“Start Spreading the News”

NOTE:  This sermon was shared in an abridged form to a handful of people who gathered in our church’s Fireplace Room on Sunday, February 12, 2006, because the blizzard that was raging outside prevented most of our parishioners from attending worship.

A Sermon Preached by

The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

at the

First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

Twelve years ago, when I was checking out seminaries, I attended a day-long conference for prospective students at a divinity school that will remain nameless (but it’s the one in Cambridge).  The first event of the day was a plenary session in a large amphitheater where a panel of about eight current students described their experiences at seminary and the journeys that had brought them there. 

When the students finished speaking, the Dean invited questions from the audience, and my hand shot up.  Now I want you to try to picture this – hundreds of eager prospective divinity students trying to make good impressions with the staff and faculty -- and there I am, very conspicuous in a red suit.  Sure enough, I was the first to be called on, and this is what I said:  “I have been sitting here for almost an hour, hearing you speak of your experiences and your journeys, and not once have I heard any of you say the word ‘God.’  Would you please comment?”

Well, you can’t begin to imagine the commotion I caused!  I remember the Dean sputtered a bit trying to come up with some sort of response to my question and a few of the students also chimed in, with some pretty lame excuses if you ask me.  I recall one of the students’ responses in particular; he said – a bit defensively -- “Hey, I don’t want to push my religion into your face, OK?”

Can you believe it?  Here we were – at a divinity school, for heaven’s sake -- and the attitude seemed to be that sharing how God had worked in your life was tantamount to pushing religion in one’s face.  I decided then and there that if you could not talk about God at this school, then I had absolutely no interest in studying within its hallowed, ivy-covered walls.  Which is probably just as well, because I am quite sure they didn’t want to have to deal with that annoying woman in the red suit!

Now contrast the attitude of the uptight D-school students to the leper in this morning’s Gospel passage.  After his encounter with Jesus, he goes out and tells everybody about God and how God in Jesus has healed him.  Even though Jesus has warned him not to say anything, the leper just can’t help himself and starts spreading the news! 

Do you remember a time when you had news you couldn’t wait to share -- you were getting married or expecting a baby or buying a new house?  When those events were happening to me, let me tell you -- everybody knew about it!  When we have good news, it’s hard to keep quiet – we want to share it with others.  That’s what happens to the leper.  It isn’t just that he has been healed; he has been transformed.  Jesus has come into his life, has made it better, has healed him, and things will never be the same.

The leper starts spreading his good news to others, and people from all over start coming to hear Jesus.  Because the leper shares his story, more healings can take place, more lives can be made new, and more people can come to know God.

And that’s what we’re to be all about, too, because that is called being the church.  Jesus calls us – indeed, he commands us – to share the Good News, to love God and neighbor, to go out and make disciples.  Two weeks ago, I talked to you about answering Jesus’ call to “follow me.”  Last week, I focused on inviting people to “come and see” Jesus, on inviting others to church.  And today, I want to talk to you about sharing your faith, about spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Good News – in Greek, the word is euaggelion, the root of the word evangelism.  Ooooh – there’s that word again.  We practically shiver when we hear the “e” word, don’t we?  It conjures up uncomfortable images of people going door to door, telling us we have to believe what they believe or we won't be going where they’re going.  That kind of exclusive evangelism can distort the Gospel message and serves to separate rather than draw people together -- and that’s certainly not what I’m talking about. 

As I told you last week, the word “evangelism” literally means the “message of the angels.”  And we are the angels that are to spread the Good News – news that so many people are needing, wanting, waiting to hear -- that the love of God has the power to transform us and to make us whole.

Outside of church, I sometimes find myself in situations with people who don’t know what I do for a vocation.  Often we’ll get to chatting and inevitably, I’ll be asked, “Where do you work?” or “What do you do?”  And when I tell them I’m a pastor, it almost always opens the door to meaningful conversation.  Sure, a couple of times I’ve had people turn on their heels and walk away, but most of the time people have wanted to know my story.  And I’ve told them – not in their face, not with a self-righteous attitude, but by simply telling them how God has worked in my life and has transformed it. 

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Sure Jean, it’s easy for you to talk about your faith.  That’s what a pastor is supposed to do!”  But it doesn’t have to be any different for you!  And there are so many people out there who are hungering for the Good News. 

When Jesus touched the leper, he didn’t just heal him of his physical illness; Jesus restored him to his community.  The Hebrew word for healing is shalem, which means "to be made whole, complete again.”  The healing of the leper was physical, and spiritual, and emotional, and communal.

Studies show that 50 % of the unchurched people in America have a holy yearning, a spiritual itch for something deeper in their lives.  They can’t exactly put the yearning into words, they cannot fully name the itch, but they know it has something to do with meaning and purpose and God and faith and being part of a community of believers, part of a church. 

Everybody wants to be touched by the healing and transforming power of God, and I know many of you have, because you’ve told me.  You’ve told me that God’s everlasting arms have sustained you during times of loneliness, and suffering, and loss.  You’ve told me that God has unclenched the tight fist of anger around your hearts and transformed it into a reconciling and forgiving love; that God has pulled you out of an anguished and hopeless despair; that God has healed your broken heart, enabling you to love again.

This is Good News worth sharing – with your friends, your family, people you may not even know that well -- when the time is right, when you’re ready, when the person seems open.  It’s as simple as telling others how important your faith is in your life, letting them know how God has touched you, sharing your story of what God has come to mean to you and how God has changed you. 

The story of the leper shows us that when we have grown in relationship with God, when we have been touched by the healing love of Christ – whether it has been physical, spiritual, emotional, or communal  -- then we can’t help but go out and tell others.

We live in a world that desperately needs the message of Christ.  There are so many who yearn for healing, who ache to be forgiven, who long to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives, and find the hope and wholeness God wants for the human family.  And this world so needs Christ’s message of peace.

Over the past couple of years, this church has gone through a process of identifying our core values, and they include respect and acceptance, caring and compassion.  Those core values describe our desire to be a healing community in the world, and those core values beautifully describe what a church is to be about. 

As the church, we are to be instruments of God, the body of Christ, helping people to be made whole by bringing them closer to God and into a community of faith.  As the church, we are called to be a healing community because we ourselves have experienced God’s healing love first-hand and want to share it, not only within this community, but beyond it, into the world.

What does God say is most important about our life together, what is the essence of being a Christian community?  It is spreading the Good News.  It is loving God and neighbor.  It is going out and making disciples.  Being the church and doing ministry in an ever-changing world involves the dynamics of growing and changing and learning and deepening our commitment to follow Jesus Christ into the future.

Each of us is an angel with a message to share.  Let us tell of God’s grace and forgiveness.  Let us be bearers of Christ’s message of healing love.  Let’s start spreading the Good News.  Amen.