Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
I wonder how many times each us have said the equivalent. Whether it’s about
another town, someone we knew in high school, or a sports team.
That Podunk little burg called
Nazareth? Are you crazy? Nothin’ over there. Used to be a post office and a
quick stop. Both of ‘em closed now. Can’t even get gas there.
That guy? A neurosurgeon? Ha! He was
just a big dumb jock in high school.
The Nazarenes? When did they last win a game? 1957? 1958? Nobody
can even remember.
Whatever it is, it’s the kind of skepticism or doubt Nathaniel
demonstrates about Jesus.
What did Philip say in the face of
Nathaniel’s skepticism, his doubt about Jesus? Do you remember? (Okay, I hear
some stealthy bulletin shuffling.) Philip simply described who Jesus was. That’s
all. No sales pitch. No long explanation of who Jesus was. And the response he
got was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Did Philip keep on talking? Did he try
to be persuasive? Did he have a second sales pitch? Nope. All he said was,
“Come and see.”
How often do we say, “Come and
see?” The last statistic I saw about Episcopalians said on average, Episcopalians
invite someone to church once every 38 years. (Pause.) Now you personally may
have done much more, but let’s just sit with that for a moment. On average,
Episcopalians invite someone to church once every 38 years.
So I wonder if we need to discover for each of us what caused us to come and see Jesus here. And now
that you’re here, where and how do you
see Jesus? I believe if you think about it, you can describe it. You can name
it.
Think about where you’ve seen or heard or experienced Jesus in our
worship at St. Alban’s. Come up with one sentence to describe it. Think for a
minute. Just one sentence. That’s all Philip got: one sentence. The first
sentence was to describe Jesus. The second sentence was Phillip’s invitation,
even in the face of skepticism.
Once you know what your one sentence is, write it down. Yes, we gave you
pens and paper this morning. And the reason we did was so what you write down
can be used on our website, on our soon to be completed visitor cards, and on
anything else we use to describe what is special about St. Alban’s and why
people come here to see Jesus. If you’re really shy about Jesus, you can
substitute God in what you write because some Episcopalians are even more shy
about talking about Jesus than they are about inviting people to church. They’re
afraid they might be mistaken for those people that go to mega-churches or the
guy with a white belt and shoes and a white Bible who gets in your face on a
street corner and asks if you’re saved.
Now once you get done writing your one sentence, when the offering plate
goes by, put your piece of paper in there. You don’t have to sign your name.
Just write your one sentence on the piece of paper provided and drop it in the
offering plate.
(Give people time to wrote their two sentences – long pause…)
And I wonder, if you did ask someone to come to church, say, oh, once
every thirty years maybe, would you say that one sentence? One sentence, that’s
all. And then you’d listen; really listen to the person’s response. And then
you’d say, “Come and see.” And you’d invite them to join you so they wouldn’t
feel shy about coming somewhere new. AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2018
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