July 9, 2006
The circus
A travelling circus was staying on the outskirts of a village.
One evening, shortly before show-time, a fire broke out in
one of the tents. The manager sent the clown - - who was
already dressed up for his act - - into the village for help.
There was also the danger that the fire would spread across
the dry fields and burn the village itself.
The clown hurried into the village. He asked the people to
come as quickly as possible to help put out the fire. But no
one took him seriously. They thought it was a stunt - - -
a brilliant bit of advertising for the circus.
He tried and tried to make them understand that there
really WAS a fire. But the harder he tried, the more they
laughed at him. Finally, the fire reached the village and it
burned to the ground.
The people couldn't hear the message, because of the
messenger ... to them he was a clown, and couldn't
possibly have anything truthful to say.
The gospel
Something like that happened to Jesus. He found himself in
his hometown ... and NOT being taken seriously. No one
could believe that Jesus could possibly have anything
important to say. He was little Jesus ... Mary and Joseph's
boy ... the one who had wandered off that time during the
pilgrimage and got lost in the temple. Who does He think
he is now, lecturing us about what God wants ???
Despite our best efforts:
The message and the messenger
often work against each other
Anglican Journal
As President of the Anglican Journal, I have spent the past few weeks receiving e-mails and letters, all complaining that the paper has been "too negative". That we have included stories about:
- 1 million dollar deficit facing the national church
- churches closing
- the ongoing controversy over same-sex issue
... and as a result we've been accused of being a "bad news publication".
When (in fact) all we've been doing is reporting what IS happening in our church.
We've also included the good news stories,
- growth and new congregations
- programs/ideas that work
- dioceses who are being proactive with regards to
stewardship and membership development and evangelism
But we're being hammered for running the other things.
The mandate of our paper, is to report on what is happening in the Canadian Church ... the good and the not so good ... in a fair and impartial manner. After all, that is the only way the average Canadian Anglican has of learning about life in his/her church (the paper is delivered to every Anglican home in the country).
Church Life
All of this touches on our life in the church as well ...
We often find the message and the messenger affecting
each other. How many times have we heard someone say
"Oh I couldn't do that , I'm not perfect -
and certainly not someone who should be doing anything
official in a church".
And it would be very easy for us to get "down" about it all.
Down about the misunderstood messages, the negativity,
the non-involvement of others ...
If it wasn't for the second half of today's gospel.
Because YES, Jesus the messenger was not well received in his hometown ... but look at what follows.
His sending of the disciples with NOTHING (no food, no
money, no extra sandals and clothing to protect them from
the elements).... and they were successful !!! They survived,
and not only that, the flourished. They went out and told
people about Jesus and his message, they healed the sick,
they helped to create a more faithful people.
And that's comforting ...
Because we are a lot like those early disciples ...
sent out into the world, and told not to hoard and stockpile
for ourselves .... To trust that God will provide.
And to DO those things he taught us ... and
point people to the one who makes it all so.
The clown HAD the right message, but people couldn't get past the messenger.
The folks in Nazareth had the same problem ...
But to the people in the villages and towns of Galilee, it
was the simple faith of the disciples that carried the most
weight. They were SO impressed with what they SAW in
the messengers, that they opened their hearts and their
homes and their lives ... to the message.
May we have the same faith as the disciples ...
as we continue along on OUR journey, in his name.
