Today I led the morning office for our deanery clericus.
This is my short word on the Gospel reading
"If people think God interesting, the onus is on them to show that there is anything there to talk about. Otherwise they should just shut up about it." Richard Hawkins, Evolutionary Biologist, Oxford U.
I remember a while back with Father Ted Lewis was on the school board he caught some flak for praying in the name of Jesus when ever he led an invocation ….
His answer was priceless and perfect and has stuck with me in my heart as a beacon since then.
"What did you think I would do? I’m a Christian Minister… You shouldn’t have expected anything different from me."
My wonder is why we Christians do tend to shut up about it…until we are in a safe community. While I know some fearless evangelistic laypeople and even some ordained…they make me nervous.
I know that even though I’m dressed like this (clericals) I find myself covering my light with a bushel bowl from time to time. Sometimes, sadly, I do it in the presence of people to whom that lack of faith is a stumbling block (People who need the example of fearless faith in Christ…
Now, we'll have a few moments in silence as we ponder the reading from Mark and Jesus' word to us individually and as a body.
Hear also the learned words of Tertulian:
"Why does the Lord call us the light of the world? Why has he compared us to a city on al hill? Are we not called to shine in the midst of darkness and stand up high for those most sunk down? If you hide your lamp beneath a bushel, you will soon notice that you yourself will be in the dark. You will find others bump into you. So what can you do to illumine the world? Let your faith produce good works. Be a reflection of God’s light. The good is not preoccupied with darkness. It rejoices in being seen. It exults over the very pointings which are made at it. Christian modesty not only wishes to be modest, but also it wishes to be beheld as what it actually is." (Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament II, Mark)
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