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United Church in the Valley
September 18, 2016
Student Minister: Matthew Heesing
Examining the “E” Word:
Part I: “Come and See!”
Scripture Reading
John 1:43-50:
[This reading takes place at the start of Jesus’ ministry:
as he travels from town to town, he calls various disciples
to join him on the journey: to “come and see,”to “follow me.”]
The next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.
Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”
Philip, like Andrew and Peter,
was from the town of Bethsaida.
Philip found his friend Nathaniel and told him,
“We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote—
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!”
“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?”
Nathanael asked.
“Come and see!” said Philip.
When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching,
he said of him,
“Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.”
“How do you know me?” Nathaniel asked.
Jesus answered,
“I saw you while you were still under the fig tree
before Philip called you.”
Then Nathaniel declared,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God;
you are the King of Israel.”
Jesus said,
“Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree?
You shall see greater things than that!”
Sermon:
On October 19, 2015, I received a life-altering invitation.
“Hello Matthew,” it began,
“My name is Kim Lucas,
and I am the Board Chair of Diamond Valley Pastoral Charge.
I was wondering if you would be able to meet
with our Joint Search Committee
on Sunday November 8, in the afternoon….
I thought you might like to come to Turner Valley
and have a tour of the church and look around the town.
Our congregation is small and a very open and loving group of people.
I'm sure you will enjoy the congregation's energy.
….I look forward to meeting you,
Sincerely,Kim.”
Four months later,
in the middle-of-nowhere—at least to me—
with my recent wife Marlee,
I arrived as your Student Minister
and we set out on a novel adventure—
but it all started
with a simple, single, intentional invitation.
“Come to Turner Valley,
have a tour, take a look around the town”;
in other words, Kim asked if I could
“Come and see.”
So I did.
And I saw a house of faith,
I saw a family of God,
I saw faithful disciples,
following the way of Christ.
I came and saw
a place full of possibility,
where the source of Love was palpable and present,
where people were welcomed,
embraced, as they are.
I came and saw
a community committed to outreach,
a congregation excited to serve,
a small but mighty body of believers.
And I saw a church—
a United Church in the Valley—
that could keep inviting others,
sharing the Gospel,
announcing the Good News:
a people of God
that could go out and evangelize,
that could embody,
and be an example
and whole-heartedly engage in
evangelism.
That’s right:
evangelism.
The “E” Word.
Be honest: who herejust becamea little bit uneasy?
Evangelism isn’t a word we use very often.
We avoid it and ignore it
for the notion makes us nervous;
when someone starts speaking about “evangelism,”
we back up slowly,
we feel self-conscious and uncomfortable,
since it calls to mind more conservative Christian movements:
evangelical actions, ideas and doctrines
that don’t resonate with our United Church ethos,
that feel out-of-place in our Canadian post-modern culture,
where religion is completely private,
where sharing your spirituality is totally taboo—
—so we don’t talk about evangelism.
And in our silence, we misunderstand:
we associate the word with all sorts of stereotypes,
we confuse evangelism with conversion,
we forget, that what evangelism really means,
where the word comes from,
is to announce the Good News.
To share our story and experience of faith.
That’s all the “E” word is:
to share, and offer,and extend
our story and experience of faith,
the good news—the Gospel—
the light, life, and love,
that we find and follow
inthe one we call Christ.
Evangelism is exciting!
And as disciples,
as God’s people in this place,
we are called to participate
in this act of proclamation.
In fact,the same October as my introduction,
aware of the stigmas and misconceptions,
the Alberta and Northwest Conference
of the United Church of Canada
decided to make evangelism a priority
for a period of three years.
So, following their lead,
for the next few weeks,
we’re going to examine the “E” word
with a mini-sermon series,
starting with the story of Philip and Nathaniel.
We heard the story earlier this morning:
“The next day, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee.
Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’
Philip went and found his friend Nathaniel, and told him,
‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law,
and about whom the prophets also wrote—
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph!”
Philip is overflowing with good news:
he’s excited, eager, energized
to share what he has seen and heard,
so he goes to his friend Nathaniel—
and Nathaniel answers,
“Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?”
It’s a rhetorical question, a sarcastic comment,
because for Nathaniel,
for anyone in the same first-century context,
Nazareth was nothing special.
It was a tiny Jewish village, around two hundred people,
not even mentioned once in the entire Old Testament.
Nazareth was in the middle of nowhere,
far from Jerusalem, the centre of the Jewish faith,
and far from any other major city,
so when Philip starts proclaiming
that Jesus, the Messiah, the fulfillment of hope,
has come from Nazareth,
Nathaniel knows he must be kidding.
“You’re pulling my leg!” we could politely paraphrase;
“Yeah, right!” is Nathaniel’s reply,
whose assumptions and preconceptions and prejudices
prevent him from perceiving how
even in the most insignificant places
even in the most unlikely spaces,
God can bring about something good.
We all know people like Nathaniel.
Perhaps we’ve been like Nathaniel:
biased and dismissive,
strongly opinionated,
skeptical to hearing what others have to say.
Philip has good news to share,
but Nathaniel answers,
“Nazareth? Can anything good come from there?”
which doesn’t sound too different
from what we might hear today:
Can anything good come from Nazareth,two millennia later?
In the twenty-first century, far removed,
can anything good come from this man called Jesus?
Can anything good come from this old book, the Bible,
beliefs that have been around for centuries?
Can anything good come out of Christianity?
Can anything good come out of a slowly shrinking denomination,
from a small congregation,
from a Sunday morning worship service?
The questions can be overwhelming,
and it’s hard to know how to respond.
It’s easy to get defensive—
but Philip doesn’t answer with an argument,
or make a come-back with a bitter comment,
or walk away from the encounter,
feeling hurt or angry.
Philip simply answers,
“Come and see!”
Come and see.
Because evangelism
isn’t about having all the right answers,
or being the better debater,
or belligerently badgering,
bullying until somebody breaks down.
It’s not about correcting,
or converting
or even about convincing
or getting them to agree.
The essence of evangelism is
simply an invitation:
to say here’s what I’ve experienced,
here’s what I’ve found,
this meaningful place and path and person of Christ,
and I want to share it with you.
Come and see. Check it out.
Join me on the journey.
Walk with me a while—
maybe for a moment,maybe for a lifetime,
move a little deeper,for the doors are wide open,
and you are welcome.
Why don’t you come, and see it for yourself.
We evangelize—
we share our story and experience of faith—
by inviting others to also follow along.
By saying to those around us,
come and see this Jesus of Nazareth,
in Sunday morning worship
and songs of praiseand times of prayer
and stories from Scriptureand passing of the peace.
Come and see the Spirit,
in our outreach and generosity,
our social events,
coffee and connection, after the service.
Whoever you are,
wherever you are, on the road of life,
come and see the source of Love
found in this community,
this small but mighty congregation
this shrinking but dynamic denomination,
this Christian tradition we call home.
Do you know someone who is
broken, hurting, or lonely,
in need of healing in body and soul?
Share the invitation:
Come and see!
Do you know someone with questions—
deep questions, doubts, ponderings, concerns?
Come and see!
Do you know someone who has it all together,
completely content, self-assured and confident?
Come and see!
Do you know anybody
who is biased and dismissive,
strongly opinionated,
skeptical to hearing what others have to say?
Share your faith
by simply saying,
come and see.
For that’s what Philip does:
“Come and see,” he says to Nathaniel,
demonstrating evangelism,
an invitation to experience faith for himself.
And Nathaniel follows along.
He goes and sees,
he encounters Jesus,the one called Christ,
acknowledging him as“the Son of God, the King of Israel.”
And at the end of their conversation,
Jesus says to Nathaniel,
“Did you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree?
You will see far greater things than that!”
From Philip’s simple, single, intentional invitation,
Nathaniel’s life is forever altered.
What he came and saw was only the start
of his own story and experience of faith.
God-family of Diamond Valley:
If it wasn’t for an invitation,
I wouldn’t be here.
If it wasn’t for an invitation,
most of you wouldn’t be here.
And without an invitation,
without intentional evangelism,
sharing our own story and experience of faith,
we can’t expect anyone else
to enter through these doors
to engage in discipleship,
to encounter, through this community,
the one called Christ.
We need to say to others,
“Come and see!”
and when they do—
when they arrive,
when they are welcomed,
when they are embraced, as they are,
when they are shown a glimpse of God’s kingdom—
may it only be the start.
May they see,
may we all see, together
far greater things than that.
Thanks be to God.