“What do you get when you cross a Seventh-day Adventist with a Presbyterian? …  Someone who knocks on the door but doesn’t know what to say.”  This joke unfortunately describes too many of us.

It is no secret that the Presbyterian Church over the last twenty to thirty years has lost over one-third of its membership.  And, of course, we here at Mt. Auburn have lost at least that much.  There are many reasons for the loss across the denomination and as many suggestions as to how to turn that direction around.  Among those ideas, is the reclaiming of the “e” word.  Evangelism has had a bad rap within Presbyterian circles.  And I suspect it is not highly welcomed here.  We at Mt. Auburn don’t like to talk about “confessing our faith”.  Or should I say we at Mt. Auburn are squeamish about God talk. 

I may be wrong, but I sense that we are clearer about what we don’t like about religion than we are about what we do like, or what we do believe.  There is an ongoing confusion about the private nature of faith.  Many of us have been abused by another’s faith and practice and, as a consequence, have become hesitant to talk about our faith.  But our life in God is NOT private.  It may be personal, but it can never be private.  We are automatically brought into community and made brothers and sisters in Christ.  The idea that it is just between God and me is foreign to scripture and foreign to the Reformed Tradition.

This passage is a difficult one to unpack.  Paul here is voicing  concern  for  those  who  have not experienced the good news of God.  In his typical style he then proceeds to lay out step by step the evidence that salvation of God is for everyone.  No one is excluded.  He points back to Moses who declared that even THEN one did not have to go searching for God.  We didn’t have to take long pilgrimages, or seek high and low for God.  God was very near.  God was as close as our mouths and as deep as our hearts.  All God was about was love.  It is no great mystery!  The summary of that is You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might,… and you shall love your neighbor as your self.

So when Paul talks about the nearness of God by referring to what we speak and what is in our heart we do not have to wonder long what that means.   Love is the key to experiencing the fullness of life and the richness of God’s presence.  And yet Paul is puzzled.  Why do some not experience this amazing gift?!  I share Paul’s bewilderment.  When I know what I know, why would not everyone want it?  When life has been so good for me, I am perplexed by the painful lives of others.  Oh, I am not suggesting that life has no challenges.  That would hardly be true.  But what I am saying is that I have someone with me in those challenges who loves and cares for me.  So why wouldn’t others want that too?

Then I have to ask?  How many people I have told this week about how good life with God is?  How many people I have talked to this week that do not experience a positive relationship with God?  Then I begin to understand why “those others” don’t experience the love of God.  They may not have heard.  At least they haven’t heard it from me.  My life as a pastor  has  been  focused  around  those  who already know.  It has been with those who are healed – who have no need of a physician.  I have not carved out time to seek out others who are not experiencing the closeness of God.  And I confess that I have not challenged others to take time in their schedule to go where people might be who would welcome some good news about God.  This does not mean you walk in and start preaching!  People are drawn to God by relationships.  We need to earn the right to talk with them about what matters to us. 

We need to make it a point to build relationships and then tell them what is on our heart.  Each of us could be asking ourselves the question, if our doors here at Mt. Auburn were closed tomorrow, who would notice?  We had a church close just around the corner from us; did it matter to anyone?  This immediate community might not feel the difference, but I suspect there would be many others, beside the members of this church, who would be affected.  Why?  What is it about our experience of Jesus that those people cannot live without?  Can we put that in words?  Can we capture it so that we can all share that message?  Do we care that there are others who need to hear what we experience here but have not yet heard?

This is not something we can simply assign to the Membership Committee and say – you go tell them.  Evangelism, sharing the good news is NOT done by committee.  It is done by every member building relationships and communicating what is of importance to them. 

Jill Hudson in her new book When Better Isn’t Enough shares the following story.  Sally Johnson was (quote) an avid dog lover, Sally had trained dogs  for her friends.  She decided to use her talent as a tool for outreach.  She offered a free dog-training program in a local park and publicized it in the local newspaper.  As the program progressed, she developed a friendship with several of the participants who went for coffee after class.  Slowly Sally began to talk about her church and eventually about her faith. (Unquote) (Page 47) -  People are discipled through relationship.  It’s not memorizing a systematic approach, but learning how to develop relationships and then speaking about what is truly important to you in that relationship.

Of course, we have to know what to say.  We can take some lessons from our conservative friends in this regard.  We may not choose the same words, but we can learn how to communicate our faith without it being an attack on anyone else.  When I claim that I am a Red’s fan, I don’t worry whether that will offend you because you might be a Braves’ fan.  No, it’s ok with me if you are.  And, in fact, it might make going to a Braves’ game even more enjoyable, if not challenging!  If someone shares her or his faith with me, that does not have to offend me.  I can rejoice with them about their having found meaning in their life. 

But there are many who still are searching.  The spiritual quest is almost universal.  There are many out there looking for something.  Are we afraid to offer them hope?  An alternative to seeking?  Or at least a place to continue seeking? 

I am convinced that there is a presence of God in this place, and that others who are seeking can find Her here.  I am also convinced that others will not come  to God unless they hear, and they won’t hear unless we learn to speak a language that will allow them to hear. 

I suspect many of you here today have already established relationships with people who are seeking spiritual fulfillment?  Have you ever talked with them about your own spiritual quest?     

Verse eleven of Romans ten reads: The scripture says. No one who believes in Him (Jesus) will be put to shame.  What a promise.  God is a God for everyone.  No one will be turned away.  Certainly that is a message that we hold dear here at Mt. Auburn.  Let’s build the relationship and tell the story.

As we come to communion today to claim our relationship to Jesus Christ, may we also be enabled to witness to that faith once we leave here.