one of the members was living publicly in an incestuous union (1 Corinthians 5:1-13), other members engaged in legal conflicts in pagan courts of law (1 Corinthians 6:1-11); still others may have participated in religious prostitution (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) or temple sacrifices (1 Corinthians 10:14-22). And the community's ills were reflected in its liturgy, since in the celebration of the Eucharist certain members discriminated against others, drank too freely at the agape (fellowship meal), and denied Christian social courtesies to the poor among the membership (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). Spiritual gifts such as ecstatic prayer, attributed freely to the impulse of the Holy Spirit, were more highly prized than works of charity (1 Corinthians 13:1-2,8), and were used at times in a disorderly way (1 Corinthians 14:1-40).
So as we read on in St Paul's letter, it turns out that there is much that is wrong with the church at Corinth - but nobody would realise that from the opening of the letter. St Paul starts on a positive note, and it's only later after he has commended and praised the Corinthians and assured them of his regard and his love, that he goes on to draw their attention to better ways of following Christ.
If we want new disciples to follow Christ, then perhaps we should follow St Paul's example and concentrate on developing their spirituality before worrying too much about their life-style. We in the Church, especially those of us in a church which has a small congregation, must decide whether our priority is to encourage people to become followers of Christ or to gain new churchgoers. Sometimes new followers of Christ may become new churchgoers, but this no longer seems to be an automatic occurrence.
It may be that because for many people church going hasn't been part of their family life for more than three generations, our church liturgy is now perceived as so remote from "normal" life that some new Christians may never feel able to become churchgoers. Those church services which seem to be acceptable to complete newcomers are somewhere between entertainment, easy listening, and worship, which may not be on offer in all churches, especially those of a more formal tradition.
If we're going to encourage new Christians, perhaps in the end the only thing that matters is to present the gospel in terms that can be heard by current generations. This is what Jesus himself did by using stories to present eternal truths, and this is what St Paul did, by using the tradition in which he found himself and developing that tradition to encompass Christianity. It sounds as though that could be difficult for us, and involve difficult choices between retaining current church members or encouraging new ones, but maybe that's not so. Maybe all we have to do to present the gospel in terms which people can "hear", is to love other people so much that we find we can offer them genuine, unconditional friendship and honesty.
We can only do that if we love God first. And that, of course, is exactly what Jesus told us to do - 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' (Matthew 22:37-39).
If we really carried out those two commandments, perhaps our churches and our worship would be transformed. And then, like the Corinthian Christians, perhaps we too would be overwhelmed by our spirituality and spiritual gifts, for as St Paul says, the greatest of all spiritual gifts is love. So this year let's learn to love - so that we too can present the gospel so that it can be heard in our own generation.
The mission was still run on quite old-fashioned lines, of personal testimonies followed by a call to come to the front and give yourself to Jesus. Nothing wrong with that, except that the type of Christianity expounded was somewhat narrow and blinkered, and research has shown that most people come to Jesus by a very different route!
It has now been recognised that few people come to faith through just one powerful moment, although many people do have at least one and maybe more, powerful moments along the path. For the majority, coming to faith seems to be a gradual process which may have started years previously and which has slowly built up, and it's most commonly based on friendship. People are brought to Christ by their friends.
Jesus of course knew this, and therefore made friends with the most unlikely folk such as prostitutes and collaborators and down-and-outs, most of whom responded to his approach. But they only responded because he offered a genuine friendship. He really cared about them, and they knew it.
Genuine friendship has no strings attached. It values people for their own sake not for what they can offer, so genuine friendship doesn't depend on whether or not those approached decide to attend church or whether or not they come to Christianity. It's also unconditional and non-judgemental, so it accepts people wherever they are and whatever their perceived sins. And it's caring without being indulgent, so it offers honesty as well as love.
When this sort of friendship is offered it's usually very attractive and does tend to draw people, as the early Church discovered. People flocked to the early Church because it was offering something that the old Judaism apparently didn't offer - unconditional love. The early Christians were so overwhelmed with their vivid experience of Christ that outsiders used to say about them, "See how these Christians love one another".
This is perhaps brought out in the opening of St Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, which is so affirming and loving. At the start of his letter Paul is full of praise for the Corinthians, for their speaking and knowledge, their testimony in Christ and their spiritual gifts. At this point Paul is concerned only to express his love for the young Church at Corinth and doesn't mention any weaknesses - they come later!
And this is quite surprising, for Corinth was renowned as a city of corruption and depravity. It was a bustling seaport and a commercial centre in its day, so it was a melting pot full of followers of various pagan cults and all sorts of questionable moral practices. Paul had established a Christian community in Corinth about the year 51, on his second missionary journey, less than twenty years after the death of Jesus.
At this stage morality doesn't appear to have been top of the Christian agenda. Meeting with Christ and being baptised in the Holy Spirit seem to have been more important than moral issues, hence the Corinthian Christians possess spiritual gifts and knowledge, although we discover later from Paul's letter that their morality sometimes left a bit to be desired. For instance, one of the members was living publicly in an incestuous union (1 Corinthians 5:1-13), other members engaged in legal conflicts in pagan courts of law (1 Corinthians 6:1-11); still others may have participated in religious prostitution (1 Corinthians 6:12-20) or temple sacrifices (1 Corinthians 10:14-22). And the community's ills were reflected in its liturgy, since in the celebration of the Eucharist certain members discriminated against others, drank too freely at the agape (fellowship meal), and denied Christian social courtesies to the poor among the membership (1 Corinthians 11:17-22). Spiritual gifts such as ecstatic prayer, attributed freely to the impulse of the Holy Spirit, were more highly prized than works of charity (1 Corinthians 13:1-2,8), and were used at times in a disorderly way (1 Corinthians 14:1-40).
So as we read on in St Paul's letter, it turns out that there is much that is wrong with the church at Corinth - but nobody would realise that from the opening of the letter. St Paul starts on a positive note, and it's only later after he has commended and praised the Corinthians and assured them of his regard and his love, that he goes on to draw their attention to better ways of following Christ.
If we want new disciples to follow Christ, then perhaps we should follow St Paul's example and concentrate on developing their spirituality before worrying too much about their life-style. We in the Church, especially those of us in a church which has a small congregation, must decide whether our priority is to encourage people to become followers of Christ or to gain new churchgoers. Sometimes new followers of Christ may become new churchgoers, but this no longer seems to be an automatic occurrence.
It may be that because for many people church going hasn't been part of their family life for more than three generations, our church liturgy is now perceived as so remote from "normal" life that some new Christians may never feel able to become churchgoers. Those church services which seem to be acceptable to complete newcomers are somewhere between entertainment, easy listening, and worship, which may not be on offer in all churches, especially those of a more formal tradition.
If we're going to encourage new Christians, perhaps in the end the only thing that matters is to present the gospel in terms that can be heard by current generations. This is what Jesus himself did by using stories to present eternal truths, and this is what St Paul did, by using the tradition in which he found himself and developing that tradition to encompass Christianity. It sounds as though that could be difficult for us, and involve difficult choices between retaining current church members or encouraging new ones, but maybe that's not so. Maybe all we have to do to present the gospel in terms which people can "hear", is to love other people so much that we find we can offer them genuine, unconditional friendship and honesty.
We can only do that if we love God first. And that, of course, is exactly what Jesus told us to do - 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.' (Matthew 22:37-39).
If we really carried out those two commandments, perhaps our churches and our worship would be transformed. And then, like the Corinthian Christians, perhaps we too would be overwhelmed by our spirituality and spiritual gifts, for as St Paul says, the greatest of all spiritual gifts is love. So this year let's learn to love - so that we too can present the gospel so that it can be heard in our own generation.
