I have a lot of Atheist friends. Yes, I know, it could be the thin end of the wedge, and yes I do appreciate your prayers for the safety of my soul. I use a capital ‘A’ to describe them as they are real, fundamental types. The sort who will not let any opportunity go by without making a comment about ‘God doesn’t exist!’ and ‘there is no proof to support such a preposterous proposition!’.
I listen to their arguments and one line of reasoning they use is, you can’t prove the existence of God, therefore God can’t exist. They will also argue that the opposite can’t be used as an argument, for instance, we could counter with, you can’t prove the non-existence of God either - I told you they were hardcore! I’m not quite in agreement with their argument, but for those who follow an evidence based system, wandering around in a philosophical debate isn’t always helpful.
That brings me quite nicely to one of the Lectionary readings this weekend. In Luke 7:11-17 Jesus takes a trip to Nain and produces one of the most understated miracles of his ministry. Jesus brings back to life a widow’s son. We could argue that perhaps he wasn’t quite as dead as they thought, or any number of reasons to make the miracle a little less, well miraculous.
That isn’t what I want to highlight here though. For a widow to loose her son would mean destitution. The son would have been the only means to support her and keep her safe as she grew older. Jesus not only brought the son back to life, but made a significant difference to the widow’s life.
Making a difference to people’s lives can’t be argued with. If there is evidence that someone’s life is better than before, then those who seek evidence may notice it. If the Church wants to put forward the argument for the existence of God, then it needs to make sure that lives are being changed. As Jesus showed in Nain this can be both miraculous and practical.
The Seed is full of resources to help you with your mission of changing lives. From commentaries on Bible passages to images of God’s creation, there is something for everyone involved in leading worship services. If you do lead a service you’ll be able to get a free subscription that gives you 3 free resources each week to use. If you need more than 3, you can buy additional individual resources or take out one of the other subscriptions offering more resources each week.
Let’s make a difference to people’s lives this, and every week.
