From the Desk of the Senior Pastor

“…in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us…” – 2 Corinthians 5:19 – 20 (NRSVue)

When I was younger and competing in weightlifting, there were many people that I knew in the sport who would identify themselves as “a weightlifter”. This was not just an arbitrary identification. In their minds, the term carried a very specific definition. A “weightlifter” was someone who competed in the style of weightlifting that was also called “Olympic Weightlifting” because that was the style of lifting done at the Olympics. But if someone made the mistake of calling a “weightlifter” a “powerlifter” or, even worse, a “bodybuilder”, some of these guys would get upset. Being a part of that sport back in the 80s and 90s, I would also correct people if they got the designation wrong, not because it upset me, but because each of those terms referred to different sports. And there is a certain sense of responsibility when your identity is connected to something that you do (whether a job, a sport, a hobby, etc.) that you should represent that group well.

In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, we are reminded that God has made us a part of something much bigger and has actually changed our identities through that inclusion. He tells us that we are a “new creation”. For Paul and his recipients, the idea of being created anew is a figure of speech for being given a new purpose, a new reason for being. We are now not just living for ourselves. And we are not approaching the world and our neighbors from “a human point of view” (2 Cor. 5:16). Now that Christ has reconciled us to God, now that our relationship with God has been repaired, we live for the one who died and was raised for our sake (2 Cor. 5:15).

Just like “weightlifters” were representatives of their particular sport, we are now representatives, “ambassadors for Christ”. Our reason for being, our purpose, is no longer to simply represent ourselves and our interests. Wherever we go, we are being called to represent Christ and make people aware of God’s love for them and for the world. We are ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation, entrusted with the message of peace that God has given to us and made a part of us.

We often times call this act of sharing the message of Jesus “evangelism”. And we think that evangelism is the activity of inviting people to church or that it is some sort of promotional program. Of course, this isn’t quite accurate. Evangelism is the proclamation of the good news of Jesus Christ in the ways that align with the gifts that God has given us. It is living our lives in light of the Gospel. It is living, speaking, working, and acting in ways that show other people the love of God in Christ Jesus. Sometimes, I think that we have lost our focus or forgotten that what we do and say as Christians reflects on how the rest of the world perceives Jesus and his ministry of reconciliation to the world. We have forgotten that we are ambassadors of Christ in the world. And, just like “weightlifters” wanted people to understand what their sport was really about, we should want people to understand what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about.

I would like to invite you to take the opportunity to explore this in more depth in August and September. Sign up for the “Unbinding the Gospel” group. It is an opportunity to learn and support one another in our faith as we try to live according to the message of reconciliation that God has entrusted with each of us. The sign-up sheet is in the gathering area.

Peace,