Went out in my nearby Lakewood parish Friday. Very encouraging overall. First, approached a couple of fellows who were talking in their driveway. Not wanting to interrupt, I handed them my literature. “Don’t let me interrupt you … unless you’re open to talking religion!” Well, they were. The one fellow, a 40-something biker type with a braided beard, told me that Christianity was suspect, having come down to us through the ages through oral tradition. He didn’t mention the telephone game illustration, but that was the gist of it. I explained to him and his friend the radical concern the early Christians had in bearing witness to the truth. Eventually, I gave the great ‘for instance’ in Saul of Tarsus. Open enemy. Jihadi type. A card-carrying, high profile Jew who hated the Christians. Then he claimed he witnessed the risen Christ, then began “preaching the faith he once destroyed.” At the very least, we should sit up and take notice. I invited him to church, and he indicated that I would probably see him someday.
Another fellow was on his phone, standing outside of his car. This chap professed to be a Christian and named a local, evangelical church where he had attended. But life had got in the way and his employment wouldn’t let him off to worship on Sundays. In the course of the conversation, I admonished him about his duties to follow Christ all the way. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” I told him I was rather concerned about his soul and that he was really taking a gamble spiritually. He took it well, but I fear not well enough.
My third talk was a briefer one. The fellow was on his way, and I try to be courteous. But we did talk long enough to hear a similar story to the neighbor above, though this one was Roman Catholic in his background. I did urge him to consider the call of God, “Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found …”
Last, the second ‘none’ (no religion) was a 30-sometime white lady. Very nice, but had her doubts about God. I began to speak to her of reasons for God, when her husband/partner came up, asked what all this was about, and tried to wrap things up. “Could I possibly finish my thought?” As I did, it seemed as though a chord was struck. Something in the first none’s eyes told me that the second none was getting in the way of something important. Someone important. The One who is All.
eart good to see our congregation reflect something of the multi-colored army of the Church Triumphant. And I admired their willingness to be different in a very different kind of church.
“The commands of the law, in the hand of Christ, have lost their old covenant-form, and are full of love. The command of the law of works is, Do, and Live; but in the hand of Christ, it is, Live, and Do: the command of the law of works, is, Do, or else be damned: but the law in the hand of Christ, is, I have delivered thee from hell, therefore do: the command of the law of works is, Do in thy own strength; but the law in the hand of Christ is, “I am thy strength; My strength shall be perfected in thy weakness,” therefore Do. The command is materially the same, but the form is different: the command of the law of works is, Do perfectly, that you may have eternal life; but now, in the hand of Christ, the form is, I have given thee eternal life in me, and by my doing; and therefore do as perfectly as you can, through my grace, till you come to a state of perfection. The command, I say, is the same materially …. And sure I am, that the authority of the commanding God is not lessened, or lost, that the command is now in the hand of Christ: Christ is God, co-equal and co-essential with the Father; and as God’s authority to judge is not lost, or lessened, in that all judgment is committed to the Son; so his authority to command, is not lost or lessened, in that the law is in the hand of Christ: nay, it is not lessened, but it is sweetened, and made amiable, lovely, and desirable to the believer, constraining him to obedience, in that the law is in the hand of his Head, his Lord, and his God.”
them with dignity. We cut down trees for our benefit and harvest wheat for our consumption. Why wouldn’t we do that with humans? What makes some matter more valuable than other forms?
West Port Experiment 