Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Sidewalk Preachers and Ice Cream Cones

 

 

(Photo Cred: Heather Vaughn; "LOVE" Sign, Wythville, VA)

Our youngest son attended Open House at East Tennessee State University last week via ZOOM. He will be our 5th child to attend college, and Open House through ZOOM is definitely different, but so is everything else about 2020. We are learning new ways to do what needs to be done.

            Let me say that ETSU did a wonderful job with how they had to work this. The presenters did great, and it’s always good for future students to hear directly from current students in their own words, and we were able to do that.

            At one part during the Open House the student leading the “virtual tour” was showing (on a digital map) the area outside of the library. She mentioned that this area is a “Free Speech Zone” that could be used for just about anything, but “the only real free speech will be the crazy preacher guy”, she said, “who just yells at you that you you’re a sinner, so just ignore him and go on. He’s basically harmless.”

            I must admit, her words shocked me when I first heard them. And then she was moving on down the map showing other buildings and explaining the campus layout.

            But her words have really stuck with me, which is why I wrote them down when she said this.

            I want to be honest here, because this is my Free Speech Zone, and share with you that I am an adamant believer in the need for effective evangelism, especially in this day in which we live, but I am also not a big fan of ‘sidewalk evangelism’. There is something that just turns me off for a preacher to stand and yell at people who pass by. I wonder how many people have heard a stranger yelling at them that they are a sinner, that the wages of sin is death, and that if they don’t repent of their sins they will spend eternity burning in the fiery flames of hell, and that caused them to stop and think about their own sins and ask for salvation? I don’t know for sure, but I suspect not many. And I base that off of hearing several sidewalk preachers over the years, and seeing the reactions of people passing by who just want to try to get around him unscathed, or choose to walk to the other side of the street in avoidance. I have even had a man wielding a big black leather Bible at me once, pointing his finger in my face while yelling at me that if I didn’t know Jesus I would burn in hell and was I ready to repent? He never even asked me if I knew Jesus, or if I knew how much God loved me. And I was just on my way to get an ice cream cone.

             I suppose that is where my concern is…not in ice cream cones, but rather in love.

            Jesus told his disciples, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:35)

            Love is how we are called to evangelize. Not in judgement, condemnation, or fear.

            I don’t know the man who this student Open House leader referred to as “the crazy preacher guy”, but I do know that if that is how others see us as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ, then we are not doing it right, or at least not the way that Jesus did.

            There is a reason why the religious leaders of Jesus’ day (aka Pharisees) called Jesus a drunk and friend of sinners. It’s because he was with the people who needed to hear his message, and he didn’t wave Torah scrolls in their faces in the market square, he went into their homes and sat down and talked over dinner and wine (and maybe an ice cream cone for dessert).

            I wonder how many students stop to listen to someone yelling at them that they are sinners, someone who doesn’t even know them, and who isn’t taking the time to get to know them.

            I wonder, what if there was a soapbox preacher message of how much God loves them, that all of the beauty of this world is God speaking to them words of love through the warmth of the sun and the cool of the breeze. I wonder if a message that tackled tough questions head on to help students see God in their everyday lives, or a message that we are all God’s children and that He loves us all so deeply that He died for our sins so that we could really experience an abundant joy filled life here and now would have. Would anyone stop and listen? Maybe not, but I would much rather hear about that “crazy preacher guy who tells everyone how much Jesus loves them and hands out free ice cream cones.” We need evangelism. But we need evangelism based in love. There is already enough hate. It's time to stop being part of that problem, and get back to what we are called to do. 

 

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love 
– Father Peter Schlotes

           

           

 

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