Presence Evangelism is the New/ Old Evangelism

By Melanie Jean Juneau

 

Painting by Wilhelm Amberg (Wikimedia Commons).

This move of the Spirit is quiet, subtle and entirely grassroots. 

The stars have fallen. The big names have grown old.

Society is weary of huge, dazzling Christian shows. People crave reality.

Evangelism has gone through many stages to reach the place we are today.Up until the late 60′s, evangelists were mainly preachers of the Word. In the Protestant camp, Billy Graham shone the brightest while for Catholics,the first name that pops into my head as an example is Bishop Fulton Sheen and his radio program.These men focused on an evangelism of the word, a preached sermon or talk with the purpose of convincing people to repent, change and commit their lives to God.

The primary way the Holy Spirit touched people in large crowds in the 70′s, 80′ and 90′s was through power evangelism. Rather than preaching long sermons, the evangelists who drew the largest crowds were prophets and healers. The Spirit fell in a tangible way.This was not restricted to the Protestants. The Catholics experienced their own Charismatic Renewal with crowds of 30,000 gathering in Rome in the mid 70′s. I remember one Catholic Charismatic Conference in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, where 10,000 people sang gently, harmoniously in tongues like angels and I am sure with angels. Organizers allowed the Holy Spirit to move gently among the crowd, healing physically and emotionally.


Continue reading at Melanie's blog joy of nine9.

Mary is in my heart? Help!

By Melanie Jean Juneau

Window in the Cathedral of Cordoba, Spain (photo credit: Wikimedia)

What would be the absolute worst thing that could happen to a nice Protestant girl?

Why Mary, the Blessed Virgin, would do a little interior house cleaning, then make a home for herself in the poor girl's heart, that's what! If that was not bad enough, this perplexed young woman's belief system would stay staunchly anti-Catholic for oh, about another 10 years, even though she had converted to Catholicism. I mean what choice did she have? Nobody but the Catholic Church even wants someone who craves the Eucharist and has a relationship with the Mother of Christ.

Obviously this young woman was and is me. God has a peculiar sense of humor and now I can look back and laugh at my dilemma. At the time, though I was shook up. As Pope Francis said at the Easter Vigil, God delights in shaking us up, or as I like to say, ripping the rug from underneath us. Nope, God will not stay in a nice, neat little box of our own making. Just when we think we have Him all figured out, He pulls another fast one on us. Thank goodness; life is never boring when you give God permission to work in your life.

I was reluctant to turn to Mary, I couldn't help but feel like a heretic somehow turning from Jesus as my only Savior. Yet over and over, God only offered healing and peace when I turned to His Mother. Finally a wonderful priest from Madonna House, the Director General of Priests. Fr. Bob Pelton, smiled at me compassionately and said something like this:

"Melanie, why don't you relax for a few months and stop tormenting yourself with guilt? Simply relax into the bosom of the Church and Her teachings and allow your relationship to Mary grow naturally, without fighting everything with your intellect? Trust in your own heart as well."

Even now, some 30 years later, tears are welling up and I could weep with relief all over again as I write these words. Somehow I was given the grace to lay down my logic, reasoning and Protestant theology and simply throw my self into the arms of my Spiritual Mother.

Actually, we really do not have a clue what we are saying “yes” to in the beginning of our Christian walk. At our wedding, 34 years ago, I sensed these words within my heart:

"I will change the way the two of you work and play, the way you walk and talk, the way you laugh and cry, everything about you, so that you will reflect the glory of my Father in Heaven."

Foolishly we thought that this was a nice word from God! Little did we know that 34 years later we would still be being turned inside out. I agree whole heartedly with Pope Francis, God does seem to delight in shaking us out from our narrow little lives. I could not live any other way.

Thank-you God for not listening to my opinions or plans for my life.

Thank-you for the grace to give You permission to take over and make me yours.

Melanie originally posted this at her blog Joy of Nine.

My Spirit-filled idiolect and the dead battery

by Nancy Ward

Pentecost by Coter (photo in public domain)

Each of us has an idiolect, a personal speech pattern uniquely ours. When confronted with the idea of my spiritual idiolect, “Spirit-filled”came to mind. But aren’t most expressions of spirituality filled with the Spirit? So this doesn’t fully describe my personal conversation with God, which is as unique as my soul. Only God knows the full implications of this short-cut descriptor.
 
Like language developed from listening and speaking to those around me, my Spirit-filled spiritual idiolect developed from listening and speaking to the Lord. My idiolect grew from my outer surroundings. My spiritual idiolect grew from my inner life in the Spirit.
My Protestant childhood and my first conversion experience as a young teen provided the baby talk of my spiritual idiolect. Then when I converted to the Catholic Church as a young mother, new words, sights, sounds and smells surrounded me. They infused my spirit with a richer understanding and closeness to God in my yearning to worship him.

But it wasn’t until my Oz Moment some years later that I discovered a new spiritual dialect within the Catholic language. This dialect, steeped in early Church tradition, emphasizes personal prayer, daily Mass, discipleship and evangelization. It flows from an authentic prayer life centered on the Eucharist. It encompasses the elements of Adoration, rosaries and novenas.

The expression of my Spirit-filled idiolect rises with the dawn with quiet personal prayer of repentance, surrender and songs of praise. Then the Eucharist quickens the gifts of the Holy Spirit in my soul. In scattered conversational prayer I talk to God during the day about events as he guides me smack dab into his surprises. He’s there right beside me to share my joy or consternation, depending on the nature of these surprises. He gives me the confident assurance of his presence whether or not I see him working.  I’m especially aware of his presence in his gift to me of writing, but also in caring for my family.  Often he calls me in the night, just so we can sing together. At sunrise, the joy of the Lord alive in my heart rises anew.

The biggest contributor to my spiritual idiolect for the past 40 years is my Catholic covenant community. The 150 covenant families nurture me, teach me, laugh and cry with me. They evangelize my children. They have prayed a million prayers for me and I for them. That community spirit overflows into share groups, Bible studies and ministries in our individual parishes throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.



Read the rest at Nancy's blogs  Joy Alive in our hearts.

Wandering desire: a reflection on John 14

by Heidi

 

 

Ascension of Jesus by Garofalo (Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

"Jesus said to his disciples: 'Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

"I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe"  (John 14:23-29).

*****

When I was a little girl my family moved to Minnesota and we joined the local Presbyterian church. It was in this church that the love of Jesus was cultivated in my heart. And though the church of my childhood lacked most of the sacraments [their baptism is recognized by the Catholic Church, ed.], they did direct us toward a relationship with Christ. I especially remember Miss Peggy reading us stories about Jesus, helping us to memorize the books of the Bible and to understand the parables through delightful songs. It was made clear to me that I could be bold like Zacchaeus or Bartimaeus and call out to Jesus. I could expect Jesus to come to me in prayer, to heal me and to save me. I prayed to Him frequently and I did hear His voice.

 As I journeyed on in life, I wandered off the narrow path, I crowded out the voice of the Lord with what seemed like more fulfilling and realistic pursuits. I remember a particular moment I had wandered so far away from Him that I stood on the brink of renouncing a belief in the historicity of the life, death and resurrection of Christ as I had learned from the Bible. I was ready to dismiss it as all spiritual concepts and nothing more. In those moments I found I had only the strength to proclaim an abstract spirituality and vague ethical guidelines. Yet that love that had once been nurtured but was now lying dormant in my soul stirred up painfully in the moment of my temptation. It was a nostalgic-like yearning for something that I could not quite put my finger on. At the same time I felt contempt for this feeling, I tried to dismiss it as foolish and unintellectual, but the feeling was persistent.

Read the rest of Heidi's story at her group blog, Journey to Wisdom.