A little over a week ago, the Charlotte Observer ran an article entitled "What Happened to Hell." http://www.charlotteobserver.com/479/story/876121.html?storylink=omni_popular A couple of people in the parish asked me about the article and since then I have been working on a sermon that will address the issue. Of course, it's reactionary but it's also interesting. The world might actually be served by hearing what a Methodist has to say on the subject. Besides, I couldn't stand the thought of the people of St. Francis being harassed at work because their pastor is afraid of the subject.
The question is fair--why is it that many churches do not talk about hell? However, the answer might be far less conspiratorial than many imagine. The reason is simply that the Bible doesn't talk all that much about it. According to my concordance, the word "hell" appears only 15 times in the Bible and two of the references come from the Apocrypha. Compare this with the word "help" which appears 250 times or the word "mercy" 246 times. "Love" appears approximately 540 times. Not that this determines the subject matter, but from a biblically-proportional standpoint, we might expect to hear 1 sermon on hell for every 40 we hear on love. Another way to think about this is that the word "usury" appears approximately the same number of times as "hell," although I haven't heard much clamoring for sermons addressing the evils of lending money at interest...
One of the challenges that we preachers face when it comes to talking about hell is that despite the fact that there is very little Scriptural information on the subject, there seems to be volumes of ideas, images and details floating about in the larger culture. This is a challenge because even when preachers try to offer meaningful commentary on the subject, we are generally speaking to people who have already made up their minds. This, of course, is the irony. Sometimes people want to hear sermons on things like hell but it is not so much to learn something new but rather to reinforce ideas and opinions that they already cherish.
In the eleven references made by Jesus, hell certainly does not sound like anything or anyplace that we would want to encounter. And the fact that he does speak of it, not only jars our attention; it also invites the question, "why are some churches reluctant to talk about it?"
In Jesus references, hell is typically cast as a threatening prospect, as a deterrent to certain kind of attitudes and behaviors. It is, by all measure, something that we would want to avoid. And this, of course, begs the question and perhaps helps us to understand Jesus point. How do we avoid this frightening place of which we really know very little? Let's hope that the answer lies in the kinds of things that we learn from the Bible...the kinds of things that our preachers and churches are talking about on all those other Sundays.
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.........Conversing with the Church and the world about the good creation that we share and God's capacity to keep it that way...
Why The Portico
We have a stained glass window at the church. It is a picture of St. Francis. He is dressed in monastic attire but there are few other signs of his role as a representative of the Church--no ornate architecture, no screaming symbolism, not even words. I like the metaphor and I am drawn to the peaceful but authentic presence that Francis might have been. So in that tradition, I imagine a patio or a portico extending out from our community into the larger world. I imagine myself sitting there and having a conversation with whoever or whatever might happen by.
About Me
- Mark Evans
- The material here is offered to the larger world around us. It includes commentary about theology, society, culture, politics and the arts. Though I do not claim to be an expert in any of these areas, I do feel welcome and compelled to participate in the conversations that they inspire.
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