Spreading God’s Grace

With all of the survey results and polling data being reported as the nation moves toward the presidential election, you may have missed the results of the survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. It reports that one-fifth of the U.S. public—and a third of adults under 30—are not affiliated with any religion today. That’s a 15% increase in just the past five years.

In other words, 46 million Americans do not identify with any religion. Of those, 13 million are self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6%); and the other nearly 33 million people say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).

Despite the rise in the religiously unaffiliated, Pew also found that more than two-thirds of those people believe in God. One-in-five say they pray every day. According to Pew, the spiritually engaged but religiously unaffiliated do think that “churches and other religious institutions benefit society by strengthening community bonds and aiding the poor.” Most of them acknowledge faith as a positive human urge, but are increasingly turned off by the institutions that claim to represent faith.

In the midst of his public ministry Jesus commissioned around 70 of his followers and sent them into the towns and villages where he was planning to go. “These were his instructions to them: ‘The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields’” (Luke 10:2). Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples were to “go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:19).

The time we have spent learning how to share the good news in a graceful pattern has prepared you to take your place in the field. The results of the Pew survey are just one more reminder that this is work that needs to be done. I encourage you to renew your commitment to pray for those in your life who are “unaffiliated.” Look for opportunities to engage them in conversations about life and faith. Share your faith story with them with humility and love. Let them know that there is a community of believers where they can experience the love of God in meaningful and tangible ways. And let us all resolve to allow the Holy Spirit to shape us into that community that is more interested in making God’s love real than it is in anything else.

On the Winning Team

The band builds to a crescendo. The cheerleaders soar above the field as they move from one routine to another. Everyone in the stands comes to their feet. With a roar from the crowd the team streams onto the field ready to prove they are the champions everyone hopes they are. It’s called the “home field advantage.”

Whether you are on the team, roaming the sidelines or in the stands, being a part of this experience is thrilling. There is a sense of excitement that borders on ecstasy. It is really not that hard to understand why people will pay hundreds of dollars and traveling thousands of miles to spend a few hours reveling in opportunity to be part of the team.

To extend their experience of being part of the team people will even change their behavior during the week. Perhaps you know some folks who decorate their house, their office or their car with team insignia. I have a friend who is dressed in orange and blue nearly every time I see him. When we are down on the river walk, Laine enjoys exchanging a “Roll Tide” with complete strangers. She knows they’re safe because they are wearing a big crimson “A” on their shirt or hat or handbag.

Sometimes I’m afraid we forget that as followers of Christ we are part of an even greater team. After naming about a dozen great heroes of the faith and alluding to all the others who demonstrated their faithfulness to God over the centuries, the writer of the letter to the Hebrews paints a picture of the faithful running into a stadium filled with all these witnesses—martyrs of the faith. “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” he urges (Hebrews 12:1c).

When you share the good news with another person, it is essential to let them know that once they make the decision to confess their faith in Jesus Christ, now they are a part of something that is bigger than any national championship or World Series victory. Now they are a part of the Kingdom of God.

It may be hard to see, but there are times and places where, if we help one another look in the right direction, we can catch glimpses of what it means to be counted as one of God’s children. As “Christ our invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another” once again this Sunday, I pray that you may experience the thrilling excitement with a new sense of passion that encourages you to share it with someone who is looking for a place to belong.