Emphasis Preaching Journal

Our church has a very active Evangelism Committee which regularly sends teams of visitors to visit the members of our church who have fallen by the way. Kathleen was one of those members who received such visits. Whenever a team visited her, Kathleen would say, "I'm not going to church with all you hypocrites. You pretend you're so good, but you're no better than I am. You sin all the time and then go to church and pretend to be holy. I can be just as good a Christian as you can be without ever going to church." That speech when combined with the anger and hostility that surrounded Kathleen was usually enough to silence the visiting team. But then one day Kathleen met her match. Bob and Crystal had been assigned to visit Kathleen. When Kathleen finished her little speech, Bob just shook his head and gently said, "You and I have known each other far too long for me to let you get away with that. We sat in Sunday church school together. We were confirmed together. Now it is time someone reminded you of what you learned before it is too late. Church is not for holy people; it is for sinners. I don't attend church because I think I'm better than you. I go to church because I know that I am a sinner. I need to confess my sins. I need to hear Christ's words of forgiveness. I need to be fed by Word and Sacrament so I can grow in faith. I need my church family so that they can help me to grow in faith toward God. Maybe you're the one who is being hypocritical in thinking that you can be a good Christian without ever confessing your sins and receiving forgiveness." With that Bob got up and, turning to his visiting partner, said, "We'll leave now." At the door, he turned to Kathleen, who had been stunned into silence, and said, "I'll be praying for you." With that, he softly closed the door.
-- Conroy