Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter &
The Memorial of Venerable Bede, Doctor of the Church
Readings for Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter
Biographical Information about The Venerable Bede

First Published: Thursday, May 25, 2006

In Tents Experience

Note: At least in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord will be celebrated this coming Sunday. As the reference above indicates, today we celebrate Thursday of the 6th Week of Easter.

Reflection:

As I look back at the past few weeks of readings from the Acts of Apostles, it is interesting to see the trials and tribulations of Paul and his followers. Today we see the beginnings of the Church in Corinth. They will receive two letters from Paul later that will become 1st and 2nd Corinthians Holy Scripture. It is clear from Lukes description that Paul spent more time here than in other places. It says he practiced his trade, which until this time I had not remembered Paul was a tentmaker! (I mean, I knew he was an in tents guy but never caught his profession before. Bad pun totally intended.)

Since my reflection of yesterday was cut short by having to look all over cyberspace for lectionary readings to include, I want to continue my thoughts on Pauls methodology of evangelization as it applies to how we live our lives among those who do not believe as we do. We are told that after Paul left Athens he came to Corinth. We know he had success in Athens because when he talked to the people there he was able to use their desire to understand God to bring them to understand in God our Father.

In Corinth he uses the same approach and runs into serious resistance. Notice first he attempts to establish credibility with the local Jewish population (it sounds like many of them are from Rome exiled during one of the periods of multi-theistic religious vigor by the ruling classes, no doubt. So these Jews had just given up property and prosperity for the sake of their religion. It was probably a tough nut to crack. We know Paul was a learned person and knew the Hebrew faith very well. We know from the story, he spent some time letting them know he knew it. Yet, when he did as he had done in other places, most recently Athens, and tried to take them to the next step, they refused to follow. Based on his reception in other Hebrew communities, he was lucky they did not do more than oppose and revile him.

We can really use Pauls model today. Notice how he went to work among the people of Corinth? He did what we do each day. We go to work or to school and we make our way in the world. Yet he was always a witness to Christ. Two important features about Paul and how we should learn from him come together today.

Meet people where they are on their faith journey. Lets not try to bring people to our level of understanding all at once. That way we come across as fanatics or religious nuts and are not effective in leading them, through our example and invitation, to a deeper faith and understanding of Christ our Lord and Savior.

Establish credibility with those you meet and work with. If we go to into the world as simple messengers of God, without getting to know those we meet and interact with, how effective can we be? Jehovahs Witnesses go door to door without trying to gain any credibility and I am sure their success rate is low and in many cases they do more harm than good. I am pretty sure, deep in their hearts; many of them consider their sojourns to be some sort of penance. If we establish our credibility with others, they will see that our success is due to a great extent because what we do, we do for the greater glory of our God, not just for the sake of personal gratification.

Let us take these two important axioms with us today and see if we can meet people where they are on their faith journey and let them know that our success is Gods success and that what we do, we do for other than selfish reasons. Pax