188 Rivulets IV: Return of The Rivulets

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Rivulets IV: Return of The Rivulets”, originally shared on February 7, 2022. It was the 188^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

    Do you pronounce a word for a small stream “creek” or “crick”? I grew up in Manitowoc, Wisconsin saying “crick”, but today we’re going to talk about “rivulets”, another name for a small stream, one that can lead us to streams of living water.

   We uploaded videos called “Rivulets of Living Water”,  “Rivulets: The Sequel”, “Rivulets III: More Flow” and now “Rivulets IV: The Return of The Rivulets”.

   A rivulet is a small stream. It can be the means by which people come to the larger stream.

   Today we’re going to look at 10 more “rivulets”. That is, practical means that might guide people to receive the streams of living water that is God, the Holy Spirit, and be filled.

   These rivulets won’t make people Christians. But they can be the conduits by which the Holy Spirit works in people’s true selves to lead them to new life in Jesus Christ, and we pray that they will.

   And, maybe these 10 rivulets will stimulate your own thinking about how you can share the faith that God has given you.

     31.    Worship Weekly

   Sounds like a no-brainer, but it makes a difference in you and an impression on others. Make weekly worship the central event of your life and be an example and inspiration to those around you. Worship more often as you are led by God and the opportunity arises. Invite friends and out of town guests to come with you (or watch it digitally with you) and see a life of faith.

     32.    Have a Back-up Plan for Worship

   Are you out of town or ill on Sunday? Plan to worship on any other day in the week that your church offers an opportunity to worship and invite someone to share it with you, digitally or in person.

     33.    Connect with People Socially

   Where do you meet people who don’t know Jesus? (Hint: there’re not always at church). Connect with them through what you have in common and share your faith (and the actions produced by your faith) in a natural and organic way.

     34.    Establish Common Ground

   We usually have much more in common with non-Christian people than we do not. As has been said get, “out of their face and into their shoes”.

     35.    Arouse Interest

   Ask questions like: “What has changed the most for you during the pandemic?” or “If you could ask God one question, what would it be?” or “I was reading the Bible and it reminded me of what you said yesterday.”

     36.    Get the Ball Rolling

   Mention something you did or heard at church. Share something that was meaningful to you in your Bible reading. Talk about how God’s presence got you through a difficult time.

     37.    Don’t Go Too Far

   Don’t share too much, or too fast. Share your faith as it seems a person can absorb it as the Holy Spirit leads. Let the message sink-in in people’s own time. Don’t rush or condemn.

     38.    Invite Non-believers to Dialogue

   Ask questions that can get to the real issues, like:

   “Tell me about the God that you don’t believe in.” Chances are that that is not how you know God either.

   “How did you learn about Christianity?” People believe all kinds of things about Christianity that aren’t true.

   “Have you ever been an active member of a Christian church?” As with a stained-glass window, things look different from the outside when the difference is the Light.

     39.    Don’t Condemn the Person

   Sin separates us from God and how God deals with it is our focus, not the person. God came to die for everybody. Focus on a person’s good qualities and look for bridges, not barriers, without any self-righteousness.

     40.    Stick With the Main Issue

   People with whom we witness to our faith may have “issues” going on that distract them from considering a redeeming relationship with Jesus. Focus on what’s important.

   Sharing our faith comes more naturally to some people than to others. Some people have the spiritual gift of being an evangelist while others have some other gift.

   And, some people might be coming out of this pandemic hungry for a sense of connection with God and with God’s people, but it’s not easy for anyone to share their faith in Southern California in our time.

   We had professional psychographic studies done for several years of the area I served in San Dimas. We wanted to understand the people who lived around us. One of the things that they measured was “receptivity to the Gospel.” The result was the same every year we did the study. The finding was not “Low.” It was “Very Low.” I’m certain that we are not alone in this environment.

   We also found that youth sports were our greatest competitor. Children got to a certain age, around 3^rd or 4^th grade and they started learning to play on a club team. The teams practiced afternoons and evenings during the week and competed on the weekends. Children had to be at practices, or they couldn’t compete with their team on the weekends. A shortage of playing fields meant that even Sunday morning games became the norm. Parents went to the practices and games to support their child and most mid-week classes and weekly worship services were out for the season. In some sports the season went pretty much year ‘round, especially as the kids became high-school students.

   The absence of those families sent a clear message about what is important in our culture.

   We face barriers. But we are not alone.

   Jesus said this to his disciples at the end of the gospel according to Luke, in Luke 24:44-49,

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶ and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

That power is the power of the Holy Spirit, whose metaphor is “streams of living water” in both the Old and the New Testament parts of the Bible. It is the power that we have been given by God in our baptism.

   May these rivulets, or small streams, be the means by which the power of the Holy Spirit flows through you as the streams of living water.  And may they be the means God uses to clothe those with whom you share them with power from on high. 

    And may they be the means by which people you know and care about come to a living relationship with the one true living God through the Holy Spirit, that fountain of living water that gushes up to eternal life.