After acknowledging the failure of an experiment in the last class meeting (falling across the finish line), I summarize a five-week class, “The Journey from Easter to Pentecost.” Then I distinguish garden-variety spiritual experience from the taste-and-see variety.
Watch the 11:30 video or listen to the podcast episode.
The Journey from Easter (the resurrection and the life) to Pentecost (evangelism)
Modify these teachings until they fit what you feel good about putting into your life.
1st week. Resurrection emphasized as occurring in this life—Jesus is the life. Began to discover the living truth in Jesus’ words, “Lazarus, come forth!” During the weeks of this class, these words, when we were encouraged to substitute our own name or someone else’s, have come to symbolize a spiritual call to respond as our true and higher self, the soul.
2nd week. Reviewed several teachings contained in Jesus’ saving message. Themes include the kingdom of God and the family of God; the beatitudes; and love, forgiveness, and service. Proposed: evangelism does well to emphasize these themes in our spiritual conversations. Why after Easter was Jesus still proclaiming his original message of the kingdom (Acts 1:3)? For the same reason that when Peter recognized that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God, Jesus strictly ordered the twelve apostles not to proclaim that. The original message was the religion of the spirit that Jesus lived and taught and labored to establish.
3rd week. Evangelism was considered as motivated by love (God is love), guided by compassionate understanding (the mercy of the Son), and wholeheartedly devoted to service (the powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit).
4th week. Pentecost described as the fulfillment of something Jesus said in one section of the Farewell Discourse: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Bear much fruit.” (John 15:1-11) Jesus would reveal himself as the good shepherd, laying down his life for the love of his friends. Without his leadership even unto death, they would have been “like sheep without a shepherd.” 0n Pentecost he poured out upon all humankind the mighty Spirit of Truth, the Comforter, also known as the Holy Spirit. On that day, the circuit was opened. The life of the vine is in the receptive branches. Jesus is in us. We can allow him to live anew on earth. As we take the human steps, we reveal Jesus, ideally, to everyone we meet. We do this by what we do, how we do it, and by what we say and how we say it. Evangelism embraces the whole package. The advanced truths about Jesus as the Son of God add to the original message insight and power that are needed in the crisis time that our world is in now.
How can we help Jesus complete his work on earth? The tangle of ecological, biomedical, social, economic, and political problems will drag us down until a moral and spiritual renaissance ushers in the next phase of the kingdom of God. Two essentials. If the diverse families of the professed followers of Jesus can unite in love and service, and if Jesus original message is proclaimed to the whole family of faith and others—whether or not they identify as Christians—it would help us avoid tons of misery. Bear much fruit.
ACTIVITIES THAT CAN BE DONE SILENTLY IN THE HEART
AS YOU PLANT SEEDS OF EVANGELISM AND NURTURE THEM
- Pray for a person for thirty minutes who you know is in need of spiritual uplift.
- When you are going to be in a social situation, pray to have a conversation that can lead into spiritual topics.
- When you are in a social situation, take several minutes to look around and try to sense what person might be open to spiritual conversation.
- When you see a stranger, think about what question you might ask to get a conversation started. If you notice they are focusing on and focus on that, too, they are likely to find you friendly and easy to talk to.
- When you are with someone who is in need of truth, proclaim silently to them what you believe the Spirit would say to them.
- Pray to Jesus for divine wisdom and spiritual strength for this work.
- Find another person (or more than one) who is willing to do this with you.
- Sit down quietly in a social setting and wait for someone to come up to you. (It may take several times before you become part of the normal setting, and others feel safe come up to you.)
- Nurture in your own personal spiritual communion time the love and forgiveness that makes your ministry fruitful.
- Pray to receive motivation and guidance about doing your part to spread the gospel.
https://runforcharity.com/charity/fight-for-sight
Photo credit Joshbdork at the English Wikipedia
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Finish-SprintforSight-Large.jpg
