I don’t know where you fall on the spectrum of comfort with the idea of evangelism, but I can make a pretty good guess. If we were to interpret evangelism as I assume most of us would, as the desire to win people over to the Christian faith, then my guess is your level of comfort is somewhere around hereish. Am I correct? But you will note that in your bulletin I added another equally valid definition of evangelize, which is “to advocate a cause with the object of making converts,” which might make you a little more comfortable. Or, perhaps not.
Today I have for you three tales of my mediocre success at evangelism; three real life examples of places where I have done my best to convert non-believers to a cause that I have some passion for where my personal passion has come up against the hard-edged rocked realities of an unswayable audience.

So, what are the three places that I feel strongly enough that I want to create converts to join my cause. 1. Camp Highlands for Boys. 2. Semester at Sea. And number 3. The United Church of Gainesville.
First, Camp Highlands.

First off, I must say a humble word of gratitude to you, my beloved church for allowing and encouraging me to continue running my camp. For those of you who are new to the church, I am the third generation of my family to lead Camp Highlands. My family has been involved in Camp Highlands for 76 of it’s 115 years. My father was the camps director before me, and Tracy and I have been in leadership positions there since 1999. It’s a place that is near and dear to our hearts, AND it is a place that has been helping to craft and create worthwhile men since 1904. The ways in which we do that are through our values; we have 18 honor camper qualities that are the backbone of our program; qualities like consideration, generosity, clean thoughts and speech, sportsmanship, initiative and perseverance. These words are sprinkled throughout the conversations and encouragement you’ll hear our staff using throughout the day. Camp is a place where we don’t boo (ever.) where we help each other out and lift each other up without being told. The program that we run is pretty great too. Almost every sport you can think of, we offer it. But we also offer sports kids can’t do at home. Archery and yes, riflery; low ropes courses, SUPing and sailing, kayaking and canoeing, and a top-notch water ski program. But we also believe in the value of unplugging kids for a few precious weeks. There is no technology at camp. No ipods or ipads or xbox or Netflix. In fact, there’s no electricity in the living quarters. In fact, there’s no showers or toilets in the living quarters. In fact, there are no windows in the living quarters. Our living quarters are essentially four wooden walls, bunk beds and not much else.

So I can sing the praises of Camp all day long. I can sell you on the values and the unplugging; but I can also typically tell within about 30 seconds after showing the numerous families that come through for tours our cabins if I’ve lost you. This summer I had a tour that was clearly ALL IN. They loved our heritage and history. They couldn’t believe that every camper gets to participate in EVERY activity. And the loved hearing their tech-addicted son would be cut off from Fortnite (the latest, hottest video game) for a fortnight. But when I took them into one of our cabins, I knew I had lost them. “You mean you don’t have windows? What do you do if it rains?” one asked. We’ve got these wooden sliders that close. “But the cabin would be so dark…and what about the mosquitos?” “Each camper has a mosquito net around their bed—we call them dingle bats! Cute, right? Nope. They couldn’t see it. Try as I might, I could not sway them to the powerful and life changing experience that Camp Highlands could offer, because they couldn’t comprehend the idea that life could be lived comfortably in this way. They couldn’t see the value in it; or if they could, the value didn’t outweigh the cost in her own concepts of comfort.

Second, semester at sea. Semester at Sea changed my life; and I still sing its praises to anyone with ears to listen. 22 years ago, as a 22-year-old college kid, I boarded a cruise ship that had been converted to a floating university with about 400 other students, and together we circumnavigated the world, stopping off in 12 different countries along the way. Sometimes we’d stay for only 36 hours—like in Egypt, while our ship passed through the Suez Canal; other times we’d get 5 days to galivant around the shrines and cities of Japan; but we’d always return to the S.S. Universe, where I took 15 hours of college credit, studying things like geography, oceanography and world cultures. It was a life-changing experience; one that I credit with my shift to study religion and that still influences my life even to this day. You have heard me talk about Semester at Sea before. And the fact that I am in GAINESVILLE, home to one of the finest universities this country has to offer, you would think that I could have convinced FLOCKS of you University folks, students and professors alike, to head out for a SEMESTER, teaching or learning to participate in such an incredible program. This October it will be 16 years that I have been here with you. In all that time, in all those years, with all those stories, do you know how many people I have converted to be believers in the Semester at Sea experience?! 1. One person. David Hackett, who brought along his son Ben, just last spring. Sometimes, if the experience we’re selling is so foreign to others mindsets, they’re not going to be converted.

And finally…the United Church of Gainesville.

When Tracy and I moved here, I remember I was very intentional that I wanted to have friends who were in no way associated with the church. I felt it was important that we have a place where we can really relax and have friends who wouldn’t be tethered to the stated and unstated expectations that some churches put on their pastors. In the same way it might be socially awkward for a doctor to hang out with their patient or a teacher to hang out with their students, I wanted a place where I could just be myself and not have to worry that my every word or deed might be interpreted as Pastor Andy acting out. (not that I’m this wild and crazy guy away from you all, I’m not, but a little anonymity never hurts.) We tend to live very public lives, so it was important to us that we have some space. I remember sharing this with Larry and Sandy, and stone-faced Larry just nodded and said, “We’ll see.”

So we started hanging out with other preschool parents of our son, Judah’s class. And this preschool was at another large church in the town, so I kind of figured most folks would be going there for their churching. But we were hanging out more and more with one particular family, and then we had friends from St. Augustine move here and wouldn’t you know it they moved to the same street as this family, so we started seeing them more and more, and the next thing you know, we’re talking about life and balance and all those things…When the conversations started turning to beliefs, I had a moment. And I said to my friends, “You’re not allowed to join my church.” They were very kind and respectful of my desires to keep some distance. And they joined the church about a year later.

When we think of evangelism we tend to think of those door-to-door salespeople hoping to sell you something. And I don’t bemoan those people; I believe they are acting from a place in their heart, and I’ll bet their brand of good news helps some folks when they receive it. But I’m a bad person for them to try to sway, because, when pressed, I tend to ask for some real specific answers that they sometimes are not prepared to answer. Whether that’s just me be being jerk OR me forcing OUR however-knownedness onto them is for you to decide. But at this point in my life I have a mental checklist for people to have to pass if they’re going to make it through my door for any further conversations on faith. How do you feel about homosexuality? Do you think the Bible is the inerrant word of God? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross as an atonement for the sins of all creation, and if so does a follower of a different religion get access to heaven because of that atonement, or are there caveats involved? When I was a younger man, I will admit, I had a little fun with StreetSide evangelicals; angling for a theological tussle more often than offering a good word. I’m not so judgy anymore; and now am more likely to offer a cup of cold water and ask how the fishing is going rather than try to sway them to our particular interpretation of the Christian gospel- an act in itself that I consider to be a more worthwhile form of evangelism.

Part of our challenge as the United Church of Gainesville is we pride ourselves on being strong evangelizers for causes near and dear to our hearts (though we’d call ourselves advocates, or allys, and are likely to steer clear of the term evangelical; even though that’s exactly what we are) but we can get a little fuzzy when it comes to specifics of the faith. So during this theme of Experiential Spirituality, I want to encourage you to think a little deeper about who we are as a people of God, and how our lives reflect those values. Then I want you to invite 20 of your friends to join us. (just kidding.)

I agree with that great quote from David Foster Wallace at the beginning of the service though I’m sure the atheists among us may have a bone to pick with me about it. He said, “in the day to day trenches of adult life, there’s not such thing as NOT worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is WHAT to worship.” It bears some consideration. What do you worship? What do you spend your hard-earned heart-time on? Where do you find rest among the chaos, and does it bring you joy, and does it bring you peace?

Sometimes it’s best to start with a few good questions. Let’s start with these; How do you pray? What are you grateful for? What do you worship? What is the blessing you most desire right now, but what is the blessing you received? How are they related? What are you joyful for, and what sorrow is nestled in your heart? What good news can you offer to those places and those people in your life who are most in need of God’s grace? And what are YOU a prophetic evangelical for?

It was in Matthews gospel, after the resurrected Jesus appeared to the gathered disciples that he was quoted as saying, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to follow the path I have shown you.” It’s called The Great Commissioning. This quote tends to make progressives a little itchy…but consider this my friends…Those are the promises we make when we commit to caring for the babies through our baptism liturgy, but also what we commit to when we pray and laugh with one another every Sunday during our time for sharing and our worship gatherings. We commit to setting aside our comforts and conveniences, our likes and dislikes so that others may meet God in us. HOW we live our lives is our form of evangelism, and maybe our brand of Jesus is a little more universal than what others are comfortable with and maybe that’s why I’m just a mediocre evangelist. But, maybe they’ll know we’re God’s people by our love, and that is all that really matters. We’ll see.

August 26, 2018
Rev. Andy Bachmann