TELLING THE GOOD NEWS

God bless Bishop Gene Robinson! Bishop Gene may be retiring from his position as Bishop of New Hampshire, but I doubt that he will fade into the sunset. I hope not. We need his voice.

Bishop Gene's announcement of his retirement in January 2013 has been widely circulated in the media and in blogs, either in whole or in part. His words are full of grace, which is entirely unsurprising from such a grace-filled man of God. I'll never forget his words to all who face prejudice, hostility, name-calling, lies, bullying, and, in Bishop Gene's case, multiple death threats, "Love them anyway!"

What I'd like to highlight today is his latest column at the website of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

What makes evangelism so hard for Episcopalians?

I know that we are not ashamed of our faith. Indeed, we Episcopalians are deeply proud of our faith. Somewhere around half of us came to The Episcopal Church from some other denomination as an adult. So, many of us, not being “cradle” Episcopalians, have consciously and intentionally chosen to be Episcopalians. So we hold this style and expression of the Christian faith very dear. We are hardly ashamed of it.

We are not ashamed of Jesus, certainly. We know Jesus of Nazareth to be the Holy One of God and the “full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, satisfaction and oblation for the sins of the whole world.” We try to model our lives after him; we strive to think like him. We talk to him, seek guidance from him, praise and adore him.

Clearly, Jesus is not the reason for our reticence to evangelize.

Clearly, Jesus is not the reason for my reticence to evangelize. I know full well the difference Jesus makes in my life. I need Jesus every single day for my salvation, right here and right now - for my survival as a functioning (more or less) human being. Hyperbole? Not at all. Just the simple truth.

Nor am I ashamed of my faith. As did Bishop Gene, I came to the Episcopal Church from another denomination, but rather later in my life. I love the Episcopal Church, warts and all, and at this moment, I'm proud that my church takes a lead in officially standing for justice and equality for all. We have a way to go with respect to implementing the practice of justice and equality, but we're on the way, and we've taken more than a few blows in the process of setting out upon our path. So no. I'm not ashamed of my faith.

But why is that I lack the zeal of Bishop Gene, or Fr Jake, or my rector, Fr Ed Robertson, to share my faith in my real-life, everyday interactions with others? Is a zeal for person-to-person evangelization a special gift that is given only to certain Christians? Telling the Good News here on my blog is easy, but unless another asks me about my faith or my church, I am reticent about introducing the subject in a conversation.

Bishop Gene says we are all to be evangelists. His final words encourage us to the share the Good News about Jesus.

We can find our own style for telling the Good News to a world desperate to hear it. We can get over our reticence – even as New England Episcopalians (or Louisiana Episcopalians) – to share our joy in knowing the Lord and living in his light.... Try on some new behavior. And let’s tell our neighbors how they can come to church with us and share in that joy!

Lord, may it be so.