GOSPEL. We've heard the word, but we're fuzzy about what it means. Religious. Something to do with black choirs. Or with fundamentalists (more mental than fun).

The word itself means "good news" (from the Old English god, good, spell, news): the good news of the Christian message.

But - before we even get to whether or not it's good - is there anything newsy about a message that's been public for two millennia?

"Christianity? Old hat, mate." "Christianity? It's do unto others - something".

Joe Public speaking. But here's Joe Pious:

"Believe in Jesus and you can go to heaven when you die." (He's not sure quite how that works, but it's a nice idea, so he dusts it off every Christmas.)

Is this the gospel? An afterlife insurance policy?

Let's face it; if "the gospel" is only about something "up there" it's pretty irrelevant "down here". Unless you're on your deathbed (or morbid) - forget it.

Cue atheist bus posters: "There's probably no God: stop worrying; enjoy life". Applied to this thin gospel, they have a point.

But there is far, far more to the gospel than "pie in the sky when you die". The true message of Christianity is heart-arresting, stop-in-your-tracks, what-was-that-you-said - news!

It's about Jesus - and the vision of the loving, rescuing God we get when we look at Jesus. He lived love. He died for love. He shouldered the weight of all our loveless lives, taking them to the grave.

But God raised Jesus from death and in doing so launched a project, led by Jesus, to heal the world.

And Jesus is looking for recruits. The gospel is a call. "Come. Dump your loveless life. Follow Jesus. Be transformed. Live to love."

That's gospel truth.

See also: True Definitions: Radical True Definitions: Martyr

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