Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two… (Mark 6:6–7 nrsv)

Sometimes God nudges us, probably lots of times, but if you are like me it’s very easy to ignore the nudging or to bury it under a lot of other responsibilities and keep telling God, “Okay, I will get to it.” Recently, probably since the spring, I have felt God nudging me about how I am practicing my faith, particularly how I am witnessing my faith. I find it very easy to tell people about the church where I worship, how great it is, how wonderful the people are, caring for one another and the community; however, I can have this entire conversation and never once mention God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, I just don’t feel comfortable mentioning God to anyone I meet unless I know that they are already Christians.

I really doubt that this is a shocking confession. I’m sure many of you have the same problem. For me I believe it comes from some experiences I had in my youth where people seemed to shove Jesus down my throat and tried to make me feel like my faith was not measuring up because I was not accosting everyone I met with their version of the “Good News”: that you better love Jesus or you were going to Hell. Since I did not consider myself “that kind of Christian,” I found it easier to just talk about my church and hope others got the idea about the “Good News”: that Jesus Christ died for our sins, that God loves us, and that the Holy Spirit abides in all who believe. After all if I just invite them to my church, it’s the Pastor’s job to teach them this stuff. I don’t really have to make them or me uncomfortable with any God talk.

Well that brings me back to the nudging, and the scripture of this devotion. God is calling me and you to joyfully go out and tell our faith story. The community around us is starving for this information. Just as we are fed every Sunday with the bread, wine, and Word, they need to be fed and we are the ones being called to do the feeding. You and I are not sent out alone, God sends the Holy Spirit with us. If we take the steps He will provide the tools; the nudging is to make us brave enough to look at new and different ways to share our story with our community. We don’t need to cram Jesus down our neighbor’s throat, we need to love our neighbor and tell our neighbor where that love comes from.

Lord teach me to listen to you, and then to act on your instructions. Stop me from turning a blind eye to those in my community who need you. Give me courage to tell your story, and to love my brother and sister in ways that point them to your bread of life. Amen.

Contributed by Debra
Monday July 16, 2012
Liturgical Year B: Week 34
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading:
Lectionary 15 (Proper 10)
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost