It's been a pretty good June.
Tomorrow will be the third Sunday this month that I've been able to preach at a local church (the third different church). I was even asked to preach (by two different churches) on a Sunday that we had planned a trip to Chicago. And I had a couple of kids' camps, too.
I've also had several conversations about God's love and about people's own spiritual journeys. I believe that these simple conversations are far more important and have a greater impact than any sermon might have. It seems that we have a difficult time letting go of the idea that God is an angry, judgmental god that can't wait to condemn us for the least little infraction of the Law. I guess that's understandable if we continue to see him through the filter of a people that lived 4000 years ago and lived in a culture where the nation with the greatest warrior god ruled.
Didn't Jesus change all of that?
Didn't Jesus tell them (us) that they (we) had it all wrong?
Jesus came to set the record straight. He said no one has seen the Father but me.
Jesus said the he and the Father are one.
And Jesus came to show us that God loves us so much that he would die for us -- all of us!
One of those conversations was with a man that's still trying to atone for mistakes he made several decades ago. His religious belief is that God still holds those things against him. He rarely goes to church because he doesn't want to be reminded of his past failures and can't see a way to make them right before God. The guilt he carries is real and it is keeping him from knowing and understanding that God loves him.
I wanted him to know that God loves him.
I wanted him to know that Jesus came to set things right.
I wanted him to know that he could learn from his mistakes and let go of the guilt.
I wanted him to know that God desires a relationship built on love and not on fear.
I wanted him to know that God wants him to feel good about going to church.
I want him to know that God loves him.
In the end, I'm not sure which of us got more out of the conversation. It came as a complete surprise to me. A person that I didn't know, literally trapped me in a corner and began talking to me. I wasn't very engaged at first and was wondering, "Why is this guy telling me this stuff?"
Somewhere along the way, the Spirit opened my eyes and ears to what wasn't being said and I realized that this was a man searching for forgiveness and love.
It was actually pretty cool.
Maybe July will hold more conversations like that one, more one on one God loves you/Jesus died for kind of stuff.
sigh
I may have to start talking to more people.
Preaching is easier.
John <><
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1 comment:
God must have sent him to you.
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