An Account for the Hope in Us
“At all times be ready to give an account for the hope in you. But do it with reverence and respect.”
Whether preaching at the same place as a local church pastor or preaching around as a District Superintendent, the effort is to give touchstone portrayal, succinct (hopefully winsome), summaries of what it means to trust our living and dying to the God we know in Jesus.
For over 12 years, this penetrating, stained-glass portrait of Jesus' face, hands and feet backed up, non-verbally improved, my efforts to proclaim the good news. Friend and artist Mary Liz Ingram did this lovely expression of what I have called a one-sentence Apostles' Creed: GOD'S GRACE IN JESUS GIVES US THE POWER AND PATTERN TO LIVE WITH JOY, SERVE WITH LOVE, DIE WITH HOPE..
Below are the 5-dimensions of such living and dying. It is...
CHRIST CENTERED: The God We Know in Jesus. Karl Barth: Jesus shows us what God is like for us and what we are to be like for God. Careful with our pictures. The point is not how to make Jesus look like us, but how Jesus makes us look like him. Jesus is no one's buddy but ... our friend forever.
BIBLE-BASED: A Living Document from Timebound to Timeless. Methodists believe in intelligent study of scripture. Resisting popular efforts to back up our bigotries with selective verses, we are swept up by the undergirding Spirit that stretches our limited love to include more not less in our care. The scripture itself shows God moving people to discover their special status is to serve as light for the whole world; from eye for eye vengeance to unlimited forgiveness; from inferior status of some people to the liberty and preciousness of all. Not back to the Bible but ... forward like never before.
GRACE-FUELED: Life as a Get-To Not a Got-To. Grace is the beyond our own doing love/help/strength that God gets to us so we can get out of bed and go on after the myriad "un-go-on-afterables" happen by and to us. Not what we have got-to do for God to love us but what we get-to because God already loves us. Not the lives God demands but ... makes possible for us.
FOLLOWS JESUS BY SERVING OTHERS: Heads & Hearts Follow Hands & Feet. Actually, John Wesley found in the Bible and experience that service to others is a means/channel of grace like worship, prayer, and Bible study. People whose lives are far from worked out can help others whose lives are at risk, in a jam. It's not works-righteousness but gratitude-living that sends Methodists for disaster or hunger relief; tutoring at risk kids; advocating for better health, housing and business practices; or showing up for time and coffee with grieving friends. It is hard to find a controversy where Methodists don't show their faces. Yikes! Sometimes on both sides.
TRUSTS GOD WITH ETERNITY: Divine Nonchalance. I often repeat a story told by then BSC Chaplain Don Shockley. On a freshmen retreat including such as Susan Scott Wilborn, Andy Wolfe, and myself, some one asked what Shockley believed about after we die. He told of the response of world renowned humanitarian, Bible scholar, musician,physician missionary Albert Schweitzer: 'I don't know what happens after we die. But whatever God does about it will be alright with me.' Divine nonchalance, Shockley called it. Accepting Jesus so we can go to heaven is secondary, really sort of selfish. The point of following Jesus by serving others is authenticated in the doing of it, the meaning/purpose it gives in itself to our living and dying. Hope for heaven is a wonderful bonus ...bodacious by-product.
Big time Biblical joy, love, and hope for all our friends and enemies!