Imagine there's no heaven...

In an earlier post we looked at modernity vs. post-modernity.  Modernity had its roots in Rationalism: The Age of Reason or “Enlightenment”.  Simultaneously with the scientific revolution, which started in the late 17^th century, western thinkers began to celebrate the human mind as the apex of evolution. Earlier philosophers like René Descartes (“I think, therefore I am”) had already led the way.  As modern man became enthralled by his own mental capacity, he began to imagine that he was autonomous. Consequently, God was seen as a primitive invention to explain those things that people could not comprehend. Through the advancement of science, the “god idea” –so was reasoned- should soon be proved redundant.  Nevertheless, it did not happen quite this way.  Western culture held on to biblical values, even while it rejected the underlying truth. While modern scientists cleverly argued for the non-existence of their own creator, most people continued their religious traditions and convictions.  Neither western academia nor eastern communism seemed able to divorce humanity from God.

And yet, while apparently the basic ‘belief in God’ was retained, over the generations it was gradually divorced from its essential content.  It was hard to notice at first, for many people continued to “believe in God”.  Yet, most of them no longer knew God from personal experience, so , over time, they lost a sense of God’s control over -or impact on- their daily lives.  Sure, most continued to follow their denominational behavior codes, but for the rest God was effectively removed from daily life.  The dominant worldview had become demythologized or secularized, so that people only thought and talked about God on special days (Sundays, Christmas) or with special events (birth, marriage, death). 

I recall that one of my teachers suggested that Luther’s song “A mighty fortress” reflects the primitive, medieval idea that we are surrounded by angels and/or demons.  My students were convinced that Pharaoh’s ‘wise men’, who copied Moses’ miracles, used “magic tricks”, which the students thought to mean: deceptive illusions.  Even today, most westerners are convinced that tribal medicine doctors’ knowledge about medicinal plants and their powers stems from an oral tradition, accumulated through many generations of experimentation.  This sounds very scientific, but tribal people themselves invariably claim that their “experts” are witch doctors, who receive specific instructions from the spirit world.  Yet, modern man cannot deal with such an answer, for he “just knows that gods and angels, spirits and demons don’t exist”.

The public perspective, even among Christians, had become secularized*, until God used Pentecostalism to bring a renewed awareness of the supernatural reality and the spiritual battle in and around us.  Up to that time it was mostly the missionaries -working in other cultures- that were forced to admit that demonic powers are a present reality that we cannot afford to ignore.

During the 20^th century, Europe experienced a dual shift. First, the vestiges of the Christian worldview were systematically demolished. For a long time there existed a form of ‘practical atheism’.  Apparently this is still common in the U.S., where millions may claim to be Christians, while many or most of them see little or no connection with -or implications for- their daily lives.  In Europe, the youngest generations have dismissed such a lifestyle as hypocritical, and indeed Christianity had often become a social veneer, where the churches continued the good old tradition while they lost the powerful presence of God.

It is in such a vacuum that people begin to search for other gods.  In The Netherlands I noticed how, during the sixties and seventies, many people left the church to invest time and energy in other areas, such as nature conservation, politics, or community work.  A sense of freedom filled the air where tradition, law and discipline (typical for the old church) no longer dominated life.  For those who yearned for a more spiritual experience, new opportunities were offered in eastern religions.  These seemed to offer genuine experiences of peace and love and harmony with nature, rather than the dusty church experiences of ‘men societies’ and consistory meetings. This trend has continued: today you can see Buddhist images popping up all over the country.

At a social gathering with a group of Dutch friends, one of them shared the anecdote how an American tourist visited an old church (building!) in Holland, where he was shocked to learn that humans were actually buried underneath the church stone floor.  Supposedly, he replied, “I see, it’s pretty dead in the church!” (‘t is maar een dode boel in de kerk, haha!)  I wanted to reply that the true church is the fellowship of the Living God, the resurrected Christ.  But I had to agree that most of the churches (in Europe) today have lost the life and excitement that should be central to their lives.

It was in the late sixties that a lot of changes happened all at once. In this context it is interesting that in 1971, (The Beatles’) John Lennon wrote the song “Imagine”. 

Imagine there's no heaven,   It's easy if you try
No hell below us,  Above us only sky
Imagine all the people,   Living for today…

Today we are told not to focus on our destination, but rather on the journey itself.  I find this message in a movie like “Moon” (1990). The impression is given that “Heaven” and “God” are just preprogrammed on our minds to keep us going in the drudgery of daily life.  There is no real “home, out there” to which we could return; there is no “loving Father” who wants his rebellious children to return to Him.  These are just illusions that keep us from quitting this life of vanity and threatening insanity.

Lennon’s message seemed to be, “Let’s face it: there’s no God!  Be honest, you already live like atheists.  Therefore, “It’s easy if you try”. 

Imagine there's no countries,   It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for,  And no religion too
Imagine all the people,  Living life in peace…

You may say I'm a dreamer,   but I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us,  And the world will live as one

The problem is: we all need something worth dying for!  Without it, we no longer have anything truly worth living for.  In fact, the very thing we consider worth dying for, this is our god.  John Lennon promotes the myth that religion is a major cause for war.**  Therefore, he suggests we ought to abolish religion altogether.  In this way we could experience true unity as “brotherhood of man”.

A few years earlier, the Beatles had visited India in search of ‘true enlightenment’.  So, Lennon did not really seek to abandon “heaven, god, or religion”, but mainly the biblical truth these terms originally referred to.  Soon, he and Yoko Ono introduced us to eastern religion, with its own (impersonal) “god”, and a different kind of heaven.  This “new” religion supposedly embraces all humans as it claims to respect all gods. “For all gods are one and the world is one…”  So, today, there is a world-wide “Oneness-movement”, which hosts conferences where attendees are taught how to access cosmic powers and how to experience the god within, and how this is united with the awesome universe.  And, before the disciples return home -to their mission fields-, they dance around the room. Hand in hand, they sing a hymn of global unity while they experience an amazing spiritual presence: the peace and harmony of the New Age!  Those who return to European countries find the fields there ripe for the harvest. 

* Zeb Bradford Long and Douglas McMurray, The Collapse of the Brass Heaven: Rebuilding Our Worldview to Embrace the Power of God

** Vinoth Ramachandra, Subverting Global Myths: Myths of religious Violence

Related posts:   The blind men and the elephant

                         Signs of the times: modernity and postmodernity

The Kingdom and the Creeds

A woman visited a local rabbi with the plea, “Please pray to G-d that He give me a child.”  The rabbi replied, “G-d has heard your request. Next year you will have a child.”  But then the Lord spoke to that rabbi, “How could you make that promise? This was not my word!  Now, the woman will have the child as you promised, but, as punishment, you cannot enter my Kingdom.”  Soon thereafter, the same rabbi was dancing for joy. God asked him, “Why do you dance for joy?”  The rabbi replied, “Earlier my praises for You were from mixed motives. Now I need not praise you in order to get your approval or blessing. From now on I can just praise you for Who you are!” (a story told at a teachers’ convention in Coaldale, Alta, about 25 years ago)

When I started to study the Bible for myself and meditate on its message, I was struck by the blindness of Israel during the time of the kings.  For many generations they maintained their holy hills to bring their unholy sacrifices to the Holy God. And, although God was angry about this and warned them about it, the people continued to follow the practices of their fathers. “Everybody” seemed to do it, for generations already, so what could possibly be wrong?  And when a prophet would warn them about it, they dismissed him as a trouble maker or perhaps “a holy roller”.  As a young man this really troubled me; if this how we –as humans- are, then there might well be “acceptable sins” and blind spots in our own church community!  Which things were tolerated, accepted, and even propagated in our churches that were against God’s will? What were our high places? 

In later years I noticed an incongruence between the teaching of Jesus and the teaching in our church. While our Lord talked a lot about the arriving Kingdom of God, our preachers rarely mentioned it. Yet, while the Gospels record very few occasions where Jesus used the word “covenant”, our preachers seemed to use it all the time. Apparently there was a mismatch in the emphasis, or perhaps our tradition forced us to look at the Bible from its own perspective.  When our people talked about the covenant, they always seemed to link it to (infant) baptism, the seal or guarantee that we were God’s covenant people.  And when we talked about infant baptism, this seemed to refer to an assurance that our children, too, were saved.  Every time an infant was baptized we were reminded that Abraham’s covenant was also for his offspring, and that Peter at Pentecost assured the Jews that “the promise is for us and our children”.  Such passages were highlighted from the Scriptures as key passages for the true doctrine, which characterized our churches.  Somehow the Gospel was all about us (in our denomination)!  Other churches make it look like the focus must not be on the church and its growth from within but on saving souls in our community and beyond: at the exit of the church parking lot the members are reminded: “You are now entering the mission field!”  Yet, when I started to adopt this evangelical line of thought I was surprised by Paul’s approach.  Why did he -after he and his companions were shipwrecked on Malta- not preach on the beach, telling the local people (who were so hospitable to them) how they could be saved by Jesus Christ?  Perhaps there was a language barrier?  I wondered about this: Here is the first missionary, and God used the shipwreck to land him in this brand new mission field!  And yet, apparently Paul does not jump into action, even when God works miracles to support the Gospel.  Perhaps, being a Christian is not first and foremost about our mandate of saving souls? 

The recent publication “The purpose-driven life” makes the bold statement that we -as Christians- often think that God is there for us.  Even in our “Christian thinking” we subconsciously put ourselves in the centre, as if God’s first concern must be to save us from this wicked world.  Contrary to some evangelical teaching, the Bible is not meant as “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”.  The Bible teaches us that God created us for his glory, and that we are saved to bear fruit for Him (here and now). We are called to embody and build His Kingdom here on earth, for his glory, as the beginning of his new creation! 

The Bible is the story of God’s Kingdom: God created it, but through our first ancestors it was broken. Yet, God promised already then and there that He would not abandon his creation. He would preserve it and restore it through the Serpent-crusher.  Matthew 1 gives us the big story line from Abraham to the Son of Abraham: Formation, Fall, and Restoration of God’s Kingdom.   God made a new creation in Abraham’s seed. In the first era (two times seven generations) He built Israel to be his Kingdom under David: the man after his own heart. Yet, in the next era this Kingdom fell apart. Yet, God kept his promises to Abraham and David, so we see a third era in which God prepares to rebuild his Kingdom in a better way: through the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, yes the very Son of God!  Nevertheless, it must be clear that God wants to build His Kingdom through people like us.  It was through human rebellion that it was corrupted; now the whole creation is groaning in anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed!

God uses people to build His Kingdom and to embody his Kingdom.  In the Old Testament, God called Israel for this role. Nevertheless, on numerous occasions God pruned away the persistent covenant breakers to continue his plan with a righteous remnant. He kept his promises to Abraham and his seed (to restore His Kingdom through them), even as most of them perished (as they proved not to be true children of Abraham). 

Jesus told Pilate that it was His destiny to be king. Although it was clear that his Kingdom was not of this world, (He would not use murder weapons and force, but the power of his love), yet he was tortured and executed as rebel against Rome and as “King of the Jews”.  After he rose from the grave, however, all authority (in heaven and on earth!) was given to Him. Therefore, (he told us,) we are now to participate in the building of His new Kingdom in obedience to His commands and in teaching others to do the same!

We are to pray “Your Kingdom come, also here on earth!” As we pray this, we are reminded that He seeks to involve us in this work. First we are to walk with Him: God’s Kingdom must grow in our own lives!  This means that everything in our lives must be subjected to God and to his will.  As we walk with the Spirit, allowing Him to clean house in all compartments of our lives, we will discover idols in our hidden corners. As we smash these idols, Jesus’ Kingdom is established in our lives.  And then, as we grow in Him, He prepares and equips us to not only walk with Him, but to also work with Him.  We are to be his witnesses and to live as public mirrors of his truth and love.  God’s Kingdom must grow in us but also through us in our families, work places, communities, and cities.

What about our salvation? At the surface it’s a simple situation: God is calling people from all nations to be a part of His Kingdom, that is: to submit to His rule and authority.  Those who live under His kingship here and now will also live and rule with Him on the new earth- forever!  (Hidden from our direct observation is God’s eternal plan by which he has predestined, called, justified, and glorified those who are of his Kingdom.)

A few weeks ago Tom Wright was the celebrated speaker at a Reformation commemoration in Kampen (in The Netherlands), apparently at the invitation of the (seminary of the) GKV.  He argued that many churches had shifted the doctrinal focus from the biblical theme ‘the Kingdom of God’ to a (creedal) emphasis on ‘sin and grace’.  Jos Douma has the impression that most attendees had little problem with these words of Wright. He also had the impression that most do not see these ideas as a paradigm shift: although more marginally, perhaps, we did teach about the Kingdom of God. Douma agrees with Wright that “the creeds may not rule over the canon (Scriptures), which seems to be the practice in many… churches.”  So, he suggests that Tom Wright “at least forces us to reconsider whether or not our old reformed identity (based on 16^th and 17^th century creeds) has contributed (by being so outdated) to obstructing a true perspective on the Gospel.”  (http://josdouma.wordpress.com/)

Perhaps the reformed churches have their creedal defenses pointed in the wrong direction. Today’s greatest attack is not from Romanism, Arminianism, or revolutionary Anabaptism. It was in response to their teachings and practices that the confessions were written.  Yet, today the Enemy comes from other directions where he may find little or no defense: the New Hermeneutics, the New Age, and (perhaps) the New Perspective on Paul (regarding justification).  Tom Wright may have hit the nail on the head on the issue raised above, but on the topic of justification (and Paul’s view of it) we need to do some careful study.  As Don Carson writes (in a review on another one of Wright’s publications), “Tom Wright says some things so wonderfully well one cannot but be grateful for his contribution. But, as usual, he reserves a place for a few things that are doubtful, mistaken, or (at best) out of proportion, or just plain annoying.”  (http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/5581_5877.pdf)

Lessons from Athens

(If you did not read my post “Father of all Humankind- witnessing to pagans” (February, 2014), I recommend you read it first.)

Two or three generations ago most people in Europe and North America still knew the Bible, and they had a fair idea about God.  Today this is no longer the case.  Through secularization, spiritualization, and immigration most people there don’t really know what the Bible teaches, and they don’t really know or understand the Gospel.  That is one side of the problem; it also seems that most Christians do not know and understand how ‘our neighbors’ actually think.  For instance, many people think that Christian faith is not grounded in truth.  They contrast it with science.  Science is seen as (purely) rational and grounded in truth, while religion is wishful thinking and fantasy.  Others associate Christianity with bad ‘church experiences’, where members were not allowed to think for themselves or forced to follow a certain behavior code, which seemed to foster hypocrisy. 

To understand how we should present the Gospel to people who don’t know (about) God, we must focus on two passages in the Bible.  In Acts 14: 8 – 18, Paul addresses pagans in Lystra; in Acts 17: 16 – 34 he lectures at the Areopagus at Athens.  These are unique passages, as they reveal Paul’s approach to people who don’t know (about) the One True God.  Jews and Muslems (as well as Samaritans, in Jesus’ time) are not called ‘pagans’, as they already accept that there is only one God, who is creator, provider, and judge.  Therefore, we should use a different approach when witnessing to them.

At Lystra, Paul tries to convince the local population not to worship them as (if they were) gods.  ‘We are only humans!  We are messengers of the One True God, and He has given us the power to do miracles.  We are bringing you Good News today!  We are telling you about the Living God, the Creator.  He is the One who has given you many blessings.  Therefore, you must stop worshipping other gods and turn to worship only the One True God!’

At Athens, many people are interested in religion.  They are curious to find out what god Paul is advocating and wonder if he has anything to add to their ‘theology’.  So, when Paul is invited as guest lecturer, he boldly turns the tables: Although the Athenian scholars pretend to be experts in ‘theology’, they prove to be ignorant about the One True God.  This ‘god’ is in fact the Creator of all humanity; He provides for them, and He wants all people to seek and serve Him!  His audience must not think of Creator-God as some foreigners’ god, for they, too, are His offspring.  The Creator-God is their Father-God, who has already blessed them with many gifts!  Therefore, they owe it to Him to give Him their thanks and service!  Paul presents this as Good News, yet he also warns them that there will be serious consequences if they now continue to ignore the One True God.  When God’s Chosen One returns, He will judge all people!  He is the One, Who will restore God’s Kingdom, and his resurrection is the proof that this is so!

So, what lessons can we draw from Athens?

1.       Paul prepares his ministry by becoming acquainted with his audience.  He has toured their city, he has read their poets, and he understands their culture.  We, too, must seek to understand those who don’t know (about) God: What makes them ‘tick’?  What keeps them going?  What are their goals and aspirations, their dreams and fears?

2.       Paul brings the Gospel.  He reveals to them God’s rescue plan in Jesus Christ.  His message is first of all “good” news!

3.       Although he presents the Good News, yet he does not hesitate to mention the dark side: Those who persist in turning away from the True God and refuse to respond to his gracious gifts must face judgment!

4.       Paul does not read to them the Law of God, which was given to Israel.  Yet, he does emphasize the core of the law (essentially the first commandment): They must put God (and God alone) at the centre of their lives!  Seeking God must be their first priority, so that –when they come to know Him, they might walk with Him.

5.       Paul teaches them the basics: Creation, Covenant, Call to repentance, and the Coming judgement

a.        The Christian God is the Creator of all things and all people.  Obviously, He is far greater than any of us, yet He is close to us. 

b.       He has made us in His Image, and He has given us an abundance of good things.

c.        Therefore, we are all under obligation to seek Him, to return to Him, and to live for Him.

d.       We are urged to stop putting our hopes in other things and other gods. He is to be the centre of our lives!

e.       If we persist in ignoring Him and worshipping other things, in the end we will be judged.

6.       Paul faithfully and generously shares the Good News, regardless of the outcome. 

About fifteen years ago I got acquainted with a neighbor down the road.  We met a few times and talked about politics and the environment.  After a few visits, Victor ‘discovered’ that I was a Christian.  This came as a great surprise to him.  He had concluded (from our first talks) that I was an intelligent and knowledgeable person, which -in his view- was incompatible with being a Christian.  So, he wanted to find out what was wrong- either his earlier assessment of me or his assessment of Christianity.  After a few more visits, he shared some interesting conclusions:

·         At first your Christian views seemed primitive and bizarre, so I could not reconcile them with my conviction that you are a rational and knowledgeable person.  Now I see that you have a totally different, yet coherent way of viewing reality.  For someone who only hears a few things out of context, Christianity appears illogical and primitive, but I see that -once you have adopted this worldview- it makes totally sense!

·         I admire your drive and sense of purpose.  I don’t really know what I have pursued or accomplished in my life, but you seem to have a clear focus of your task in life.  Your relationship with Jesus seems to give you a power and conviction that I would love to have.

Is it useful to spend our precious time with atheists and agnostics, like my neighbor, Victor?  About a year before we went to China, he developed serious health problems.  In a matter of months he was no longer a proud man but totally dependent on the loving care of his wife; one time I had to help her to clean his bed because he had just soiled it.  It was during this time that I resumed regular visits, which he always loved.  I reasoned with him that -in the end- it is not our minds, which is God’s greatest gift to us, but it is love.  ‘In his younger years John Nash (A Beautiful Mind) was proud of his ability to reason, but when he began to struggle with his mind (in schizophrenia), he realized that the loving care of his wife was more precious than the power of his mind.’  At another visit I shared Jesus’ story of the prodigal son.  He must have known the story, but somehow -under these new circumstances- it sounded surprisingly different!  I remember vividly his radiant face after I had shared this story; I had never seen him like this before.  Victor had grown up a (Roman) Catholic, but he had refused to be called a ‘sinner’.  Now, he seemed so thankful that Father-God, from whom he had run since his youth, was opening his arms to welcome him home.  I cannot be sure that Victor was saved indeed, but when his wife and children commemorated his life at his deathbed, they invited me to join them- as Victor’s friend and pastor.  I shared with them how Victor had been a unique friend, who had taught me how to listen and had shown me how other people think.  And then, I prayed that God might forgive Victor’s former pride and resistance and take him home.  Later, his wife shared with me how she had been long been afraid that Victor would depart (as atheist) in agony.  Yet, now she was convinced that her husband had surrendered to God’s love at last, and that he was at peace when he departed.  

Most people (that we might share the Gospel with) will probably not care to know the truth or to understand the Gospel.  We cannot convince people to follow Christ just by solid apologetics or clever arguments.  Paul knew this too. He probably had not expected a thundering applause at the Areopagus.  The prodigal farmer (in Jesus’ parable) who sowed the seed knew that much of it would never germinate, survive, or produce a crop.  Yet, that was not his concern.  He did not count the cost: freely he had received, and freely he was sharing it!  He knew that God -at the time and place of his good choice- would produce a harvest.  We ought to do likewise!

To love our neighbors

In a recent dialogue with a Brother, the question came up, “If one has God in the centre of his life, this would address the first part of the Great Commandment, but what about the other part; to love our neighbor as ourselves?”  First I was taken aback by the question as I had not thought about it, but then I realized that our love for the neighbor must flow from our love for God.  (Ref. to James 3: 9)

If God is at the centre of our lives (which none of us can do perfectly and consistently!), then we no longer put ourselves in the centre.  This may sound self-evident, yet it has radical consequences.  We are all programmed (by nature and by culture) to claim and defend our own personal worthiness.  Even humble people usually take pride in their humility!  As a teenager I was a perfectionist: I sought to please my parents, my teachers, and my God with doing all the right things.  This gave me a sense of moral superiority and pride.  I was not aware of this, but in being hard on myself (to “keep the law”), I also became critical of others, looking down on those who seemed to care less or had a slightly different law of acceptable behavior.  Consequently, in my criticism of others around me, I suspected they would be just as critical about me.  This made me very self-conscious, which made matters only worse.  My adolescent life became a roller coaster of pride and despair!  (Himmelhoch jauchzend; zum Toden betrübt!)  Only as God’s Spirit broke through could I apply the Gospel to my life.  Christ had fulfilled the law for me to set me free to follow Him!  There was no use for boasting now; neither was there any need for despair.  As Tim Keller puts it so well: The Good News of Christ is this: I am so more sinful (self-seeking) than I had ever wanted to admit, and yet I am more loved (in Jesus’ sacrifice) than I could ever have imagined.  When I hear bad things said about me now, my gut response may still be anger or disappointment.  Yet, by the Holy Spirit I can overcome such reactions.  If Christ defends me before the throne of God, why do I need to fight to defend myself?  Sure, I listen to and learn from others, but when there is criticism, it can no longer produce a crisis of self-worth as if my ultimate worth should depend on the beefs and bouquets of other people!

Ultimately, when Christ is in the centre, we are released from the pressure to compete with others.  By His Spirit we are empowered to take on the attitude of Jesus Christ, who did not cling to his status in Heaven but humbled himself to live with people like you and me.  (Philippians 2: 1 – 11)  He accepted the greatest abuse: He was rejected by God and humankind: despised, rejected, mocked, and eventually tortured and stripped of all his dignity in order to pay for our sins.  When I begin to grasp this amazing love, it must transform me and help me to consider others better than myself!  When we appreciate the Gospel, then there is no room for boasting or for pride, not within the Christian community and not towards our secular community!

For we may not hide away from the world around us!  In the Old Testament we find many purity laws that stress the need for separation.  Even in God’s work of creation we see him creating order by making separations: light from darkness, water from water, sea from dry land, creatures according to their kinds!  When God gave his laws to Israel, he reinforced the laws of separation.  Israel was supposed to be the Kingdom of God, drawing the nations to their Father-God.  Yet, when the Hebrews got too comfortable with Canaan, they readily abandoned their God to adopt all kinds of evil practices and other gods.  And still, God returned to keep his promises to Abraham and David. Those who had been called ‘Lo Ammi’ (Not-my-people) were now called (My-beloved-people), yet they were not to be the only ones: now Jew and Gentile are gathered together into the Kingdom of God. And, since the day of Pentecost the church is commissioned and empowered to go into all nations.  While we keep God in the centre of our lives and walk by his Word and Spirit, we are called to engage with the culture around us so that they may see and experience that there is a righteous yet loving God! 

Are we ashamed to share the Good News?  Are we actually afraid of “the big bad world” as if Christ had not overcome the world?  He has not given us a Spirit of timidity, but a Spirit of boldness to promote His Kingdom!  Are we actually afraid of unbelievers?  Perhaps it is our communal pride that brings us fear for those who don’t know God!  If we hope to share the Gospel (and this is what we are called to do!), we must first understand our neighbors’ gods.  What are they living for? What is their greatest joy?  When they learn to trust us, they may share with us their real worries and their fears, and it is then that we may be able to point out a better way: The Only Way! 

Did you ever wonder how our unbelieving neighbors look at us?  If being a Christian just means going to church a lot and not shopping on Sundays, what does this tell them about the Gospel?  During the sixties, the pop group Lobo sang about the “Jesus freaks” in town,

“I sneaked up close and watched them work.  I found that actually they laughed a lot and sang out loud.  The way they walked made them look kind’a proud: a little different from you, a little different from me: a lot like the man who walked through Galilee”. 

Do the people in our street see us first of all as people who walk and talk as Jesus’ did?  Do we give them a chance to come to know Jesus through knowing us? 

Or, are we indeed different?  Do they see only external differences (in what we do on Sundays, for instance)?  Do they see first of all our efforts to protect our privacy and safety, our possessions and our pride?  Or can they learn from us about sacrificial love?  Can they see the fruit of the Spirit in a real gentleness, kindness, patience, and forgiveness? If we pray, “Your Kingdom come”, we must first make Christ the King of our own lives, before we can hope to promote His Kingdom among our neighbors!  And if we refuse to respect our neighbors or listen to their concerns to understand their lives, how can we hope to point them to the Gospel?

I remember one time, helping our children roll a big snowball through the yard so that they could build a snow fort.  And I thought, “The kingdom of God is like a snowball!  If we sit still (like the ‘chosen frozen’!) and refuse to connect with the world around us, snow cannot stick to snow and the snowball cannot grow!”