Advertising Jesus

        I cycled along the Lakeshore bikeway near Burloak, the other day and, as I paused on a bench to eat my snack, an older gentleman walked by. His unremarkable grey T-shirt had imprinted on it 

        I couldn’t help calling out to him, “Have you ever been up in one of those?” He paused, came over to me, and said, “Yes, I have.” I was suitably impressed because he was nowhere near old enough to have fought in one. Then he explained—his son had bought him an hour-and-a-half ride in the Lancaster from Mount Hope Airport, for about $350. We chatted a bit more, about the terrible lot of the rear gunners in those bombers, and the cost and time to restore the plane. (We joked that his $350 might have bought a screw for one of the struts!) Then he went on his way. 

     This got me thinking about the effect of his low-key advertising. Why don’t we do more of this with the gospel? I’ve resisted putting a “fish” sticker on my car bumper because I don’t want to appear hypocritical if I speed or if I park in the wrong place. But what about more personal advertising, like a cross in a lapel, or on a necklace or neck chain? Again, I’m afraid of hypocrisy. The truth is, these little things may still spark valuable conversations, even if it is a worldling’s rebuke of our hypocrisy. Turn it to good—we’re all sinners, none of us is perfect. The Good News is still there—Jesus, Himself, lived the perfect life, then died for us. And Jesus saves sinners. 

        N.T.Wright tells a story of being stationary in heavy traffic in London. Because of his appearance (in his case, “collar on backwards”) the cab-driver identified him as a Christian. This led to Wright’s “great gospel moment”, as the driver turned around to face him and said, “What I always say is this: if God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, everything else is basically rock ‘n’ roll, i’n’it?” [Surprised by Scripture, p.207]