“Evangelism Today” was preached at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown, PA on August 29, 2021. You can hear/watch this sermon here, starting at 35:40.
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Scripture Text:
Acts 19:1-7
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On the day of my
ordination as a minister of word & sacrament, caution tape was draped over
both sides of the pulpit.
And although some of you might beg to differ, the caution tape was not there because of me or my ordination. Rather, it was part of the theme of the sermon series in the sanctuary of the community of faith that raised me. Similar to the school supplies that decorate our chancel and table that serve as a visual emphasis to our worship experience this day; ivy, flowers, and caution tape decorated theirs. It was a part of their Lenten theme that year.
So my service of ordination was decorated with caution tape, something so odd and unique and yet so perfectly fitting. The minister even started her sermon that day referencing the caution tape, saying exactly that, how odd and unique and perfectly fitting it was for a service of ordination because ministry – ministry was not something to be entered into lightly. “Warning. Beware. Proceed with caution.”
You all know this firsthand. You sang it earlier, “Spirit, open my heart, to the joy and pain of living.” You all, out of the call that God placed on your heart, have continued in your ministry. Despite departures and transitions, despite pandemics and politics, despite divisions and disappointments, despite name-calling and way too much bullying; we have continued forward with our ministry together.
The caution tape would have been fitting for this past year and a half.
It’s been hard. Real hard. But we did it. By the grace of God, we did it. And I don’t think we are stopping anytime soon. Even despite how hard it may get.
I don’t think God will let us. Actually, I know that. God won’t stop, and God won’t let us stop either.
Every day we move forward to keep up with the Holy Spirit who is at work in this world; full speed ahead. No caution for the Spirit; just encouragement for us to keep up. And the occasional dragging when we need it.
For how difficult ministry is, it’s important to remember that we are only participants in it. God is the real agent of change. Think about it. In moments of baptism and ordination, we clergy and members participate but it is God who transforms. We sprinkle the water. We lay on our hands. But it God who baptizes and claims; it is God who lifts up and ordains. It is God who seals those acts to make them holy and lasting and enduring… And there is no undoing what God has done.
This is so very important; this is the message we must trust with our full being.
As Presbyterians, we have a theology that says we cannot undo what God has done. From the very beginning of time and every moment since, God chose you as God’s beloved. This claim is made visible to us in our baptisms. There is not a single thing that we or another can do to remove us from this claim. There is not a single thing that can separate us from God’s love.
Do you hear this message? Do you understand this message? Not a single thing can undo what God has done, and what God has done is love you. What God does is love you. What God will do is love you.
Parents – this is an especially important message for you to tell your children. Take a moment and tell them now. There is not a single thing that will ever separate you from God’s love.
There is not a
single thing that will ever separate you from God’s love.
Are we starting to understand why Paul emphasized baptism in the name of Christ? Paul, from our passage today, needed the new disciples to understand that their baptism in the name of John was not the same as a baptism in the name of Christ. That a baptism in the name of a human was not the same as a baptism in the name of the Spirit.
Paul needed this new crew of disciples to understand that now that the Spirit has come to them, the Spirit will never leave them, no matter what hardship they might approach in the days ahead. Even here, Paul and the disciples are only participants in this holy moment, but it is God who is the agent of transformation. It is a baptism done in the name of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit that descends upon them. And as we know, we cannot undo what God – or Christ or the Spirit – we cannot undo what God has done.
We are only participants in ministry, but it is God who is the agent of change.
I want you to think about that now in terms of evangelism, or the spreading of the Christian Gospel through Word and Witness in hopes to make others disciples of Christ.
We are only participants in evangelism, but it is God who is the agent of change.
As Presbyterians, we sometimes get a bad rap when it comes to evangelism. We believe that it is God who chooses us and not the other around, which means we tend to use that as our scapegoat when evangelizing to others, or really when not evangelizing to others. And also, our denomination and our church, tend to be extremely respectful of our ecumenical and interfaith relations, which is a really good thing! And yet the commandment by Christ is still there: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Which is exactly what Paul did in our passage. He copied Jesus and found new disciples and baptized them in the name of Christ. Jesus, during his earthly life, found the most diverse crew. His disciples were Jewish and Greek, tax collectors and zealots; some were fishermen and some were rich. And with the addition of Mary and Martha and others, they were women. Jesus even recruited his betrayer.
So then Paul does the same. He makes a choice. Paul will go Ephesus, which is the fourth largest city after Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. There, in this large and important city, he will find the most diverse people and cultures. And he does. He comes across a group of disciples who are believers but have yet to receive the Spirit because they do not know the Spirit. They are hungry for it; thirsty for it. They ask questions and then they are baptized. Of course, we see that Paul lays his hands over them but once again, we know it is not Paul serving as the agent of change here but rather, it is the Spirit that descends upon them that confirms the love of God and the grace of Jesus in their lives.
I think about what this means for us today; about what evangelism should look like today.
A few weeks ago I officiated the wedding for my cousin and his now wife at a small ELCA church in rural North Dakota. And when I say, rural, I mean North Dakota rural. More cows than people.
I also know this. This particular ELCA church, which ELCA is the equivalent to the PCUSA church in the Lutheran denomination, this particular ELCA church is not ready to call an LGBTQ+ minister. It’s a place that would not call me or someone like me. But three times I’ve been invited to preach there because their minister and now my cousin and his wife thought that the people of this particular place and time needed to hear the Word of God through the voice of an LGBTQ+ pastor.
That is what evangelism looks like today.
Evangelism looks like a female head of staff and pastor serving alongside women elders and deacons because we know the holiness and power of women voices as a part of God’s voice, from the moment they were the first to preach the resurrection to this day where their very presence in leadership faithfully defies the churches in this area who silence their calling.
Evangelism looks like the lifting up and listening of youth and young adult voices – people in their teens, twenties, and thirties – as they serve as our elders and deacons and volunteers because we see and believe in a God who calls all into service and can work through them through their experiences, especially those who are still young.
Evangelism looks like black lives matter signs outside of a church because scripture and our confessions require us to seek justice and serve the marginalized because we know our world and its system still oppress and murder black, indigenous, and people of color lives at a rate that is not synonymous with the lives Jesus intended for all of God’s children.
Evangelism looks like a community of faith hosting a booth at Pride because the Church – the big C church – the church all our communities of faith are a part of – have caused so much damage and self-hatred within the LGBTQ+ community that moments of saying “I’m sorry for what we have done” and “God celebrates and loves who you are” are life-changing and life-saving.
Evangelism looks like a magic carpet in the front of a sanctuary where children can gather. Evangelism looks like reminding your child every day that nothing will ever separate them from God’s love. Evangelism looks like welcoming the sounds, noises, and voices that come with children in worship, even if it’s distracting. Evangelism looks like a backpack tag that boldly and simply declares the most important message: “You are loved.”
Evangelism looks like intentional allyship, knowing that each of us have special powers and relationships to challenge a system which may include family and friends we love that still makes some people “less” than others because we know Christ tells us we must serve the least of these, even if it’s hard.
Ministry is hard. “Warning. Beware. Proceed with caution.”
But at the end of the day, in all of this, we are only the participants. We show up. We do what we can. We preach and we teach and we serve and we love. But it is really God at work in these moments; it is God who is the agent of change. It is God who is leading the way.
This is what God is doing here at First Presbyterian Church of Allentown. And nothing can undo what God has done.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
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