At the beginning of the year, Pastor Jay mentioned an article in the Christian Century in which theologians and others were asked to summarize the Gospel in seven words or less. After reading some of the responses (click on the link above to see them), he asked us to give it a try. I was interested in the range of responses: Some focused on God’s love through Jesus; others on Jesus dying for our sins; some saw Jesus as a personal savior; others saw Jesus’ call to be a part of God’s work now; some saw reconciliation of all of God’s creation in the Gospel.
I got a few things out of this. One, it’s hard to distill the good news down to a single sound bite. The good news is about Jesus’ ministry on earth. Not just his death on the cross and resurrection but also his life, teachings, and actions. It’s also about God’s continuing acts that span from the beginning to a new beginning. It’s about our sinful nature, a broken relationship, and God’s acts to bring about reconciliation not just with each of us but with all of creation. It is grace – what God has done for us through Jesus – and not about what we have or can do ourselves. But it is also a call to participate, not because we have to but because we can’t help but respond to this gift of love. And you can probably add to that.
Another thing I got out of this is that the good news means different things to different people. That’s not to say some are right and some are wrong. Maybe God’s acts are bigger than any one group of people can fully comprehend. Maybe we miss part of the richness of God when we cling only to our preferred understanding of the Gospel. The good news is not only difficult to distill into short sound bites, but it’s also bigger than any single person or group can understand. The good news calls us to listen and watch for the ways God is working not just through us but through others.
There have been recent books by N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, and others that question whether some Christians have emphasized personal salvation to the exclusion of a broader reconciliation of all creation. Of course, there are evangelicals who insist that this “broader reconciliation” dilutes the gospel of salvation. I looked up scripture passages on the gospel and found a link on the Jesus Creed blog about efforts to explore the different gospel messages that are often encountered and to come up with a more expansive gospel that encompasses them (Elephant in the Room: Gospel).
But other parts of life kept getting in the way and I ran out of time. So, I’m simply going to ask some questions and ask you to fill in the missing pieces.
If someone asked you, “What is the Gospel?”, what would you say? Where would you start and where would you go from there?
Do you agree that the Gospel can mean different things to different people?
Is the Gospel first and foremost about personal salvation or is it about reconciliation of all of creation?
If the Gospel begins with "Jesus died for our sins...", what was Jesus saying when he went through the countryside preaching the gospel?
What does the Gospel have to do with our everyday lives?
Is it about life beyond this one or is it about God’s actions in the world now? What difference does that make in the way we live?
I’m looking forward to a lively discussion!
It's early in the week, but, really, nobody wants to talk about the Gospel? Here's my 2-cents-worth (for anyone who clicks on the post):
ReplyDeleteIf the gospel is first and foremost about our personal salvation, then I think we miss out on what God is doing. If we stop there, we miss the part that comes when Jesus announced "The kingdom of God has come near." We miss the opportunity to participate in God's ongoing work of reconciling all of creation. We miss the redemptive action going on in the here-and-now.
So, I'd argue that, while personal salvation (or personal forgiveness of sins, or however you care to frame it) may be a part of the Gospel, it is not the entirety of it. That reduces the focus from creation and community to the individual. It becomes more about us than about what God is bringing about through Jesus. And, what God is bringing about is the good news.
Anyway, those are my thoughts (at least some of them). I'd love to hear other perspectives.
Just to add a little bit to the difference between a focus on personal salvation and reconciliation of all of creation, I saw this comparison between a consumer-focused church and a mission-focused church on Facebook (okay, not the definitive source for, well, anything but social updates):
ReplyDeleteConsumer-focused church: Church is seen as a dispenser of religious goods and services. People come to church to be "fed", to have their needs met through programs, and to have the professionals teach their children about God. The "motto" is "I go to church."
Mission-focused church: A body of people sent on mission who gather in community for worship, community encouragement and teaching from the Word in addition to what they are feeding themselves throughout the week. Motto: "I am the church."
That's not completely what I'm thinking, but it's part of it. It's the difference between "Jesus died for my sins so I will go to heaven" and "Through his life and death, Jesus invites us to be a part of God's work in the hear and now."
I've always liked the etymology of the word "gospel" through the Old English "godspell" to the Latin "evangelium" and Greek "euangelion." The Wiki page on Gospel (at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel) has a nice summary:
ReplyDelete"The word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell [11] (rarely godspel), meaning "good news" or "glad tidings". The gospel was the "good news" of redemption through the life and death of Jesus, the central Christian message.[12] Gospel is a calque (word-for-word translation) of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion (eu- "good", -angelion "message") or in Aramaic (ܐܘܢܓܠܝܘܢ ewang'eliyawn). The Greek word euangelion is also the source (via Latinised evangelium) of the terms "evangelist" and "evangelism" in English. The authors of the four canonical Christian gospels are known as the Four Evangelists."
And I stumbled across an amazingly detailed word study on "euangelion" at http://www.wenstrom.org/downloads/written/word_studies/greek/euangelion.pdf.
There you will find that the word's origin relates to the announcing of a military victory by a messenger.
For me, this boils down to the announcing of the wonderful news of God's victory through Christ that redeems and restores all of the fallen creation.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus taught: "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (NIV) In "Homesick for Eden--A Soul's Journey to Joy, author Gary Moon describes eight "giant leaps" of spiritual growth. The first one is: Belief that the Kingdom Really Exists. He writes, "This is a belief that says the kingdom is truly real and that living there is a possibility--not just in the sweet by and by, but also in the nasty here and now."
ReplyDeleteJohn's portrayal of the Good Shephed in chapter 10 of his gospel fits here I think,"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV)