I left Bible Study as night totally dissatisfied with myself. I had entered the study convinced that everyone would be able to laugh and joke and assure one another that they do hear the words of "The Gospels" as "good news."
That is what the word "gospel" means - Good News.
But it didn't happen. The text for this coming Sunday is the third parable Jesus tells as he fusses with the religious leaders in the Temple. This one (you really MUST read it) is in Matthew 22:1-14. The commentaries insisted that while a vision of a great and glorious banquet is set before us, as well as God's insistence that His banquet hall be full, that what most folks hear is the part about the exclusion of one guest for reasons that seem to be rather trite. I never felt as if those gathered with me could overcome the fear that while they may be "called," they worry they might not be chosen.
This has got to change. The whole presentation of the Church has GOT to stop leaving open any opportunity for us to worry about our acceptability.
I left bible study wondering if in my 31 years of professional ministry I have been able to assure anyone that God loves them and welcomes them and that God is NOT looking for an opportunity to resend that invitation. Have too many preachers drilled a different message it into our heads?
Whatever that other message is - it isn't Good News. It isn't Gospel. Don't listen to it. Don't allow it to erode your confidence. Do not allow its repetition to drown out what we know to be True.
1 comment:
Your ministry matters. I am living proof of that.
I've wrestled with the text this week thinking that (to quote Luther) if I squeeze hard enough, the Gospel will come out.
What if God is the inappropriately dressed guest and we're the ones who kick God out? God comes into our lives sometimes wearing what we can deem as the "wrong" thing, but how open are we to invitation when it doesn't look attractive?
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