Gracious Lord who sent out your followers to make disciples teach us to be bold in sharing the good news in Jesus Christ. Take away our fear and raise us up in the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim that Christ fills our hearts and minds with his grace moving us out into community to serve in his name. Amen
The message of Easter is that the tomb is empty and “Christ is risen” but the message to the church is to get out and share the good news that the tomb is empty and Jesus lives. All four of the Gospels in some manner share the importance of passing on the story of the empty tomb. Mark and Matthew share a command to go out and make disciples. Luke speaks of the power of the Spirit God will send upon the disciples, the Spirit that arrives in Acts on the Pentecost celebration equipping the disciples to speak the story of Christ in a way that the people of the world can hear and understand beyond the barrier of language. John celebrates the faith of those who have heard the story of faith and believe without seeing. Whatever else is to happen following the death and the empty tomb the story of Jesus is to be passed on. It is in a paraphrase an old movie title, “The Greatest Story That Must Be Told.”
How did you receive the story of Jesus? Most likely it was from parents and grandparents. You may have had a children’s Bible Story book. It may have been around the Christmas tree reading the story of the birth of Jesus, or in Sunday school with teachers who shared the stories of the Old and New Testaments with you and those stories of Jesus miracles, healings and more. In other words there was telling of the story. Stop for a moment, however, and think for a moment if you hadn’t had that experience as a child. How would you know about Jesus Christ and God’s love for you in him?
If no one tells the story of Jesus Christ then how will any people know? If the early church had thought this way how would you or anyone know?
The work of sharing the good news, the gospel, about Jesus Christ his ministry, work and teachings is the most important thing that the church can do, that WE can do. This sharing happens in a multitude of ways including charitable giving, serving, visiting, healing, feeding and most important of all telling Christ’s story.
St. Francis is purported to have once said, “Preach the Gospel in all things, if necessary use words.” His point was that if you want to reach someone’s heart you learn to serve them and to care about them and their life circumstances. It is an empty promise to speak about a Jesus who cares for the brokenness of people’s lives but does nothing to heal it. And yet only offering compassionate care, food or water or healing, however, is an unclear and incomplete message if people do not know why we do so. The story needs to be told, as well.
This care and telling is not a conditional relationship. It is not if you let me tell you this story I will feed. That is manipulation and not compassion. Rather it is a relationship in which we truly care for the poor and needy and that caring and serving them we stand ever ready to share the source of our compassion and love for them. Because Jesus loves them so do we. Because Jesus loves us so we serve.
James says faith without works is dead but works without faith and sharing the story of Jesus and God’s love is to fail at the central mission given to the early church. The Gospels are clear on this, what are you and I going to do about it?
Let us lift every voice and sing and tell the old, old story of the empty tomb and Jesus Christ and his love.
The message of Easter is that the tomb is empty and “Christ is risen” but the message to the church is to get out and share the good news that the tomb is empty and Jesus lives. All four of the Gospels in some manner share the importance of passing on the story of the empty tomb. Mark and Matthew share a command to go out and make disciples. Luke speaks of the power of the Spirit God will send upon the disciples, the Spirit that arrives in Acts on the Pentecost celebration equipping the disciples to speak the story of Christ in a way that the people of the world can hear and understand beyond the barrier of language. John celebrates the faith of those who have heard the story of faith and believe without seeing. Whatever else is to happen following the death and the empty tomb the story of Jesus is to be passed on. It is in a paraphrase an old movie title, “The Greatest Story That Must Be Told.”
How did you receive the story of Jesus? Most likely it was from parents and grandparents. You may have had a children’s Bible Story book. It may have been around the Christmas tree reading the story of the birth of Jesus, or in Sunday school with teachers who shared the stories of the Old and New Testaments with you and those stories of Jesus miracles, healings and more. In other words there was telling of the story. Stop for a moment, however, and think for a moment if you hadn’t had that experience as a child. How would you know about Jesus Christ and God’s love for you in him?
If no one tells the story of Jesus Christ then how will any people know? If the early church had thought this way how would you or anyone know?
The work of sharing the good news, the gospel, about Jesus Christ his ministry, work and teachings is the most important thing that the church can do, that WE can do. This sharing happens in a multitude of ways including charitable giving, serving, visiting, healing, feeding and most important of all telling Christ’s story.
St. Francis is purported to have once said, “Preach the Gospel in all things, if necessary use words.” His point was that if you want to reach someone’s heart you learn to serve them and to care about them and their life circumstances. It is an empty promise to speak about a Jesus who cares for the brokenness of people’s lives but does nothing to heal it. And yet only offering compassionate care, food or water or healing, however, is an unclear and incomplete message if people do not know why we do so. The story needs to be told, as well.
This care and telling is not a conditional relationship. It is not if you let me tell you this story I will feed. That is manipulation and not compassion. Rather it is a relationship in which we truly care for the poor and needy and that caring and serving them we stand ever ready to share the source of our compassion and love for them. Because Jesus loves them so do we. Because Jesus loves us so we serve.
James says faith without works is dead but works without faith and sharing the story of Jesus and God’s love is to fail at the central mission given to the early church. The Gospels are clear on this, what are you and I going to do about it?
Let us lift every voice and sing and tell the old, old story of the empty tomb and Jesus Christ and his love.
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