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Posts Tagged ‘witness’

Witnessing a Miracle

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Acts 3:15
You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. [Peter to the crowd in Solomon’s Colonnade]

There is some responsibility that comes with witnessing a miracle. A miracle is not a particularly private matter. It is most powerful and amazing for the beneficiary of the miracle, of course, but there is also power in the story. The witness must tell what he/she saw, heard, or felt. This testimony spreads the wonder of that miracle.

Miracles are not accidental. They are intentionally divine.

How can we know why a miracle occurs one day and not the next? We cannot. It’s not our job to figure that out. It’s just our job to report.

When the disciples witnessed the living Christ after Calvary, they could not stop themselves from telling the story. They told everyone they encountered and eventually, those stories cost them their lives. After some years, all of those firsthand witnesses were gone and the next generation of followers were telling the story second and third hand and on into the hundreds of thousands of retellings. We will never know how embellished the stories have become … or worse, what fantastic elements of the story have been lost. In any case, the essence remains the same: Christ died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.

One of the reasons the Jews continued their traditions of feast days and holy days was to relive, retell, and remember the miraculous stories of their own captivity and salvation.

If we don’t speak the stories, they are lost. We forget. Even a great miracle, over time, can become lost.

In my own life I have survived automobile accidents inexplicably; I have seen dramatic healings; I have received money “in the nick of time” to meet a financial need; I have heard prophetic utterances that revealed truths out of my past that could not have been known otherwise. In most of these cases, I confess, I have stopped telling the stories.

Forgive me Lord. From this day forward, I accept the responsibility of the witness. And when the next miracle blazes across my path again, I will remember. I will tell the story. I will be faithful to your trust.

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Fulfilled, Finished, Accomplished

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on August 29, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 17:5
“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.” [Jesus prayed]

Think about this! He finished the task that was laid out for him. He didn’t need more time. He didn’t ask for more time. The teaching part was finished. The community work was done. The message was sent. He was successful.

How many of us would have thought Jesus had done everything he had set out to do? Surely, if he would have stuck around another ten or fifteen years, we would have known more, understood more, accepted more. Or would we?

Apparently, the message was simple enough and the right people heard it (not too many, not too few). He finished the job.

It made me think about the “six degrees of separation.” Jesus touched the lives that needed to be touched “in the big picture.” Jesus healed the ones who needed to be healed to accomplish his overall purpose. Jesus faced each moment, checked with the Father, and acted accordingly. The miracles, the lessons, the parables, the witnesses… it was all part of the economical use of his time.

Those on the receiving end of his message, they also had a purpose: to carry the message of salvation and everlasting life to others, to tell the story of Jesus, the Son of God. It all worked quite well until some of the folks decided to mess with the message. It’s like the old game, “whisper down the lane,” where the first person whispers into the next person’s ear and by the time it gets to the end of the line, the message has changed. We hear what we want to hear. We fix what we don’t understand. This phenomenon is discussed in some detail in a wonderful book I’m reading, “Why We Make Mistakes” by Joseph Hallinan.

The point for me today is that every person I meet, every circumstance, every day is part of my story and now, ultimately, Christ’s story. I’m not saying I’m supposed to stuff the name of Jesus down everyone’s throat. But being me, an authentic me, must reflect Christ within. Anything less and I’m “whispering down the lane.”

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Who Sent You?

Posted in Ordinary Time, tagged , , , , , , on July 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 12:44-45
Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.”

We are all ambassadors for someone or something. We may not even realize it but it is true. People meet us or talk with us and sooner or later, they associate us with others. It could be that we end up representing our workplace, our nationality, our family, our religious affiliation, our political party, our church, our town, our state, our school, and so on. In the end, we do not enter any situation alone.

So, how are we doing? Are we good representatives? Are we authentic?

Jesus reminded people all the time that he was sent. He wanted them to see/hear/feel the One who sent him. He wanted people to remember. Do we? Or do we try to hide our affiliations (for whatever reason)?

My old friend, Tom, who ultimately introduced me to the things of God some 30 years ago, tried to hide his affiliation with Christ Jesus and all kinds of wrong assumptions were made about him. He hid his faith because he was afraid no one would like him. But they didn’t like him anyway… because he was hiding.

People around us can sense “hiding.” They may not know what we are hiding, but they know it’s something and it makes us seem untrustworthy and even suspect.

There is an old saying, “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But of course, we all know, in ancient times, that is exactly what happened. If the message was “bad news,” the messenger would suffer. Is our message “bad news” or is it our “telling” of the story (through words & behaviors) that distorts the truth? As a follower of Christ, we are asked to be true to the message and the One who sends it.

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For This One Act

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , on May 30, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 23:50-51
Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, … and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

There is another story besides the one about Joseph of Arimathea that comes to mind, and that from Esther, when Mordecai says to her, “….and who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” [Esther 4:14] Both stories carry the same message for me: there may be only one moment that is our unique moment. There may be only one person who we must touch. The key is to be ready.

When I accepted Christ back in 1979, there was a young man who went to acting school with me. It turned out that he was a “closet Christian” (because he didn’t want anyone to know). In the end, everyone knew and particularly because of the conversations that he endured with me, my mocking of his faith and challenging his truths. And yet, it was this same young man who suggested I read the New Testament like a play script and put the words, “if this were true…” at the beginning of the text and take everything at face value until the end… only then, making decisions about what was true or not.

And I did just that. And I did read. And I did choose to follow the way of Jesus as a result. Whether there were or will be other moments of power for this man, I will never know. He left acting school at the end of that school year and went on with his life. But for that moment, he did what was needed…. what he was, perhaps, called to do: to tell his story to a callous, self-important, prideful young woman. And his story and his patience and his prayers, changed my life.

Joseph of Arimathea was there to provide a tomb. Esther was there to turn the heart of a king. And what about me? Or you? Has that defining moment come? Is there another? Am I ready?

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Finding Messiah

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , on May 12, 2009| Leave a Comment »

John 1:41
The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).

We have lost the wonder of discovery. Unlike us, the disciples as well as all of the Jewish people of that time, were waiting for the Messiah. It was prophesied that he would come and each generation looked for the signs of his coming.

In some ways, I am reminded of the personal joy and even ecstasy that many African-Americans felt about Barack Obama. The wonder of it all when it finally happened: an African-American lifted to the highest office.

John describes Andrew as the first disciple to follow after Jesus. After spending a day with him, he runs to his brother with his news of finding the Messiah, the one foretold, the beginning of something unknown and the transformation of their world.

When we find Messiah in our own lives, we are changed forever. There is wonder in that message, our personal story of discovery. Who will you tell today?

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Witness to the Light

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , on May 5, 2009| 1 Comment »

John 1:8b-9
…he [John] came only as a witness to the light.[NIV] That was the true Light which gives light to every man [and woman] coming into the world. [NKJV]

John the Baptizer was a witness to “the true Light.” He began his ministry because it was important to tell everyone about the light. They had forgotten about the light. They could not longer see the light in each other. Just talking about the light brought light into a dark place.

As human beings, I believe we are all given light. Made in God’s image, we are bequeathed the light. But, what do we do with it? Do we hide it under a bushel? Do we distort it? Do we ignore it? And what about the light of others?

Over the last few months I’ve been really interested in the concept of the “sacred other.” It is my belief now that this sacredness is the same as the light that is within each one of us. Accepting Christ is not about accepting the light; we have that already. But the light of Christ fuels our personal light and shines brighter. Light is the root of love.

To witness to the light is to recognize light in others and fuel that fire with the light of Christ. Like John, we are to tell our stories. As we follow the way of Christ, our stories carry light.

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One of the Others

Posted in Time Up to Pentecost, tagged , , , , , , on April 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Luke 24:9-10
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. [emphasis mine]

Are you just among the others? There are such a lot of “big names” out there, the “stars” of Christendom or even in our local churches… you know, those obvious leaders of the church, the worship team, the choir director, the pastor, the lay leader, etc. And so often, we feel as though our small contribution to the big picture is unworthy of mentioning.

But I tell you today, the Lord is lifting up “the others.” Perhaps they are not mentioned by name, but they were there! The others who went with the Mary’s and Joanna to the tomb… they were there. They saw the angels, they saw the empty tomb, they had a story to tell. And the others who were with the Eleven… they heard the story, they communed together despite their fears, they were there. Who knows, perhaps they also ran to the tomb.

Sometimes, it’s important just to show up. We will never know what will happen… but if God speaks, we need to be present to hear. We need to be ready to “witness” what we see and hear. Your story is important. Your witness is important. Let us be present today to see God’s hand.

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