Reverend Ref +

'JUST' A CONVERSATION

I went to the weekly prayer meeting yesterday (for more info, see my post JUST). I've missed the last two weeks, basically because Mrs. Ref happened to be working at the clinic the last two Wednesdays and came home for lunch. I like having lunch with my wife.

Anyway, I wandered in to "Bob's" office where we hold this event. Turns out that he and I were the only ones attending. I asked, "Are we on for today?"

"Well, you're hear, so yeah, we're on."

"How's it going?" I asked.

"Well, to be honest, I'm getting frustrated. I mean, I send out these e-mails to something like 70 men about various things -- the prayer meetings, the simulcast of Promise Keepers, and other events -- and I continually get little to no response. This prayer meeting, for instance, hasn't generated much interest, and I get fewer and fewer guys here every time. What do I need to do to light a fire under these guys? What do I need to do to get these guys to take Christianity seriously?"

Wow, I thought. This could be fun. "First of all, Bob, you need to remember that nowhere in scripture does it say to go out and convert people. Scripture tells us to preach the gospel -- and like St. Francis said, 'Preach the gospel always, and sometimes use words.' And scripture tells us to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. It's our job to preach and baptize. It's not our job to convert people. That's the job of the Holy Spirit."

Our conversation went from there and touched on scripture, theology, homosexuality, the Episcopal Church, liberalism v. conservatism, and expectations. It was a good conversation. It surprised me a little in that Bob isn't as Fundagelical conservative as I had first thought. But it proved my point that we won't get anywhere if we don't talk and listen to each other. I even invited him to take in a service and listen to a heretical Episcopalian sermon.

We ended the hour by recognizing that we don't agree on every issue, but it's important to listen to each other and entertain the thought that I might be wrong. Sounds like something I preached on recently. He might even show up at CC for a service sometime.

Yep, it was a good prayer meeting.