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I was out for lunch with my Pastor and a friend.  We were enjoying our appetizers and some conversation on evangelizing the “young church” when we figured we should get our waitress in on the convo and get an unassuming “20 something” young woman’s perspective on faith among people her age.

The conversation started with a little bit of a shock as she told us she was “catholic”.  She grew up going to Church, with very devout grandparents, and loving the pastor at her church.  But my heart started breaking as she revealed more about her “faith”.  She had no idea any of us worked for the Church, let alone one of us was a priest (who was wearing street clothes); so she spoke freely and shared her experience of “Church”.

She hasn’t been to Church in years; she couldn’t even name a church to go to in the area, Catholic or protestant.  She still loves Jesus but hates religion, especially the Catholic religion she grew up with, because she didn’t want to be a “hypocrite”.  She doesn’t pray regularly, but she believes Jesus wants her to be “happy and successful”.  We asked, if her friends would know a good place to go to church or meet Jesus- she looked perplexed (probably starting to get annoyed at all these Jesus questions)- “religion isn’t really something any of us do around here.”

The final question we asked her was, “If you wanted to start a relationship with Jesus today… what would you do? Where would you go?” This was by far the deepest, most personal, and most pointed question we had asked… her response, “I have no idea”.

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Here is where most people would probably invite her back to Church.  “We have a 9am mass on Sunday.  Come on by, we’d love to have you!”  Evangelization done. Mission accomplished. We spread the Gospel.

But we didn’t invite her to Church.

Don’t get me wrong, the Mass is the highpoint of our existence, the source and summit of everything!  This girl needed Jesus… and needed Him bad.  But was inviting her to Mass automatically going to put her into a relationship with Jesus… in someways yeah, of course; through the readings and the Eucharist (if she was prepared to receive).  But, if no one is there to help explain the mass, process the experience, teach her to pray how will she really be able to bring the grace home with her to transform her daily life?

In last Sunday’s Gospel we see a perfect example of evangelization; that for most of us probably went unnoticed.  The unsung “evangelist” was Andrew, who “…found his brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’. He brought him (Simon) to Jesus.” (Jn1:41-42)

Andrew evangelized our first Pope!!  Andrew could have just told Simon to, “go and find Jesus! He’s at the Jordan River”, but Andrew walked with him, explaining Jesus was the Messiah!

And I believe we’re called to do the same thing; not only invite people to where they can find Jesus, but walk with them into a relationship with Christ: answering their questions, encouraging them, praying with them… entering into a relationship with them!  Evangelization is more then an invite to a “church event”.  It’s an invitation into relationship.

A relationship with Jesus and His Bride, the Church, doesn’t just happen.  We need to help foster those relationships by giving of ourselves and modeling the relationship someone else help foster in us.

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Our conversation with our waitress ended with an open invitation to not only our Church but also into our homes.  I plan on taking my wife, Carolyn, with me sometime this week back to that restaurant so she can meet this waitress and hopefully begin some sort of relationship/friendship that will begin to draw this girl back into the arms of Christ.

Please pray for our waitress that she may begin to hear Christ calling her back into a relationship with Him.

God’s arrival in flesh, that fateful night in Bethlehem, shook the kingdoms of the earth off of their fragile foundations. His arrival on the scene was like a warning shot to the enemy of God and the Kingdoms of this world that a New Kingdom was on the move; one that stood in direct opposition of the status quo, and one that was not about “business as usual.” I think that too often we forget that Jesus birth incited this great revolution.  The moment was, in fact, a great insurrection to the established kingdoms of the earth and it’s rulers.

Next to our living room nativity, my second favorite nativity scene is on display at the Museum for Metropolitan Art in New York City, and I think it articulates this idea beautifully.  Each year the Met displays a twenty-foot blue spruce Christmas tree covered with angels, with a beautiful eighteenth century Neapolitan nativity scene underneath. The Nativity is a very familiar scene. There are the shepherds who have been awoken by a choir of angels, several sheep, the magnificent wise men from the East, Joseph, Mary, and of course the newborn Jesus. They’re all there, and each figure is a work of art by itself. They are absolutely gorgeous figurines! However, there is something unusual about this installation.  It is set, not in Bethlehem, but within the ancient ruins of Rome.  As a backdrop to the manger there are broken Roman columns and destroyed marble buildings. The artist’s intention was subtle, but powerful. This fragile, infant King would ultimately conquer all the kingdoms of this world. His presence signaled the end of the rule of all other kings, including those that rule in our own hearts.

Now, you’ve probably seen this bumper sticker as you drive, “Jesus is the reason for the season”. I say that’s incorrect… I believe YOU are!  YOU are the reason for the season. YOU are the reason God came in flesh.  Advent is not FOR God, it’s FOR us.  And similarly, Advent is NOT about us, but it IS all about God.  The Incarnation didn’t happen because the Father just thought it might be cool for His Son to come in the flesh. He came in flesh because it was absolutely necessary for Him to come that way, in order for you and I to have reconciliation with God.  Jesus, the man, lived a sinless life – a life that you and I couldn’t live.  And THIS tiny baby eventually paid the penalty of death that you and I should have paid, when He died on the Cross. The wood of the Bethlehem manger points to the wood of Calvary’s cross. A victory! A revolution! And the revolution continues this Christmas.

On December 25th, millions and millions of folks will once again put on their nicest clothes and file into Churches across the globe.  They will sing of a revolution, of a savior child.  But what will be different?  What powers that stood will be overthrown in our hearts?  I propose that Christmas can still be revolutionary.

When we invite the God of the universe into our life, He doesn’t want to come silently. The buildings of self worship that we have built inside of our hearts WILL be destroyed by the sovereign King Jesus… if you let Him. When this revolution comes, there will be shifts in our priorities, shifts in our values, shifts in our desires, shifts in our attitudes, shifts in our motivations.
 There will be shifts in the way we love our spouses, shifts on our debit cards, and shifts in the way we live our lives daily.

Friends, Jesus is a revolutionary, and the insurrection of His Nativity is a declaration that we can’t ignore.  It demands a response.  This Christmas, let’s let Jesus bring a holy revolution to our lives, and to the world we live in.

Merry Christmas from the Hickmans and Adore Ministries! May this one be different than all the rest.