[Oe List ...] Bishop Mathews' Address (continued)

[Marilyn R Crocker]

(continuation)
I have often tried to distinguish implicit evangelism in which Jesus
Christ is the Evangelist, and explicit evangelism in which Jesus is the
Evangel and we are the evangelists.  Implicit evangelism aims at “the
true humanization of all humankind.”  This seeming exaltation of humanity
has its warrant in the central doctrine of the Christian faith:
incarnation.  Wherever the humanization of life is taking place, there –
in some sense – God is at work.  I mean, that wherever life and hope are
given, whether in slum clearance, economic betterment, better housing,
prison reform; wherever racial and economic justice are being addressed;
wherever there is healing for the body and mind, help for the alcoholic,
educational improvement; wherever life is laid down for the welfare of
mankind (even as in Gandhi’s Salt March) – there God is somehow engaged
in a totally redemptive task.  Wherever the future is calling into
question the past – there Jesus Christ is.  Explicit evangelism is to
identify all this for what it is: God’s work.
 
This suggests that implicit evangelism goes on even where explicit
evangelism may not be possible, as in some Communist lands.  God
continues to embarrass us because His love is so undiscriminating and
because His grace is so frequently anonymous, showing up in the most
unexpected places.
 
Nowadays the typical evangelist, it has seemed to me, is so anxious to
speak that he/she too quickly turns to the Word of the Gospel.  In the
New Testament all four of the Evangelists do just the opposite.  They
first speak of the Deeds of Jesus – addressed to real human needs, but
which raise also the question: Why?  The Word of the Gospel then becomes
relevant:  “God is at work in the world forever showing love for all. 
Won’t you play your part?”
 
Meanwhile, I have often been deeply troubled that much which passes for
evangelism today (especially televangelism) would equip people for
practicing Victorian moralism, not for the living of these days.  I am
reminded of the assertion that the British General Staff was always
prepared for the previous war.
 
Seminary courses in evangelization must be directed toward correcting
this serious fault.  The other day I came across the phrase, “If you are
not living on the edge, you are taking up too much room!”  We must be on
this cutting edge.
 
I simply list a few “hints” of the modes that might be explored in
pursuit of this goal of effective contemporary evangelization:
 
·        The teaching of Presence
·        [The Meaning of] Liturgy [and I reference] Archbishop Michael
Ramsey, The Gospel and the Catholic Church
·        New Congregations
·        New Hermeneutic [scripture interprets us]
·        Correlation preaching (Mark 2)
·        New Paganism
·        [Religion] and the Arts (Han Snel) [“I aim to bring out the
great in everyone.”]
·        Kingdom Emphasis
·        Lord – Servant – Others
·        Boston Personalism – “John Paul II Loves you”  – you, the
person, “a divine creation, intrinsically inclined toward God.”
·        Love and Justice, the plural of love – [Word and Deed]
 
Here we are at a great modern university.  It offers a particular
challenge and opportunity.  I recall years ago that I heard Billy Graham
preach at Cambridge University.  I was standing in the rear next to two
dons.  One commented to the other, “Graham is from Jerusalem.  This is
Athens.”  Well, this is Athens.  I have found myself hoping that at
Boston University we could see interdisciplinary registration; or perhaps
credit courses open to all, which would afford a concentrated glimpse
into the various fields of learning.  Perhaps Bryan Stone [ E. Stanley
Jones Professor of Evangelism at BU School of Theology] could be a
catalyst toward such a goal.
 
May I recall that more than thirty years ago my father-in-law was a kind
of “adjunct Professor” of Evangelism at Boston University School of
Theology.  He taught several students from his hospital bed – for he was
suffering from a stroke.  I believe that at least one of his students may
be here tonight.
 
Then I recall that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a former doctoral student
here.  President Harold Case held a reception for him just before King
left for Scandinavia to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  When Eunice was
introduced to Dr. King he told her in substance, “It was your father’s
book on Mahatma Gandhi that triggered my interest in non-violence.”  Let
me read to you the very passage which prompted King:
 

the Mahatma repudiated with all his might the idea that the method of
truth and nonviolence was used because you are weak and cowardly.  He
insisted that it was the method of the strong, and only the method of the
strong.  (p.88)
 
And so it is, that into a world replete with bad news, Good News has a
way of breaking in, repeatedly.
 
Thanks be to God that this is true.


Marilyn R. Crocker, Ed.D.
Crocker & Associates, Inc.
123 Sanborn Road
West Newfield, ME 04095
Tel. & FAX: (207) 793-3711