Haunting Questions

At a recent gathering of ELCA Mission Directors, Luther's brief treatise on how to read the Bible was shared (it is known as "A Brief Instruction on What to Look for and Expect in the Gospels"). Luther had translated the scriptures into German and now was concerned about how folks should read the Bible.

Basically Luther said that we should read the Bible looking for Christ as God's gift to us. The Gospel is the story about Christ, God and David's son who died, was raised and established as Lord for us. In this Jesus is all of the fire and goodness of God's love for us. Christ is the gift for us. In that gift is hope, courage, comfort and faith.

Two haunting questions came to me. The first has to do with worship: Does worship deliver Christ as that gift? In the preaching, the singing, the sacraments, is Christ being delivered to our people as "the gift" so that people might be filled with hope, faith, comfort and courage? We are so worried about worship being relevant, contemporary, meaningful, user friendly, open, etc. These are the wrong worries. Instead we must be worried if is Christ being offered as "the gift" in our worship.

The second haunting question has to do with outreach and evangelism. We are so worried these days about our churches not growing, so we have busied ourselves with techniques, plans, strategies and approaches about evangelism. If Christ is God's greatest gift to us that gives us faith, hope, direction, peace and meaning, is it not simply wanting to make sure our neighbor has the gift as well? Are we sharing a plan, a strategy, an approach rather than the gift itself?

Are we avoiding the real question today? Is Christ being offered as "the gift" in our churches and our neighborhoods?