B
BarbaraTherese
Guest
Reading this meditation reminded me of how our culture can form us into a people “who need to display positive etc. results” - we need to see a happy outcome to our efforts. It then reminded me of a passage from John:
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In attempts to evangelize we could be termed as ‘sowing’…and we need to leave the results to The Holy Spirit and not be driven by our culture - needing to have results and positive results. In this way at the appointed time we will rejoice with The Holy Spirit, who has reaped where we have sown…and that asks Faith and trust in our journey and in our efforts to evangelize. And anyway, in the first place, it was The Holy Spirit who was the Sower through us.
The greatest witness ever given was on a cross and it was an horrific form of execution for the worst…the witness in fact was massive failure to the culture. I was thinking the other night on reading from St. Paul that they were in a culture of blatant paganism and St. Paul was writing from jail awaiting execution with some of his co-workers…and they could have no idea just how much they were to impact on the world to be and how they would change it.
Readings
usccb.org/nab/010408.shtml
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=01&day=04&year=2008&x=17&y=6
Friday, January 04, 2008
Meditation
John 1:35-42
*We have found the Messiah. *(John 1:41)
This brief conversation between Andrew and Simon Peter is one of the first examples of evangelization in the Gospels. That term can sound so exalted—and so daunting—but what really happened here? After spending some time with Jesus himself, Andrew brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? It’s really very simple: introducing someone to Jesus!
If you’ll notice, Andrew didn’t give his brother a long theological discourse or engage him in lots of arguments to try to convince him. He simply introduced him to the Lord. And that’s all we need to do. Evangelization is not a task reserved for the highly educated or the heroically courageous.** It’s really about sharing the basic message of Christianity: the love and mercy of the Father in his Son Jesus**. Once we get over the fear of bringing up spirituality in conversations, it gets a lot easier. We’re simply doing what Andrew did, saying, “Come and see.”
Most of us feel ill-equipped to evangelize, but we would be a lot more confident if we realized that it doesn’t depend on us alone but on the Holy Spirit as well. Peter had his own fears to deal with, but when he was filled with the Spirit, he brought three thousand people to the Lord in a single day (Acts 2:41). Like Peter, we too can try our best to be an instrument for the Spirit as we show people compassion and tell them about what Jesus has done in our lives. If we can do that, we can trust that God will do the rest. Why not give it a try? Make it your goal to evangelize a different person each month. How many people do you know who could benefit from knowing the Lord? Start by sharing your life with that person. Without sounding boastful, tell him or her what Jesus has done for you. This probably won’t happen on the first conversation. That’s okay. Simply let the Spirit work in his own time. It could mean the world to someone else. You could literally change that person’s life forever!
“Jesus, make me a harvester of souls in the fields you have sown. Send me to those who are lost and lonely and show me how to lead them to you!”
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And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. 37 For in this is the saying true: That it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth. 38 I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labour: others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours.*
In attempts to evangelize we could be termed as ‘sowing’…and we need to leave the results to The Holy Spirit and not be driven by our culture - needing to have results and positive results. In this way at the appointed time we will rejoice with The Holy Spirit, who has reaped where we have sown…and that asks Faith and trust in our journey and in our efforts to evangelize. And anyway, in the first place, it was The Holy Spirit who was the Sower through us.
The greatest witness ever given was on a cross and it was an horrific form of execution for the worst…the witness in fact was massive failure to the culture. I was thinking the other night on reading from St. Paul that they were in a culture of blatant paganism and St. Paul was writing from jail awaiting execution with some of his co-workers…and they could have no idea just how much they were to impact on the world to be and how they would change it.
Readings
usccb.org/nab/010408.shtml
wau.org/meditations/meditations.asp?month=01&day=04&year=2008&x=17&y=6
Friday, January 04, 2008
Meditation
John 1:35-42
*We have found the Messiah. *(John 1:41)
This brief conversation between Andrew and Simon Peter is one of the first examples of evangelization in the Gospels. That term can sound so exalted—and so daunting—but what really happened here? After spending some time with Jesus himself, Andrew brought his brother Simon to meet Jesus. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? It’s really very simple: introducing someone to Jesus!
If you’ll notice, Andrew didn’t give his brother a long theological discourse or engage him in lots of arguments to try to convince him. He simply introduced him to the Lord. And that’s all we need to do. Evangelization is not a task reserved for the highly educated or the heroically courageous.** It’s really about sharing the basic message of Christianity: the love and mercy of the Father in his Son Jesus**. Once we get over the fear of bringing up spirituality in conversations, it gets a lot easier. We’re simply doing what Andrew did, saying, “Come and see.”
Most of us feel ill-equipped to evangelize, but we would be a lot more confident if we realized that it doesn’t depend on us alone but on the Holy Spirit as well. Peter had his own fears to deal with, but when he was filled with the Spirit, he brought three thousand people to the Lord in a single day (Acts 2:41). Like Peter, we too can try our best to be an instrument for the Spirit as we show people compassion and tell them about what Jesus has done in our lives. If we can do that, we can trust that God will do the rest. Why not give it a try? Make it your goal to evangelize a different person each month. How many people do you know who could benefit from knowing the Lord? Start by sharing your life with that person. Without sounding boastful, tell him or her what Jesus has done for you. This probably won’t happen on the first conversation. That’s okay. Simply let the Spirit work in his own time. It could mean the world to someone else. You could literally change that person’s life forever!
“Jesus, make me a harvester of souls in the fields you have sown. Send me to those who are lost and lonely and show me how to lead them to you!”