[N.B. This post was started but never finished.]
So the Alpha course I’m helping to facilitate down at the church is almost done. Last nigh was the penultimate session. We skip next week (Holy Week), and then wrap things up on 1 April (April Fools jokes not necessary).
The topic last night was evangelism, “spreading the Good News.” It’s a topic that has a bad rap about it in our American culture. Probably because there have been way too many people, past and present, who have mistaken the idea of talking about their faith, and inviting others to share in it, with shaming others into conversion, harrassing them until they join, or imposing their faith on others by even more violent or coercive means (take, for example, the teachers prayer group mentioned a few posts down).
It’s interesting. Religion is just not something that’s talked much about in my circle of friends and acquaintences. There are indirect hints, here or there, but it just isn’t something we discuss.