billmc
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That’s a cool song, Danny Ray. I like the way it transcends the duality that much of Christianity likes to preach.
This transcendance is very close to my understanding of “the Gospel”. To me, the Good News is that nothing truly separates us from God and from each other. God’s kingdom is not about “heaven someday”, but about compassionate community where everyone is welcome today. So I see the Gospel as Jesus’ invitation for people to leave their self-centered and often religious lifestyles in order to live in compassionate community where everyone is valued as the unique creations of God that they are.
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Danny Ray
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The story is told of the guru when asked by a disciple the question-”What happens when you die?” responded-”Why worry about what happens when you die, first learn how to live.”
In a similar vein of thought, I now believe I was misaligned when using the evangelical tool of— “If you died tomorrow, would you go to heaven?” Is a message labeled as the gospel that places its emphasis on salvation from hell simply just some eternal fire insurance policy? In the marketing world, one way to success is to “Create fear and then sell hope.” Another marketing strategy is that “Good advertising circumvents logic.” Personally I prefer a different approach that embraces a person with good news for the here and now without trying to circumvent their logic through emotion.
Allow me to share the lyrics of a song which I think powerfully expresses the gospel so well. Please read carefully with great contemplation. A You Tube link is posted at the end also-unsure if will hypertext once I post, if not cutting an pasting as search is worth it.
Holy Now by Peter Mayer
When I was a boy, each week
On Sunday, we would go to church
Pay attention to the priest
He would read the holy word
Consecrate the holy bread
Everyone would kneel and bow
Today the only difference is
Everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now
When I was in Sunday school
We would learn about the time
Moses split the sea in two
Jesus made the water wine
And I remember feeling sad
That miracles don’t happen still
But now I can’t keep track
‘Cause everything’s a miracle
Everything, Everything
Everything’s a miracle
Wine from water is not so small
But an even better magic trick
Is that anything is here at all
So the challenging thing becomes
Not to look for miracles
But finding where there isn’t one
When holy water was rare at best
It barely wet my fingertips
But now I have to hold my breath
Like I’m swimming in a sea of it
It used to be a world half there
Heaven’s a second rate hand-me-down
But now I walk it with a reverent air
‘Cause everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now
Read a questioning child’s face
And say it’s not a testament
That’d be very hard to say
See another new morning come
And say it’s not a sacrament
I tell you that it can’t be done
This morning, outside I stood
And saw a little red-winged bird
Shining like a burning bush
Singing like a scripture verse
It made me want to bow my head
I remember when church let out
How things have changed since then
Everything is holy now
It used to be a world half-there
Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
‘Cause everything is holy now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaGnQc5Vmhs&feature=related
When Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”, I believe he was declaring the gospel that we can live a god-soaked, reverent, full, complete life in the here and now of today, and not just referring to a mythological ultimate gated community available only after death. As the Peter Mayer song says, if we learn to live life with a reverent attitude we soon see everything is holy. If miracles are defined as events that do not follow the common course of nature, then I haven’t seen a miracle; but if we realize the common course of nature is actually uncommon, then everything is a miracle!
Unfortunately I have wasted a lot of life, but learning to see that the seemingly mundane events of life are miraculous enables me to truly appreciate the gospel message-The kingdom of heaven is at hand!
Would love to here others take on “What is the Gospel?”
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