Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom,

Eva= ngelism

Yea= r A, Proper 6

Mt. 9:35-10:8

June 15, 2008

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord o= f the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and = gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholom= ew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alp= haeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of = Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good new= s, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' 8 Cure the sick, raise the d= ead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received with= out payment; give without payment. 9 Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey,= or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. 11 Whatever town or village you en= ter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. 12 As you enter the house, greet i= t. 13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> 14 If anyone will not welcome you = or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that h= ouse or town. 15 Truly I tell you,= it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Matt 9:= 35-10:15 NRSV

Last week Fr. Ken told us that Jesus came and said to his disciples – Foll= ow me. And now this week we hear= in the Gospel reading Jesus telling the twelve disciples to GO! They don’t get t= o sit around anymore and listen to his sermons and the parables. They don’t get to just watch= the miracles. They now have to GO= and do likewise out into the harvest fields.&n= bsp; Yes – this is a sermon on Evangelism. But before you check your watch to= see if you can make a 10:30 tee time, or try to escape to the nearest Starbucks= ….give me a minute – I’m going to show you that Evangelism is easier t= han you think. I want to look at = what we are already doing as evangelism in action. I want to show you an area that co= uld use some evangelism – and we can accomplish this just by being oursel= ves.

First off let’s look at what we are already doing. How many of you have heard of this formula: See one, Do one, Teach one? This is a common method for training in the medical field – but I’ve hear= d it is used in other areas as well. Matthew’s gospel shows us that this was Jesus’ used to t= rain his disciples for evangelism. First Jesus showed his disciples what the kingdom of God was like – to love your enemies, turn the other cheek, give to the ne= edy, pray in secret, store up treasure in heaven, and do not be anxious. Jesus then demonstrates these prin= ciples of the kingdom by performing miracles:&nbs= p; curing the Centurion’s daughter, casting out demons into swine, calming a storm, healing a paralytic, and raising a young girl from the dead. And now in our reading = today – Jesus says – go 2 by 2 on your own. Go – heal the sick; Go - rai= se the dead, and Go - cast out demons. No longer do the disciples get to sit around at Jesus’ feet and listen to his teachings, and watching him perform miracles. Now they have to leave the comfort= of being a part of the crowd and actually go out and do the same thing.

So here we are in church – many of us have been here many years, Sunday after Sunday, some of us may be pretty new, but we’ve heard the Gospe= l proclaimed each Sunday, listened to the sermons, and we have been satisfied to be part= of the crowd….. But we know God requires us to GO out and do something. = Remember See One – Do One. I’m sensing a rising panic &= #8211; hang in there a bit more.

With a show of hands – how many have gone out and healed the sick?

All of you who come up here to lay = hands on someone requesting anointing after the Eucharist should have your hands up.

How many of you have raised the dead?

We should all have our hands up because St. Stephen’s Day Care which die= d on May 31^st is going to be resurrected this fall, and we are all go= ing to be a part of this.

How many have cast out demons lately?

If you have had any kind of spiritual, emotional or psychological counseling – one on one or in a small group, or if you have been able to get ove= r a personal wound on your own, you have cast out inner demons that have kept y= ou separated from God. (I don= 217;t need to see any hands for this one).

These are all examples of Evangelism in Action that we are a part of all the time. In fact anything we do = in church is Evangelistic. For e= xample – w= hen Edy goes and buys some flowers for the altar an= d the clerk asks her what are they for – bingo – instant opportunity = to explain they are for the altar at church.&= nbsp; That was pretty easy wasn’t it? So far, so goo= d? Are you feeling a little bit more comfortable with the “E” word now?

Now we come to the last part of the formula:&n= bsp; Teach One.

At the end of Matthew we have the great Commission... “Go therefore and make disci= ples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and= of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them= to obey everything that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20 NRSV) Ahhh, h= ere is the command to teach.

This may be where most of us stop. We think this means we have to go door to door and speak to complete strangers to teach them about Jesus. There are those who are called to d= o this ministry – God bless them. But I have a different take on what this can mean.=

I believe we are called to teach others what we know how to do. Math teachers teach math, Kids who= have gone to summer camp become the camp counselors. I believe we are called to teach o= thers the ministries that we do. In= stead of waiting for people to ask where they can help out in the church – = we can reach out and invite others to join us, and begin to train them. This will result in more people pre= pared for ministry in the church. A= nd if we move on to a different ministry, there will be someone trained to fill t= he void. A prime example of this would be Ve= stry members because they have a limited three year term. What if at the beginning of your 3 years, you start to look for your replacement. Once you and God have someone in m= ind, invite them to work with you. By the time your 3 years are up – a new disciple is trained and maybe re= ady to move into a leadership position. The cycle of seeing, d= oing, teaching continues and the work of the Kingdom grows.

Being active in the church and telling others about your work in the church, trai= ning others, helping out in the new preschool – all of this is Evangelism = in action.

Now I want to talk about one area that could really use some evangelism. Jesus told his disciples to go to = the lost children of Israel. So if we keep it in = the family, so to speak, the group that can use some evangelism is Christianity= . Often the reason we fail to = tell people about our work in the church is because we are afraid of their react= ion. Christianity has a bad reputation.

I first became aware of this one day at my son’s hockey rink (I was a hockey mom). A couple of the mothers were talking about my Jesus loves Darwin bumper sticker. I told them I did not like the other bumper sticker of the Jesus fish eating the Da= rwin lizard. They replied “Oh, you’re a good Christian.” This happened again when I was vis= iting Israel. A Palestinian Christian taxi driver was taking me to the Church of the Nativi= ty and asked – What kind of Christian are you? I thought about this but told him I didn’t know how to answer that. He then said, Oh<= /span>, you’re a “good Christian.”

This really bothered me that Christians did not have a respected place in society anymore. Since then I’ve learned that = those who are not professing Christians, or do not want anything to do with church see us as hypocrites, judgmental, and arrogant. They know us more for what we are against, than for who we are for. And we do not speak well of each other. I can see why they want noth= ing to do with Christianity.

As I’ve gotten to know you, I have not seen these traits at St. Stephen’s. This gives u= s a wonderful opportunity to change the reputation of Christians. It can be as easy as having a cert= ain bumper sticker. Or giving others a smile as we’re out at the grocery store, or in doctor’s office. It can be as easy as explaining to the clerk = why we are buying so many supplies for the new Preschool. If we can be authentic in our fait= h; if we can be open to all whom we come across, and if we can love one another w= ith humility, we will go a long way to evangelizing Christianity.

I hope I have made Evangelism an easier subject to approach. Through the scriptures we’ve= seen what Jesus has done to build= up the King= dom of God. I imagine most of you have actuall= y been doing Evangelism without really knowing it when you give some of your time to ministry in the church or to others in the world; when you share what you do at church with others. Now we can teach others by sharing our ministry with others and raising th= em up for work in the Kingdom of God. We can also evangelize Christianity by being humble and loving and share more about who we love rather than by being concerned with what we are against. It is time the world really= knew we were Christians by our love.