Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them in fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen.

Every semester the Episcopal Student Center vestry, or leadership team, goes on retreat to plan for our collective ministry.  Several years ago while on one of these retreats the leadership team came up with a mission statement.  The statement, still today, is an expression of the core values of this community.  If you look carefully you will notice that our mission statement is all over the place.  It is on our website, the front page of your order of service each week, and on the wall in the Student Center dinning room for all to read.  We try to keep the statement in front of us to remind ourselves of who God calls us to be as a community, and, further, what God is calling us to work toward as a community.  The first core value outlined in the statement is relationship building.  In other words, the Episcopal Student Center is about experiencing God’s love through the friendships that are made and nurtured in this place.  The second core value is about growing in our faith which we hope to accomplish through our various worship services, Christian education programs, and outreach opportunities.  FYI: if you are wondering what these opportunities are please read, preferably not during the sermon, the announcements in your order of service.  Finally, the third value outlined in the mission statement is evangelism.  Or as the statement says itself, “sharing Christ’s transforming love with a diverse university campus.” 

I want to spend this time tonight talking about this third core value of our mission statement because I believe that tonight’s Gospel lesson offers us some helpful and fundamental insight into doing the work of evangelism.  To begin with, I think the word evangelism gets a bad wrap in our tradition.  We hear the word evangelism and we immediately think—Tammy Fay Baker or some other TV evangelist.  In fact, the word evangelism comes from a Greek word that sounds almost identical and means, simply, Good News.  Now assuming you truly believe, as I do, that having a relationship with God in Christ is Good News.  And assuming that you agree that the promise of abundant life in the hear and now and the promise of life forever with God is also Good News—why wouldn’t we want to share our faith with those we meet along the way whether friend, family, or stranger?  I think most of us would say we do want to share our faith with others, the question is how?  Well, one thing for sure I don’t recommend is buying a megaphone, making a giant wooden cross, picking out a corner on the drag, and proceeding to scream for all to hear that Jesus is coming so look out!     

Now there are two predominant schools of thought, in the church generally, on how best to do evangelism.  The first is to develop an advertising and marketing plan for getting information about your ministry out into the world.  Now, this Madison Avenue approach to evangelism is nothing new.  Churches and religious organizations have been developing and implementing plans to market and sell Christianity for decades.  Jesus is everywhere—shirts, hats, billboards, and even bumper stickers.  My absolute favorite of the bumper stickers I’ve actually seen on a car reads: “Warning: In case of Rapture this car will be driverless.”  There are “Jesus loves you” beanie babies; little plastic cross-shaped containers filled with bubbles for children; religious pens and key chains that light up and say “Jesus is the Light of the World”; Crusader Halloween costumes for kids complete with the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit; Lamb of God plastic night lights; God erases sin erasers; and the list goes on.  I am on a mailing list for a Roman Catholic church supply catalogue, in which, they sell Jesus sports statues that feature Jesus buddying up with young children and playing soccer, football, and baseball.  All of these novelties exist, in theory, to spread the message of God’s salvation given to the world through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  People buy them, wear them, and display them.  Now bumper sticker evangelism may work for Madison Avenue to drive consumers into the marketplace, and don’t be fooled God “stuff” is big business.  However, I wonder if it is really the most effective and useful way for us to bring people into a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Now the second school of thought, and perhaps more helpful one, for doing evangelism, as it applies to us, is to encourage each other to bring a friend to church—to look into other communities in our lives, outside of church, and invite someone you think might be interested to join you on a Sunday night for church and dinner.  Let me say, this is a good idea.  The statistics overwhelmingly suggest that the vast majority of people come to Church and begin a relationship with Jesus Christ for the first time because a friend, family member, or loved one reached out to them. 

So how do we begin to introduce our faith to those people we come across in our day to day lives whether friend, family, or stranger?  Well, as I mentioned, I think we find in our Gospel lesson from Mark, at least, two time tested principles for more affectively sharing our faith.  The first principle is that we need to be prepared to articulate what we actually believe when asked.   Mark tells us that Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they answer him, “Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  Jesus pushes further, “But who do you say that I am?”  Finally, Peter responds, “You are the Messiah.”

Messiah is a Hebrew word.  The Greek translation, which we are more familiar with in the Western church, is Christ.  Jesus is the Christ of God.  Both words Messiah and Christ mean anointed one.  Our proclamation of Jesus as Christ means that we believe and proclaim for the whole world to know that Jesus is the one anointed by God to be savior and redeemer of the world.  If you wonder what it is that we need saving from, the answer is the sin, evil, disease and death that permeates our lives and world.  We live in a time of unmatched prosperity, technological advancement, and intellectual enlightenment, yet we can not eradicate world hunger or poverty, we can not create peace with out the use of violence, we can not cure cancer, or even, the common cold.  It is from these and the entire inexhaustible list of human degradation, including our own mortality and moral failings, that Jesus came to save us.  Today we may see only glimpses of God’s salvation, but because Jesus was raised from the dead our hope is that in the fullness of time God will be all in all and love and peace will rule in all places—including our hearts. 

How would you answer Jesus’ question?  Who do you say that I am—a prophetic voice for social justice, an enlightened moral teacher, an expert at human resource management?  Peter’s claim and the claim of the Church is that Jesus is nothing less than Lord and Savior of our lives and of our world.  The first principle to effective evangelism is to be able to make an account of our faith when asked.   What would you say if asked the question: why are you a Christian or who is Jesus to you?

The second key to effective evangelism that Mark underscores in this passage deals with discipleship.  Following Peter’s confession, Jesus says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  We begin down the path of discipleship by confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, we continue that journey by following Jesus to the cross.  On the cross, Jesus gave his life for the welfare of others, in fact, the welfare of the whole world—even you, even me.  As disciples of Jesus called to take up our own crosses, we, also, are to provide for the welfare and needs of others—not by dying literally but by giving generously to others our time, talents, and resources.  The Philosopher, Frederic Nietzsche, once asked, “If the Messiah has come, where are his people?”  That statement, I’m afraid, rings true.  You see the people of God are often putting up billboards, but not laying down their lives. There is no greater evangelism tool than reaching out with arms of love to people in need whether we’re talking about your best friend or the truly needy in our world. 

Who is Jesus?  He is the Christ, God’s Messiah, the Chosen One, the Prince of Peace, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Jesus is the bread of Life, the Living Water, the Good Shepherd, the Rock of our Salvation, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Once we have proclaimed it with our lips, let’s let our lives do the talking.  Nothing spreads the Good News of Jesus Christ like sharing love when love is needed.  Nothing spreads the Good News of God’s love for all people like laying down your life for a friend, going the extra mile for someone in dire straits, or turning the other cheek when someone hurts you.  Nothing spreads the truth of God’s love for every person like giving clothes to the naked, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, tending the ill, or visiting the dying and imprisoned. 

The first principle for sharing your faith is to know what you believe and be able to articulate it when asked.  The second is to be willing to give your life for the benefit and welfare of others.  Amen.       
            

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