January 16 - Come and See, Go and tell

Epiphany 2 John 1:1-9

“Come and See, Go and Tell”

The scene in our Gospel lesson with John and his disciples and then the disciples with Jesus, reminds me a bit of those old Burma Shave ads. If you’re old enough you remember those poetic little signs by the side of many roads. Each sign had part of a verse, like these:

It gave
McDonald
That needed charm
Hello Hollywood
Good-by farm
Burma-Shave

In this vale
Of toil and sin
Your head grows bald
But not your chin.
Burma Shave

These signs
Are not
For laughs alone
The face they save
May be your own
Burma-Shave

The disciples may have felt they’d been reading ancient Burma Shave signs. They are with John one day and he says,

Behold

the lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

The next day they hear:

This is

the lamb

of God

Intrigued as we used to be by those Burma Shave signs they follow Jesus and ultimately they get the big sign:

Come

and

See.

They come. They see. They stay...at least for the rest of the day. They listen to what Jesus has to say, and then they go and tell.

Have you noticed how much coming and seeing, and going and telling there is in this story. Jesus comes and John tells about Jesus. The disciples come and Jesus tells (well, we guess he tells about God’s mission to be worked through him.) Next thing we know, the disciples are going and telling family and friends and getting them to come and see.

This is a major theme of the Gospel of John. People are constantly coming and seeing, going and telling, pointing to one greater than they. Even Jesus points to God. This is witnessing and it is what doing God’s will is about. Jesus witnesses to what God is doing. Disciples witness to what Jesus does and did. And we modern day disciples continue that witness, continue to say, “Come and see.” We are called in our baptisms to go and tell. Just like Andrew, we are to invite our brothers, sisters and other kin, our friends and neighbors to come and see.

You don’t have to have studied theology or even be able to quote Scripture. It is just as simple as saying three little words, “Come and see.”

You don’t have to be aggressive or obnoxiously argue with people. You just invite. When I first came to Cambridge Springs someone, just an acquaintance really, invited me to the women’s civic group in CS, Gam Sac Mah. I went to a meeting. I joined. And I’ve been involved ever since. Surely, if we can invite people to civic groups and lodges, plays and sporting events, gyms and businesses we support, we can say, “Come and see Jesus” to those same people.

And people want to be invited. In this era when the world increasingly depersonalizes us and when people are more and more isolated from others, there is a deep yearning to be invited into a group, to be made to feel you belong, that people care about you, that you matter. Some of this comes from our culture, but much of it comes from God. St. Augustine wrote that there is a God-shaped hole in each person that aches to be filled. In other words, God created us humans in such a way that we will always feel a need to be in relationship with him. People may try to fill it with work or recreational activities or TV or drugs, but only when they come and see Jesus, only when they have a chance to enter into a relationship with God will their need truly be met.

Some of these people may even claim to have a relationship with God without being involved in a church, but God intends believers to be part of the body of Christ – the church – and they won’t truly have that God-shaped hole filled until they become part of that body. And this can only happen if someone invites them to come and see.

Now, I know that the first response that pops into our minds is, “But, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t already know Jesus. Most of my friends, relatives, associates and neighbors belong to a church...or at the very least, have heard of Jesus through the movies or TV. If they wanted to come to church, they would.” The truth is that many people you know may belong to a church...but they never go. And the sad fact is they won’t go to church unless someone invites them. I hate sheep stealing – the practice of luring an active member of a church away to another church. But, when a person rarely attends their church, most pastors will gladly see them move to another church if it means they’ll go regularly.

Just this week a young woman who belongs to St. Paul’s, but was virtually inactive called to ask for a transfer to another Lutheran church, one nearer to where she lives. She assured me that she is not leaving St. Paul’s because of any ill feelings toward us, and will always have a special place in her heart for me because her baby was baptized here by me. BUT, a neighbor has been after her to come to church with her and she’s been going. I gave her my blessing and assured her she is welcome to come to worship or other activities any time.

And this brings me to a part of the inviting that we rarely, if ever, think about. What happens when someone does come – either by invitation or just by happenstance? I know they are greeted warmly, and we give them a welcome bag that includes a Bible and brochures on Lutheranism and our church. But, there are two things that are vital in welcoming visitors that we must start doing if we are to fulfill our call to invite people into relationship with Jesus.

First, we need to link visitors with a member who lives in their area. The person greeting folks as they enter needs to ask visitors where they live and then, if possible, call someone over who lives nearby and introduce them to each other. And each of us needs to take responsibility for seeing that new people are invited to activities in the church – not just in a general way like, “We have a women’s group that meets...”, but rather, “We have a women’s group and I’d be glad to bring you...” If you meet a visitor, consider getting their name and address and adopting them.

Second, NO visitor should ever be left to sit alone. In a congregation this small it’s pretty easy to tell when someone is new. This is your church (in a sense, at least) and you are the host or hostess to visitors. Even if you have been sitting in the same pew for 100 years take a break one Sunday and sit with a visitor. Even if you are so shy you have trouble relating to your image in a mirror, take the big plunge and introduce yourself to a visitor.. Ask if you can sit with them. Ask if they need help navigating our hymnals or our liturgy. This will do more to get new people to return than all the welcome bags and pastoral calls in the world.

We face some uncertainties in our life as a congregation. Costs are going up and our income is not keeping up. For many reasons people do not attend church the way they did years ago. We can look at these facts as signs of trouble and worry, or we can look at them as opportunities. If we are willing to show proof of our faith by inviting people to come and see Jesus, and help them develop a relationship with Him through a relationship with us we will prove that we have come and seen and now are ready to go and tell, just like the disciples of old. As you drive down Mt. Pleasant Rd in a little while take a good look at those signs Drew and I put up. They don’t advertise Burma Shave. They are reminders to the disciples coming to and leaving here – “Come and See, Go and Tell” Amen.