What is the Good News?

What is the good news?  Evangelism is the sharing of good news: it comes from the Greek 'eu' for good and 'angelion' for message.  When we talk gospel we are talking good news.

So what is the Good News?

God's love, manifestly present in the person of Jesus, is the Good News.  It is good news because it is God's love (and not judgment) because we have concrete examples of how that love is lived out (in all the stories of Jesus) and because, since it comes from God, it is eternal (rather than temperal).

When we gather around Jesus the Christ to worship, we are  not just gathering around the person of Jesus. Rather we gather around God's good news to all of creation in the person of Jesus, called the Christ.  The difference is between worshipping the man (historical, physical) and giving worship to the God whose love for all creation became human, living among us as the person of Jesus.  


If this is the Good News, then what is the Bad News?

The Bad News is that the world is not generally like this.  The world does not love us so that we may blossom and be all that we might be.  The world isn't interested in the health of our body or our souls.  Any reward that comes to us from this world comes as a result of our hard work and frankly, can disappear overnight.  The Bad News is that this world doesn't forgive, doesn't make us whole from the inside out, and too often won't even cross the street to give us a hand.

The Good News is that the one who created us for this lifetime is also waiting for us in the world to come.  The Bad News is that the race in this world is only to the swift and will leave all others behind.

The Good News is that everyone is invited, welcomed, considered valuable.  The Bad News is that only some are valuable, only some are welcome and few are invited in.

The Good News in Jesus is that healing is possible, your race is not a factor and it doesn't matter if you are male or female or something in between.  God is at work in Jesus bringing into existence the world to come: a world founded on mercy where all are made whole and live in peace and comfort in the presence of God.  

The Good News is that this kingdom of God breaks into our world everytime there is healing and forgiveness and invitation.  We get a foretaste of the wonder to come.  We can participate in that glory today, in this place.  We can bring that new life into being by being instruments of healing, forgiveness and welcome.

So if Jesus was such Good News, then why the cross?  That's for tomorrow.

Takin' it to the streets........

"Takin' it to the streets..."  The Doobie Brothers sang it in the 60's.  It would be a good motto (if not a tune) for the people of God.  Taking it out there - out of our quiet sanctuaries, which were only ever meant to be a temporary respite - and back out to the streets.

Oh yes! We do that every week.  We leave the Sunday place and travel to the Monday place and that is where we live 6.75 days of the week.  Then why does it sound like such a radical idea?  Jesus took it to the streets; in fact, Jesus was 'itinerant' which is a fancy word for 'homeless.'  Jesus talked to the street people, the tax collector and the woman caught in adultery and the father with the demon possessed son.....all those street characters.  Jesus ate with all kinds - every kind - of person, and offered them healing and hope and salvation.

In the streets was where Jesus did his ministry because his message and gift of salvation was first good news to those who lived lives of darkness and desperation, those who were hungry for any good word, those who needed most to know that, in God's eyes and in God's plan for all creation, they were not losers but beloved children.

Don't know how we managed to forget the connection between Jesus and the street people, but there it is.  And there is where we need to be also.

Sing along with me, 'we're takin' it to the streets.....'