I really like my parents' preacher. He wears wranglers, talks with a twang, usually plays the guitar during church, and always has a funny story or two in his homily. His Christmas Eve sermon included this little nugget.
I was on a flight from Florida back to Dallas and had on my cross and flame necklace. The man next to me said, "Oh, so you must be one of THOSE United Methodists." I responded, "Well yes I am. I don't see anything on you proclaiming what you are, you embarrassed of your outfit or what?"
I mean how can you not love a preacher like that?
Anyway, he went on with the story to say that the guy engaged in a conversation with him about when Jesus is coming back. Now apparently there are three camps of belief in this (I am totally not well versed enough to really understand them) and this guy was just sure his camp was right. Apparently this is a common theological debate, one that churches have even split up and created new denominations because of. The preacher then said the following line, that really made me think.
We are so busy fighting about when Jesus will be coming back, all the while there are people in the world who have never heard that Jesus came the first time.
Ouch.
It's so true with religion, isn't it? We get so caught up in the details....from theological debates to building fancy new churches with fountains and comfy chairs, to arguing over whether we should support a political candidate, to what songs we should sing on Sunday to laser light shows during the worship to what we are going to feed the kids at the youth group....that we forget the whole point of this.....showing people Jesus.
Jesus called us to be his representatives on earth, to use our feet to spread the good news, to show love and kindness and compassion. People should see him in our lives. People should know him because they know us.
And if we screw that up and they never know Jesus, does it really matter if we win the theological debate over someone on an airplane?
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