I am excited about beginning our Lenten book study this Tuesday. We will be reading through and discussing Living His Story by the Rev Dr Hannah Steele. Dr. Steele is the director of St. Mellitus College in London and a lecturer in missiology. This is a devotional book that explores evangelism as a way of sharing God’s love with our neighbors in a post-Christian world. Evangelism is, as Steele quotes Walter Brueggemann, “an invitation and a summons to switch stories and therefore to change lives.” Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby commissioned this book as his 2021 Lenten Study for the Church of England (yes, it takes a year for such things to traverse the pond). Although Lent may seem an odd time to discuss evangelism (as opposed to repentance, etc.) it represents the ideal time for us to recover and relearn our story so that we are then prepared to share the Good News of Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday.
For this week, please read the introduction and chapter 1 “The Greatest Story of All Time” and discover how evangelism is not a command to convince others to adopt a new set of intellectual propositions, but an invitation extended to all people to enter into a new way of living and of seeing the world. It is an invitation to see that God through Jesus loves the sinner, the broken, and the outcast and welcomes them all into the heavenly banquet. It is the invitation to simply come and see.
Dinner is at 6:30. The menu is lintel stew and Mediterranean salad. Our discussion begins about 7:15. We will end our evening with Compline. All are Welcome.
I love to tell the story;
I Love to Tell the Story
’twill be my theme in glory
to tell the old, old story
of Jesus and his love.