Thursday, October 23, 2008

The Gospel

A man in the back of a tram, it wasn't clear where he was headed. He was there when I got in and when I got out. He looked like any other guy on the tram, maybe a tourist. A woman got on; at first they seemed to know each other as she walked towards him and sat down on the seat beside him. Not a word was spoken however, as he pulled something out of the bag he had around his shoulder and handed it to her. It caught my attention so I strained to see what it was he shared. It was a tract, it had the Christian fish symbol on it and some words about the history of this little fish. The woman looked at it, opened it up and surveyed its content. The man looked away. A few minutes later the woman put the tract in her purse, got up and got out of the tram. She didn't acknowledge the man, and the man didn't acknowledge her. The entire interaction lasted no more than 5 minutes. Not a word was spoken, but everyone seemed to understand what had just happened. A seed was sown....

....at least in my heart there was.


"How many of us have learned too late that our initial idea, that by serving the world we will bring God to others, has eclipsed the wisdom that in serving the world we find God there. " - Pete Rollins

Blogged with the Flock Browser

6 comments:

  1. what seed was planted in your heart? i liked this post, but I'm not sure what to do with it. On one hand, I like the non-combative, quiet witness. On the other hand, I have come to have issues with a doctrine of salvation that promotes mere acknowledgment or mental assent to some propositions on a page rather than a more comprehensive life-style of following Jesus. I'm not trying to be cynical here. I'm just curious of your take on this.

    Peace!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Mike, I was hoping the post would spark a little conversation. I was playing with the idea that where the parable of the sower just looks at the kind of soil the seed falls in, it would be interesting to see what different kinds of seed there are. In my soil, which can be pretty rocky at times, the seed that was planted confirmed the idea that a lot of Christians appear to enter 'the world' with a certain arrogance that doesn't require a relationship or a true understanding of the person sitting next to you on the tram. I don't know what it did with the lady on the tram, but neither did the guy sitting next to her. The Peter Rollins quote sums it up I think: God's at work in the world, let's go out and learn. Rollins calls it reverse-evangelism. In their community they make a point to visit other groups that are different from them, not to teach, but to learn. That's a powerful concept to me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like this idea a lot. Praxis was last Saturday. I had to do the devotional thought before we all went out. I opened by saying, "This is NOT what we are about today..." and then I played the theme song to mighty mouse (HERE I COME TO SAVE THE DAY!!!!!) I think too often, that is the attitude Christians take with them as they go out to "minister"--regardless of the ministry. Wes talked about this somewhat in a comment on my blog when he referenced Steven Covey's "habit": seek first to understand and then to be understood.

    I asked the group to go about their assignments praying peace (shalom) for the people they were serving. (Read Luke 10:1-5) I wanted to suggest that what they were doing, regardless of the work bei

    ng done, was a spiritual practice. However, I think even more significant was the learning that took place among the KCC people who went out because for many, it was the first time they had been in Autumn Manor, or on the E. Lincoln playground, or in an elderly person's yard raking acorns that had accumulated for months because she was not physically able to do that work, yada, yada, yada...

    enough of this ramble... one more thing, it seems that one of my favorite quotes applies to this idea you are introducing:

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:

    Earth’s crammed with heaven,
    And every common bush aflame with God.
    But only those who see take off their shoes.
    The rest sit around and pluck blackberries.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I saw a review of "The Discipleship Study Bible" in the Oct. 21 issue of the Christian Century that touched on the parable of the sower.

    James Howell writes:
    "...the term discipleship, much in vogue, worries me a little. Popular usage seems to suggest that discipleship is something we do; it's about us, our spirituality, our act of following. I wouldn't argue with those who feel that no term better characterizes the Christian life, but in a more profound way, the Bible isn't about us. It's about God. The DSB isn't wrong to ask in its explanatory notes on the parable of the sower (Mark 4), "What kind of soil are you?" But then we miss the true surprise in Jesus' story, which is the crazed, profligate way the sower flings the seed. Like God, the sower doesn't spare seed or sow it only in places likely to yield growth. The parable at a higher level is about the heart of God, just as the Bible as a whole is about God before it is about us and our act of following."

    I think the unspoken reality behind the motives of much traditional evangelism is a vindication of our own position. We want to "win" the world view argument. We assume our soil to be rich, our seed to be productive, but "planting" ourselves only in such a place really fails to take into account the rocky places and the shallow places and the thorny places. We also seem to be uncomfortable with the sower who is so "recklessly extravagant" with the seeds.

    I think you are on to something here. I need to think about it some more. (However, I don't think anybody actually reads our blogs so here we are...) :)
    Peace!

    ReplyDelete
  5. About the idea that no one actually reads our stuff: you're probably right, but it's only a matter of time before this thing takes off....:)
    I love the Elizabeth Barrett Browning quote. That about sums it up for me. I was gone for a retreat this weekend and we had to spend 2,5 hours in solitude and silence and it was awesome. We were in the woods and able to walk around and just enjoy the fall colors and reflect. As the parable in todays post suggests, my prayer is that I live my life with my eyes wide open.
    To continue your point: we also assume that our seed is always good, but the fact that what we do doesn't always produce good fruit is not because it hits the wrong soil, but because the seed was bad, and produces bitterness, fear, hatred or division. This way the parable of the sower gets more and more dimensions and possibilities. During the retreat I sat beside a field that looked really healthy, but it wasn't ready to receive seed. It is fall and the field is resting from the harvest, absorbing rain and sunlight to get ready for spring. Sowing seed now would not produce fruit. So timing is another layer that gets added to the equation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. our blogs are HUGE in Grundy County! (is there internet access there?)

    ReplyDelete