Dear Trekker,
The older I become, the more meaningful is each Father’s Day, just passed as I write this. Perhaps it is because I am not only a Father, but a Grandfather and a Great Grandfather! The father role never ceases and ever expands throughout life. Quite a challenge! In the context of influence upon lives, what an opportunity to embrace and be embraced!
This year’s Father’s Day was unusual… I drove almost 700 miles from Ft. Riley, Kansas with friend wife and grandson, Austin, soon to be 15, one of our 19 grandchildren and our daughter’s youngest son. We dropped him off to work at a conference center in the heart of the Rockies, and then returned to Colorado Springs late on Sunday evening. Twelve hours in the car, Gramps and Grandmother, alone with a teenager. Could be intimidating for all! But, what a joy, what an honor, what an opportunity to encourage each other.
Austin had in his possession a book aimed at the teen crowd, “Venti Jesus Please” which loosely translated simply means, “give me full-strength Jesus, please.” Written by Greg Stier, a youth minister out of Denver (Dare to Share Publishing, 2008) it features on the cover the book title superimposed on a Starbuck’s cup logo. Austin had given it to his grandmother to read (too) and somewhere on the trip Grandmother and grandson began a dialogue about the meaning of the book. I listened while driving… quite intently, not having read the book. I garnered from their conversation it was a wonderful, quick read on how teenagers (or anybody) should approach others relationally as they seek to share their faith. The conversation was fantastic! Grandmother (a caring, listening youth leader herself when we met 56 years ago) drawing out grandson who gave articulate, on target answers, clearly demonstrating he understood an ageless principle in sharing one’s faith… we must win (or earn) the right to be heard (or listened to). A key principle indeed!
Trekker, I believe most turned-on Christians today want to be heard by others… yes, expect to be heard by others out of a well of exuberance, yet often without ever winning/earning the right to be heard. We are convinced the “Good News” is so revolutionary, so “the answer”, that we (“the church”) therefore have the right to deliver the message anywhere, anytime, to anyone, regardless of others’ desire (or lack thereof) to hear it. Not true! Jesus, the master rabbi (teacher) did not operate in this manner. He, too, won the right to be heard in the eyes/ears of others. Today, culturally savvy believers earn the right to be heard. They “walk in wisdom toward them that are without.”
Nowhere is the Jesus way (or style) more clearly portrayed than Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well! (Read it, John 4:1-42, now before you continue reading.) One of the first things that strikes me is the multiple barriers we need to be aware of and seek to eliminate or ameliorate when conversation is expected with a stranger. Trekker, you better find “common ground”. A well, a common thirst for water, etc. became that “common ground” for Jesus. But if we begin with the attitude “I have a right to my opinion” (and what we are unconsciously saying is “you have an obligation to listen”), we’ll never get to first base as a sought-after conversationalist. We will be a consummate bore. The differences and heartburn between Jews and Samaritans were long and real… too long to deal with here. Sort of like race or creed today. Without doubt, all good communication grows out of a developing relationship of trust and beneficial intrigue, yes, even risk.
The Thirsty Man that day delivered warmth, vulnerability and caring. His ability to listen and draw out “her story” gave Him the relationship to share “His story”. And how she did hear it… “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” … and many of the Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.” v. 29, 39
Trekker, true sharing of our faith is not “dumping the goods” all over a bewildered, unseeking, taken-by-surprise person and commenting upon departure, “Well, his blood is off my hands; and the truth will not return void.” God forbid, and it is not about notches in our belt, either. It is about our genuine fragrance and attractiveness and caring. People listened to the Lifegiver and followed him because of the life He lived and the manner by which He served and related to others. It can be no different for us. Our job is to help our friends move from being curious to committed.
Yes, we have a right to express our opinion, the right to free speech. But frankly trekker, if we appeal to “that right”, we are not even in the ball park. It is not about rights; it’s about obligation and opportunity (by His power) to “be” a ministry and “do” ministry as He did at the well that hot day. He came to bless people; we are to do no less. If we truly love people and begin our service to them by listening to their story, we might help get “the press off of the back of the church” in our day. The world loves the genuine article; they hate any type of wolf in sheep’s clothing. They will listen to you if you win that right. That right is earned by respect alone.
Last Sunday was a great trip and a great day with a fine grandson. Austin is on His way. He gets it. Why don’t you get it too… the book that is, “Venti Jesus Please.” Read it and then give it away to some teenager. That’s how the baton of faith passes from generation to generation.
Be a good dad, trekker… and win the right to be heard with EVERYONE!
Your friend,
Jim Meredith