Thursday, October 26, 2000
Thursday, October 26, 2000
"Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give
you rest.
You know what they said? The pastors said they saw it as snatching people from a burning fire.
And the missionaries said they saw it as inviting people to a feast. Interesting. The pastors had an
image of plucking brands from the fire.
We of the clergy are often visited by people in distress--people in trouble--people at their wit's
end--people who have nowhere else to turn. It is not rare for people to turn to the church when
their worlds have fallen apart. It is easy for pastors to see ourselves bringing healing to broken
hearts--rescuers pulling people from the flames of lives gone awry.
But the cross-cultural missionaries saw their task as that of inviting persons to a feast. This is an
entirely different approach to the life of faith. The missionaries see themselves not as healers of
broken lives but as emissaries of the King inviting people to experience a reality more desirable
than anything they have known before.
(Matthew 11:28
NRSV)
An informal survey was made at a missions conference twenty years back. Forty pastors and
cross-cultural missionaries were together. And one speaker posed the question: What image do
you have in mind when you present the gospel of Jesus Christ to someone? Do you see it as
snatching brands from the burning fire, or as inviting people to a feast?
Dear God, help me to do less fixing and do more inviting. Amen.
 Click here to Vote for this site! |
 Click here to Subscribe! |
|---|