Sermon - 26th March 2006

The world is full of secret codes, jargon technical words. We use them everyday. If you move in the right circles they are everyday language.

Over the last 10 years a whole new language has arisen, 'Text Speak'. Now, being slightly more mature in years, there appears to be only so much of it I can understand; so occasionally it does end up taking me ages to work out just what it is my friend is saying.

If you don't know the code, if you don't recognise the language, then it may as well be gobbledegook.

The language we use when we communicate the gospel message and when we share our faith is of critical importance, because so easily our message can get lost. And let's face it there are enough barriers to get through. Some of those barriers are very strong, built on years of preconception and mistrust. But there is hope.

The world is absolutely full of spiritual people. They are everywhere. Finding them shouldn't be a problem. Communicating with them still appears to be.

The reading we heard today, gives I think one of the most astonishing examples of evangelism and communication in the whole of the New Testament. The people are not suddenly converted because Paul performed a miracle, their faith doesn't change because they saw someone being healed or a crowd being fed on a couple of fish. Their faith began to change because of how Paul spoke to them and because of what Paul said. This should give us inspiration when we think about sharing our faith with other people, because we can all of us do the same thing.

The people of Athens were a serious and spiritual people. But they were what we might describe today as "spiritual seekers". Every Tom, Dick or Harry had carved himself or herself an idol, and because they were deeply religious people they worshipped all of them. They weren't so sure of themselves, so they had a single idol, to the unknown God: the unknown God was almost a get-out clause, it recognised that there was probably one true God, hidden amongst the rest that they couldn't name and would be offended by the idol worship and they hoped that by giving him a place they would cover all their options.

Our city and our world today are full of people like the Athenians, but we rarely find them in churches. We find them in shops specialising in 'alternative healing' we find them trying to tap into the spirit of our creator through different types of altar made of crystal and meditating as prayer. People are searching for spirituality, and are searching for it in their own ways. The 'Mind Body and Spirit' philosophies seek to answer humanity's longing to understand the human condition and how we fit into the universe; but they are philosophies that seem to promote more and more questions. The search never ends.

Even reality TV programmes become a source of searching to understand. "Would like to meet", "the life laundry": life coaching becomes a means to understand ourselves.

It's not that there aren't people out there who we can share our faith with, as much as anything we have to re-learn how to communicate. Our language is key to this. But firstly, before we even say a word, our body language can get in the way and scupper any chance of us being heard.

Now have you ever received "That Look" from a Christian? I have. I know many of you will have. Which 'look' am I talking about? Well let me try to sum it up - it's patronising, it looks down it's nose because it's got all the right answers and it feels ever so slightly sorry for 'poor you' because you just don't get it.

And then before we speak, we still have to use another part of our body. We have to use the most important organs in our bodies for evangelism. The most important organ for evangelism is your ear. Why is listening important to evangelism? Paul knew. By listening you earn the right to speak: 'I've listened to you, now I can say my piece', but not in that foot-tapping way, where I'm not really listening and I'm just waiting for you to finish so I can get on with it.

We listen so we can actually make sense of what we're being told. By listening you can understand the terms of reference of the speaker and how to respond. It comes back to the jargon I started today with. If I know what words you use, I can use them to show where we have connection, what we have in common.

The other reason why our ears are important is one that we don't often think of when we think about evangelism. By listening you may just pick up the things that they can teach you - we open ourselves up to the opportunity of learning.

It's an uncomfortable thing for some of us - the thought that evangelism may lead to us having to learn - that sharing our faith with others means being recipients as well. But every single one of us is on our own journey and very often evangelism is connecting with people who have made choices, who are seeking authentic spirituality. What we have to offer is to share a spirituality that has lasted the test of time.This is exactly what Paul did at his arrival in Athens.

To reach people the church needs to learn a lesson from Paul, to learn to speak the language of people today and to say, I know what sort of things your searching for; Christianity is helping me find my answers, perhaps it can help you. People are no less spiritual today than they have been in the past; if we want our churches to connect with people, then we need to speak their language.

It's possible to surf through the channels on cable or satellite TV and not find anything. After a while the flicking through the channels becomes numbing - you stop knowing what you are looking for. We live in a world where people are searching for meaning in the same way, through a thousand confused images and signals: where people are looking for something authentic that speaks to their lives today and which says 'I understand you'. 'I know your fear because I've been scared'. 'I know your hopes because I hope for them'. 'I know your need for peace because my life is full of noise too'.

When the opportunity arises for us to share our faith, we need to have not only the heart of an evangelist; we need to have the ears of one as well.

(Dan Joseph)

This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.