Pastor Chris
One of the things we are seeing more and more in our society today as a tool to get people to notice things – oftentimes businesses – are gimmicks.
I’m thinking mostly about the types of gimmicks put on by car companies, such as $1 down payments being advertised or those ads that come in the mail that suggest you could win a prize if you’ve got the right key. Or the ones put out by fast-food restaurants like “limited time” food options that come back yearly, ginning up increased demand because you don’t know when they’ll be gone. Honestly, a lot of places resort to gimmicks because they aren’t sure they can stand above the competition. They’re about grabbing attention and interest and less about actual substance (sorry, McRib fans).
Unfortunately, gimmick culture isn’t just limited to car dealers and fast-food restaurants. It’s in our banks, our television networks, and even in our churches. In fact, I’ve seen several churches attempt to leverage big church holidays such as Christmas and Easter not only with increased advertising and special services, but also with promotions straight out of a car dealer, such as entering a raffle for a new iPhone or television. While I think it’s OK to offer the occasional sweetener to invite people to experience what you’re up to, at what point do we cross that line into buying into the consumer culture that makes us more worldly than Christ-like?
Recently in a sermon, I asked the question, “What is it that you get excited about?” in relation to our faith, and where we encounter God. As I continued to ponder the question for myself in recent days, I found myself remembering a testimonial of sorts shared by a rostered leader in the Grand Canyon Synod who serves the Native American Urban Ministry in Phoenix. She spoke passionately about the power that is found in the good news of Jesus Christ, especially as expressed through our Lutheran theology – a theology that emphasizes God’s grace, which saves us regardless of our own worth. And this is truly good news! We are blessed to know that God’s love is freely given. We cannot earn it, but God loves us still. And yet, it seems – as my beloved colleague lamented – the story of God’s love told through a Lutheran lens remains one of the best-kept secrets of the faith.
So why is it that this incredible news – that God’s love is for us and cannot be taken away – is so rarely heard outside of our churches and (if we’re really intentional) our dinner tables? Why is it that our response to the grace that has been extended to us so often seems muted in our world today? I wonder if the good news we have isn’t quite flashy enough. But shouldn’t it be? Shouldn’t our faith – and how we live it out every day – be enough to draw attention to the God who has already saved us through Jesus Christ? Why is it that we seek to grab people’s attention with just about everything except the good news given to us through holy scripture? Do we feel ill equipped to share the good news we have received? Do we think we’ll mess it up, and somehow misrepresent the grace of God?
People of God, we do indeed have a faith that is far greater than us, a truth of good news that can’t be contained no matter how badly we mangle sharing it – because when we live out this promise with joy, it can’t be contained. Because good news, as rare as it might seem in our world today, is contagious. And I have more good news: We’ve been sharing the good news every day in the work that we do to help one another. It’s in the kind moment at a grocery store or the water for Kyrene Family Resource Center. It’s in nails building the frame of another Habitat house and in the donations to provide food for kids affected by hunger. Because we are freed from the power of sin and death through Christ’s love for us made manifest on a cross, we are also free to serve our neighbor knowing that God’s love sustains us regardless.
So this day, make celebrating your faith a priority. Maybe it isn’t by shouting it from the rooftops, but be assured that how you live out your faith every day is far better than any gimmick. Live your life with love, and let them know why.
Pastor Chris