The Gospel According To Larry Richie

This past May--the month before he died--Mr. Richie was a student in a class that Dustin was teaching. The class was New Testament Survey, and the discussion one night centered around the fact that each of the four Biblical Gospels was written to a particular audience.  This is the reason the Gospel of John may recount stories that the Gospel of Luke seems to omit.  Each was written by a different author to a different crowd.  As an assignment following this discussion Dustin had each student write their own "Gospel" (Good News) with a specific target audience in mind.  For example, one student was to write the good news to recovering drug addicts or the good news to a group of refugees.  Mr. Richie's assignment was to write the "Gospel According to Larry Richie" to a group of college professors who were considered "skeptics".  He was to present the good news of Jesus Christ to them in a relevant way, as did the authors of the Biblical Gospels.  They had 30 minutes of in-class time to write their "Gospel", and then each student presented his assignment orally in class.  What Mr. Richie presented that night was a gospel written with thought and passion.  Dustin has claimed it to be one of the best theological writings he's seen in awhile, and the class agreed that it was profound (especially considering the 30 minute time limit for writing).  What inspires me the most, I think, about the whole thing is something Dustin commented on:  Mr. Richie came to class all year--sitting week after week--his body growing weaker as cancer invaded it.  Yes, the beauty of the Gospel--the Good News--was revealed in this man--that as his body grew weaker, his spirit grew stronger.  Death was traded for life as Mr. Richie sought to live for something greater than the life of the flesh, and through him was revealed the life that only comes through Christ.  Several of us talked about this assignment and its meaning on different occasions after Mr. Richie died in June.  Dustin did not require the students to turn  the papers in, and Isaiah and his family had never been able to find it...until recently.  We received a message from Isaiah saying the paper had been found!  I requested his permission to share it as the occasion called for, and this morning I woke up with it on my mind.  For your encouragement...the Gospel According to Larry Richie.  (keep in mind his assigned audience of college professors)...

The Gospel According to Larry

                  How are we to present a clear and complete picture of a topic of such depth and breadth that words alone cannot capture its essence, and even if they could, all the bookshelves in all the universities of the world could not hold them.  Shall we then consider it prudent, even rational to focus on what is the mainstay of the good news of God’s creation and what many believe to be the central moment of history – that being the Christ Event.

                  There is a popular notion in many circles that in order to embrace the construct of Biblical Christianity one must first have a frontal lobotomy.  It conveys the gospel of the Christ as a static, if emotionally charged, body of information based primarily on some primordial human drive for answers to the unknown and his quest for immortality. In short, Biblical Christianity is palatable only to the ignorant.  It is devoid of reason and does not stand up under serious rational examination.

                  But in response to that allegation let us forget such groups and focus instead on the recorded words and acts of Jesus Himself.  Jesus, though from humble peasant background, put a lot of stock in the power of reason and the importance of education.  His first recorded act is that of finding his way to the Temple in Jerusalem when he was twelve years old, where he sat discussing the scriptures with the learned men of the day.  Jesus was never one to avoid arguing an issue of faith from a reasonable vantage point.  “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and unto God that which is God’s” is a lesson in common sense in political, economic, and social areas as well as in the spiritual realm.  Jesus was not one to stand on tradition or status quo.  By his powers of deduction and higher argumentation he challenged the most powerful men of his time. “Come, let us reason together” is a touch point of the Christian faith, though some have chosen to turn their back on it and present a white washed, septic, and self-serving version. I am certain my fellow seekers, that this would not be you. You are more likely then they to have an open mind and would applaud Jesus’s injunction “that ye should know the Truth and the Truth shall set you free!”

And, as a final thought, is not the highest form of man’s reason the awareness that, given the limitation of man’s mind, there must be that which transcends reason. I would strongly urge you to accept the Lord as both He who embraces reason and He who transcends reason.