Good News and Relationship

For the last couple weeks, I've been thinking about what the term "good news" means. If you're interested, you can find my other posts here and here.

In Greek, the word "euangelion" means good news, or to evangelize. Growing up in Evangelical churches, the evangelize and good news were spoken of mostly in the context of preaching, handing out tracts and conversion. When missionaries came to visit, the success of their ministries were judged based on how many people had "come to know the Lord." As a part of a youth group, I remember being encouraged to bring my Bible to school and make sure I knew the "Roman's Road" so as to share with others their need for salvation.

In recent years, I've come to a different understanding of what it means to share the good news. I actually think that coming to know the Lord is about radical wholeness. We Evangelicals view this wholeness in large part within the soul of the individual who has come to a decision to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I think that wholeness, biblically, is larger than the individual and extends to community, society and the entirety of creation. The good news is inextricably tied to relationship. It encompasses social justice, care for creation and the responsibility of being an extension of God's shalom within our world. None of this happens without caring concern and fostering community and relationship. This reality came to me quite clear last week.

I received an e-mail from a co-worker of my husband's. He had received an e-mail claiming Muslims can't be good Americans. It was quite ridiculous, really. I sent him back my thoughts and opinions and in response I received this e-mail:

Thank You so much for putting in the time on this. I appreciate your points. I was telling Eddie that I respect his family’s views on Christian morals. That’s why I went to him with this. See I am actually an Atheist. Something I assure you my mom suspects, but doesn’t want to believe. I do however appreciate the Bible and the teachings of Jesus as a good framework for teaching children and family moral values. My main pet peeve in life however is Hypocrisy. That is my main reason for my belief structure. When I see the corruption and the hypocrisy going on in today’s Christian society it pains me and tends to make me lash out at Christianity as a whole. It’s people like you and Eddie that keep a thread of hope that Christian people will return to the morals of kindness and loving and leave the hatred and bigotry behind.

I don't share this as a pat on the back for us. Rather, an acknowledgment that people are paying attention. Eddie's worked with this guy for years and they've had lots of discussions about faith and he has been a pretty staunch Atheist. In that time, though, he and Eddie have developed a relationship that ultimately allowed us to share with him about our faith and how that looks played out in relationship. He's seen his share of Christians who share their faith in judgment rather than love. In the process, he's decided that he can't accept a god who looks like that. Wow. I was so touched by his response and in it his openness to God's working.

You know what's really odd? I showed up for jury duty yesterday and who came around the corner just a few minutes later, but this same guy. Isn't it amazing how God weaves the threads of life together into relationship? In the past, quite frankly, I would have been totally freaked out, thinking I had this huge responsibility to "convert" this gentlemen. It is so freeing for me to recognize that it is in ebb and flow of relationship that the good news of God is shared. I don't have to barrel in full force, but can walk the journey with the people whom God brings into my life.

Submission a Pre-Requisite to Evangelism?

I recently started re-reading Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. In the middle of the book is a chapter on submission.

Foster's understanding of submission is critical for the practical application of evangelism, or the sharing of the "Good News". Per Foster, Jesus' radical statement, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mark 8:34 is the key to a biblical understanding of this spiritual discipline.

Before taking up a cross, Jesus says a person has to deny himself or herself. Foster goes on to say that denying ourselves, or submitting, is "simply a way of coming to understand that we do not have to have our own way." When we can admit that we don't have to have our own way, Foster states that we gain "the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way." In fact, he states in another place that "Only submission can free us sufficiently to enable us to distinguish between genuine issues and and stubborn self-will."

It's the last statement that started a bunch of thoughts in my mind. I tend to like my own way. So, how does that self-centeredness point me toward my own stuff rather than genuine issues? What would it look like for me to surrender my need to defend myself, to protect myself, to serve myself? What would it look like for an entire community of believers, to do that? As I ask these questions, I think of Jesus' response to the teacher of the law in Mark 12:30-31 regarding which of the commandments was most important "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

If each of us is able to deny that natural self-centeredness and submit...to God, to others...what type of issues would we be able to rally around? In what way could we accomplish God's mission on earth which is hindered when our own issues are allowed to take the forefront.

I think it is at this spot we realize that submission is a key requirement for the sharing of the good news. Without it, the good news is easily tainted with with our own stuff.

*"Submission" is a word with tons of social baggage. I highly recommend reading Foster's book, specifically the chapter on submission and in particular, his analysis of the limits of submission."

The Feet that Bring Good News

How beautiful on the mountains 

are the feet of those who bring good news, 

who proclaim peace,
who bring good tidings,
who proclaim salvation, 

who say to Zion,
"Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7

My mind has been churning since a conversation last week. One of the guys involved in this conversation has roots in the LDS (Mormon) church. A few years out of high school, he felt there were questions he had of his faith that could not be adequately answered. He explained the process of moving from confusion the point of coming face-to-face with God and finding peace. Looking back, he was able to recognize the working of God in his life from a very young age. As he shared his story, I felt as if I was being given a glimpse of a sacred process and I couldn’t help but think of the people and events that influenced him along the way.

I started thinking about what it means to “evangelize”. Someone who evangelizes is one who brings good news. It’s interesting. Some scholars hypothesize that there were different men assigned to bring good news and bad news Old Testament times. Important information needed to get from point to point and without easy access to modern technology, it fell to messengers who ran between those points. An example of this is in 2 Samuel 18. The watchman sees a runner coming and identifies him as Ahimaaz, son of Zadek. When the king hears this, he says, “He’s a good man…He comes with good news.” 2 Sam 1:27. Sure enough, the king finds out he has been delivered by God from his enemies.

In Isaiah 52, God is speaking to his people that he has recognized their distress and is preparing to rescue them from the hand of their enemy. The references to peace, good tidings and salvation have to do with safety, the end of war and the return of God’s people to the promised land. It is celebration of peace and wholeness, the shalom of God. Just as in 2 Sam, this scripture recognizes the moment when the messenger is recognized upon the horizon, running to share the good news. The whole idea of “good news” is actually quite compelling and runs throughout the Bible. It deserves much more than I can give it in a blog post.

This imagery captured my imagination. I believe strongly that the good news we have is more than a moment of decision and the hope of heaven. It is also very much about the restoration of freedom, peace and transformation in our lives now. It’s about the restoration of all of creation to God.

So then, I have to ask myself if I am someone who, when people see me coming, know that I’m bringing a message of good news. Do my actions and words radiate wholeness and peace? What exactly does that look like? I’m going to tackle that question in more detail this week.

Changing Directions

The last 2-3 years have been an amazing time of transition and change for me in how I understand God, myself and what the church's mission is in the world. Living in state of unknown is not generally something I enjoy, so last year I decided I would tackle that unknown and see what I could do to conquer it. My goal was to go through the names and descriptions of God in the Bible, reflect on that characteristic and what it meant both for God and for humanity as reflections of God's image.

My approach was primarily academic. I want to "know" about how God works, who God is and what that means to me. But, my first tendency is to know intellectually before I jump into actual relationship and intimacy. I want to know what I'm getting into before I take the big jump. I want to measure, massage and manipulate information so that I can understand God. And in the midst of that, I haven't opened my own heart to intimacy with my God.

This became clear to me throughout the Fall and Summer as I worked through the book of Jeremiah. I grew up hearing about God's anger and God's love, but not together. I heard that God was a God of grace, but also that I had to be a certain way, believe a certain way to avoid God's wrath. The message was usually that God is filled with grace, but that there's this scary part of him out there too and we're not sure what to do with it, so tread carefully.

In the book of Jeremiah, I came face-to-face with God's anger. Israel has been unfaithful to her God, time and time again. God has had it and through Jeremiah, speaks of the demise of this nation he has chosen to reveal himself to. I had a hard time with this. I see my own anger and I see horrible failure. It's difficult for me to understand anger in God and what that means for me.

I've been struggling with this for a while. Until at one point shortly after Christmas, I heard this voice. (Let me clear, I'm not saying it was God, but at the same time I'm not denying it either). The voice said, "How often do you get to know your friends by studying them".

That's my change in direction. I don't get God. The greatness of Creator, Redeemer, Wisdom, Provider is more that I can intellectually comprehend. I should have figured this out much sooner. But old habits can be hard to break.

In Jeremiah 33:2&3, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah saying, "...he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it - the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable thing you do not know."

That is my prayer this year.