Holden Homily
2 Timothy 4:1-5
A
reading from 2 Timothy,
In
the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the
dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge
you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or
unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in
teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound
doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers
to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and
wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do
the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.
Here ends the reading.
Please pray with me,
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and suitable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
"I solemnly urge you: proclaim the
message."
On Sunday, following the Crop Walk, Billy and I were at the grocery store.
Part of the tasty treats in our cart included these two packages of Oreos.
(Toffee crunch crème Oreos and Mint crème Oreos) Yes, they make these flavors now!
The confirmation class this year is participating in an Oreo bracket challenge. Each time the class gets together, they do a side by side tasting of two different varieties of Oreos. They are encouraged to give the best descriptors of each flavor before voting on their favorite flavor. Just like a March Madness basketball bracket, the winner moves on to the next round and the loser, well, those get eaten either during class or after by Billy and myself. Sometimes you have to take one for the team, am I right?
So, as we were checking out at Giant, the young man bagging the groceries remarked on the two interesting flavors we were purchasing. The young cashier had no idea that there were all these different flavors and the bagger said, yeah, they have all sorts of flavors.
I said, yes, so many flavors, my confirmation class is doing an Oreo bracket challenge to discover which flavor they like the most.
The cashier said, hold up. What class? Confirmation? What subject is that?
I said, oh, it happens at church, the subject is God.
Oh, she said, you have Oreos at
your church?
I said, yeah, for the young folks
I do.
She said, where is this church?
Trinity in Robesonia.
Oh, she said.
She went on, I used to go to church in Reading. Then during the pandemic, I started going to this church in Georgia – online.
But a church with Oreos, she
said, that I might have to check out.
What church is it again?
Trinity in Robesonia.
Oh.
I said, during the pandemic we did worship on line as well, we had people like my sister’s mother-in-law joining us online from New Hampshire. We’re trying to figure out how to maintain that connection online as we return in person.
Yeah, she said.
So where is this church with Oreos again?
Trinity, Robesonia, I said.
She said, I’ll have to check it
out.
I said, we’d be glad to have you.
The checkout continued and we headed on our way.
And I said to Billy, that’s evangelism, right?
Yeah.
Only several hours later did I realize it was Oreovangelism.
But seriously….it was the simplest of conversations at the check out lane at Giant.
It was the willingness of myself to share that it was church event I was preparing for.
It was the openness of the check out clerk to engage in conversation.
It was the movement of the Holy Spirit that guided us all in that holy space.
It was also the realization that evangelism…proclaiming the good news…can be as simple as a conversation that starts around Oreos.
You don’t need to know everything
about the Bible.
You don’t need to be able to
clearly articulate your understanding of the Apostles’ Creed.
Heck, if some one asks you a question you don’t know the answer to about church or faith you can tell them you’re still learning too, and you’d love to find an answer.
I think you’ll find, that most
folks are curious about what we do and why we do it.
And, many folks are curious about why you attend church and what keeps you coming back.
I bet those are questions that you know the answers to.
The next time you have an Oreo or are at the supermarket or are in conversation with someone …ponder how an everyday conversation may present the opportunity to share your faith or your love of this place with someone new.
And now may the peace, which
surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, and let
all God’s people say, amen.
