We are not the only ones who matter, but we matter more than we can know. We are provided solid guarantees that we matter, that we possess individual, intrinsic value, but we do not comprehend this value. Our interior eye cannot pick it out. We know it is there and that it is critical, so we set out in an attempt to locate it, blindly fumbling about, grabbing at whatever is at hand and running our hands over it. Again, we read the words that guarantee our worth and even if we say "yes" to those words, how do we spend our days?
If I say "Christ is your savior" I have, first and foremost, placed myself before you to say those words so that you will recognize me as a person who says "Christ is your savior." Whether this is good or bad is not the point here. If I say "Christ is your savior" I have not told you something you have not heard, and I have not demonstrated or enacted the truth of what I mean. I have not communicated it to you. Whether I have in fact accomplished something of the reverse, either uncommunicating it or disqualifying myself from your consideration is a very real threat. I cannot afford to lose you, and so I say nothing.
Here is the problem with preaching if one is concerned more with the soul being saved than with how you look in the attempt.
The point that I have reached now, sitting here, is one that I can reflect on and understand by degrees. Given the topic, I find it necessary to do this, to in a sense retrace the thread of how I got here, recalling the path of bread crumbs that led me through the forest. To think of preaching in terms of how others preach is a dead end. You are bound to consider form, style, and efficacy as only you perceive it. One cannot preach as an effect of having watched others preach - though you can learn from others. But on the subject of preaching, one can only consider how one got to where one is, to open one's heart, and speak the truth that God put there.
What after all is this odd word, "preaching?" It serves to host negative connotations, to be sure. The immediate impression I have is of someone - a man, of course - telling someone what they should believe. Well, there are all kinds of things wrong with that picture, but it is true to the characterization of poor preaching. And yet. Can we confidently say that standard out-of-the-box preaching - yelling "Christ is your savior" on the street corner - is perfectly ineffective? I would not say that. I think that passion presides fittingly at the occasion of conversion. The street preacher, quoting from scripture, charismatic, defiant, can be just the one to serve as the lightening rod of epiphany.
Passion matters as does personal care and attention. So we have preachers who describe themselves as witnesses to the truth, or its ministers. People who minister or witness or more likely to represent their faith by good works than in preaching per se. One can do all these things of course, but what concerns me here is the specific topic of preaching.
"Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15)
This is a marvelous invocation and instruction. Anyone can see, I think, how people might be captivated and propelled by these very words. These words have sponsored the movements of missionaries, of saints and sinners too. The history of the world can be traced to the effect of these words, taken as absolute, as words of perfect instruction. This directive is really pretty astounding. It encompasses all people; or, arguably, all living creation. What "proclaim" means in this sentence must be more than preaching - unless one is St. Francis, we do not preach to birds and butterflies; but we can live in accord with the world, in unity with all creatures, and thereby proclaim the Gospel.
And what is the Gospel? Well, first and foremost, it is that Christ is your savior. (There, I said it!) But that gives the story away somewhat because a lot happened before Christ was resurrected as your savior. Obviously, he had to be born in the first place, which is where the Blessed Virgin enters the picture. But even before that, Christ was announced through prophecy (hello Holy Spirit); and before even that he was present, by the will of God, as "All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be." (John 1:3). So what we really have here is a story. And the reason this matters is that each one of us has a story too, and unless we bring our story into this conversation nothing is going to happen. Jesus Christ is not a picture hanging on the wall or merely a plaster Crucifix hanging from the ceiling. He is God and man, and each of us is man, created by God in his own image. Each of us - man, woman, and child - has a lot in common with Jesus Christ; more than is strictly comfortable, if you get my drift.
So, the Gospel is not merely a stated truth, a series of tenets, each with an assumption or premise, and arguments, and a conclusion. It is your story, if you care to see it in the light of revealed truth. The good news of the Gospel matters when and only when you - personally - decide it matters for you, personally. That does not mean that the good news does not exist unless you say it does. Oh, no. The Gospel will knock at your door, leave messages at work, drop little hints, show up in unexpected places. The Gospel will be, in turns, amusing and annoying, maybe even a little creepy. That's not so bad when you consider the entertainment value. After all, it's free. And then there's the potential for a reward which, I think it's safe to say, is without compare. Eternal life in the presence of the living God.
So, if all this is about story telling, then so is preaching, or witnessing, or ministering - whatever you want to call it. Maybe we should call it that: calling. What are you? A caller. What do you do? I call, what do you think I do? Well then, who are you calling?
By the grace of God, I am calling you.
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