Telling the Good News, The Reverend David R. Williams, Epiphany III--Year C--Jan. 21, 2007

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. Amen.
 
How good are we with evangelism?
 
“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the good news of his salvation….” This morning’s Collect asks that we all proclaim to all people the Good News of our Lord.
 
Picture yourself standing on a high platform or stage, ready to project your voice through the most state-of-the-art amplification system money can buy. Thousands of people crowd in anticipation. You are the one chosen to proclaim God’s Good News to everyone gathered.
 
Or another image: you and a good friend, dressed in your uniform for the day – white shirt or white blouse – a tie, if you are a man--get on your bikes with Bibles in backpacks. Off you go to neighborhoods of strangers. Your mission is to witness the Good News of Jesus.
 
Would an Episcopalian or Anglican dare such strategies of evangelism?
 
What may be dared could be far simpler. Invite a friend to attend a church service at Holy Comforter. Invite someone to spend a Sunday morning with you, with all of us. Maybe your friend was once part of the Episcopal Church. Perhaps this friend—or family member—has wandered from another denomination or indeed has never been active in a parish.
 
Recent surveys about churches indicate eight out of ten people who do return to church life have done so because of an invitation from someone significant to them.
 
Because someone significant brought them to a place of worship…a place of Good News. 
 
Throughout the three lessons this morning, we hear a theme of assembly, gathering, a body of people.
 
Proclaiming the Good News of our Lord, the key ingredient to evangelism, is fundamental to these gatherings.
 
Thousands of years ago, the people of God found themselves separated from the sacred symbols of the faith.  Nothing was more important than the Torah, the proclamation of God’s Law to the people.
 
In this first lesson from Nehemiah, the people of God, home from years of exile, are reacquainted with the Torah. As Ezra reads the words, tears of joy begin to flow.  Now they have truly returned from their exile. Hearing these Holy words once again is a sacred moment in time.
 
The worship service at Holy Comforter allows us the privilege of hearing those words of the Torah, the covenant between our Lord and ourselves.  Our liturgy challenges our memory as we live through the last moments of Jesus. We recall His presence and are assured that we may continue to feed on his life and spirit through the Sacraments.
 
After being away for a while, some folks have returned to church admitting that absence from the church family has felt like a kind of exile. Returning may offer a way to center one’s soul, pause and reflect. While we do not presume anyone else’s experience, we may remind ourselves to extend welcome and invitation.
 
Paul uses the image of the body.  We all (the image of that big crowd again) are part of the body we call Christ, but each of us as members is very different.  We are eyes, ears, fingers, hands, feet, toes, legs, mouths, and elbows, each unique and precious. All is vital to the whole of the body, and while I may feel like a middle toe, I certainly do not have to be an eye or a mouth.
 
Slave and free, Gentile and Jew, Paul later refers to the diversity represented in the body of Christ.  “The Episcopal Church Welcomes You!” The words embrace.  
 
The Gospel lesson pictures the return of Jesus to his home synagogue, another gathering of people different from the crowds of other synagogues. This gathering in Nazareth knows Jesus as a native son. 
 
Jesus knows precisely his presentation as he takes up the scroll and reads the passage from Isaiah.  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.”  Jesus then closes the scroll and hands it to an attendant.   
 
Imagining ourselves in the synagogue we might ask of whom this Jesus speaks. Could he be talking about us – poor, captive, blind, oppressed?  You, Jesus, who are the liberator of us and every other poor, captive, blind, oppressed person?   
 
Invite someone to come and worship a liberating God with infinite power to free us from poverty of spirit and abundance. The liberating God opens our eyes to the unknown and release us from the limits of human understanding. In newfound freedom, the Good News goes forth, to another, and another, enriching and sustaining, until we hunger no more.
 
The most impressive part of this presentation of Jesus is the sermon, just one sentence.  Imagine that! “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” Jesus says. 
 
In its clarity, the message rattles our very soul. There is no question but that Jesus reminds us as members of His body of our duty to proclaim the Good News. By the grace of God, we are thus ordained to invite and embrace, not to raise funds or grow the rolls, but because we are called to express commitment to a divine relationship with the only redeeming, merciful and loving God.
 
We are the middle toes, the pinky fingers, the eyes and ears of a most wondrous gathering called the Body of Christ. We have power to news of hope to the poor, promise of release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind.
 
Just do it. Just ask one person or family to visit this blessed community on East Davis Street.
 
Remember the stories of long ago. The disciple Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, hears of Jesus and goes to his brother Peter, inviting Peter to come and be with Jesus.  And then Philip who discovers Jesus and goes to his friend, Nathaniel.  All Nathaniel can say at first is “What good can come out of Nazareth?”  Philip persists, “Come and see.”
 
“Come and see,” friends of our friends.  Come and experience the proclamation of Good News, the singing of sacred hymns, the re-enactment of our Lord’s Supper and wondrous gift of spiritual nourishment at His holy table.  Invite one person. 
 
“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and to proclaim to all people the good news of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works.”
 
Amen.