Closer and Closer, Part 5: Bearing Witness

Acts 1:6-14        

Last week there was a special election in Montana, and in a spectacle unlike anything we have seen before, one of the candidates grabbed a reporter by the neck, slammed him to the ground, and punched him. Or, at least that was what he said.  There was no video of this. There was an audio recording which sounded shocking enough. Initially, beyond that, it was the word of the reporter against the word of the candidate, who had a completely different account of what happened.

But later, we heard from three eyewitnesses who were in the room and saw the whole thing. They said, yes it really happened, and even provided more details. At this point it became much more awkward for this candidate, and harder for him or anyone else to say that it didn’t happen. The man was charged with assault – and then he won his election, so it wasn’t a completely bad day for him. I do wonder now if, once he gets to Washington, his colleagues will want to give him a wide berth. Just in case.

If you ask a trial attorney, he or she will probably tell you eyewitness testimony is not reliable. Even when witnesses feel quite sure their recollections are accurate, they might be completely wrong. There are many reasons why this happens in trials, such as the length of time that passes between an event and a trial, or the anxiety a witness is experiencing at the time of the event, or the effect of having been prompted and asked leading questions that influence one’s recollections. It is certainly fallible. Nonetheless, in daily life, eyewitness testimony is a powerful thing and we rely on it a lot.

In this story from Acts, Jesus is counting on it. He is relying on his followers to be his witnesses, not only in Judea, but to the ends of the earth. They ask him a question about what he will do and he responds by telling them what he expects they will do. Their reaction is unsurprising; we would have done the same: they just stood there, speechless.

These first followers were not quite ready to carry on the work without Jesus. They were pretty good followers, but at this point they did not know how to be the leaders of this movement. They probably didn’t even understand what Jesus wanted from them. What did it mean to be his witnesses? What were they bearing witness to? How were they supposed to do it?

They were being asked to carry the good news to the ends of the earth, but they did not even understand what the good news was. They still thought the good news is that the land of Israel will be restored to greatness. This is what they asked him when they gathered together. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” They had no concept, yet, of how far and wide will be the consequences of his redemptive death and resurrection. Again, I have to say, we would very likely not be any different.

This is outside the realm of what they have experience with. And they can’t quite discern the shape of what they are being asked to participate in.

When the angels ask, “Why are you still standing here?” they don’t know what they should be doing. But the question suggests that they should be doing something other than what they are doing. So they do what they know – they return to Jerusalem, to the upper room. In fact, they do what they need to do.

There is a time for every matter under heaven and this is a time to wait. Wait for the power of the Spirit that will come upon you. Wait for the moment when you will know what it means to bear witness, and you will be empowered to bear witness. Wait, but this is not a passive waiting.

During this season of Easter, we have been talking about the ways Jesus draws us closer to him and closer to one another. We have contemplated the stories of his post-resurrection appearances to his friends and followers. We have remembered the stories of how he walked beside them, drew near enough to touch them, spoke to them. We have recalled some of the things he taught his disciples earlier, which make sense now in a new way. We have seen that there is no way we can draw near to Jesus without drawing nearer to one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, for as the Apostle Paul would say, we are, collectively, his body and each individually members of it.

Let us recall some words from the gospel lesson we heard last Sunday, from the 14^th chapter of John when Jesus said to his disciples, “Because I live you also will live” for “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” Our relationship with Christ gives us life inseparable from him, but also, inseparable from one another, who are all collectively, in him. We must nurture this communal life.

Our life together is made stronger by taking time to do things together. In addition to our worship gatherings, we make time for fellowship after worship each week. We have groups that gather together regularly, like Presbyterian Women, the sermon roundtable, Sunday school classes, Jam, and choir – for spiritual support and learning. And, we work together for the sake of the world, like our weekly tutoring program and various other projects.

Coming together in work and play and worship are important things for us to do as the body of Christ. They draw us closer to God and closer to one another at the same time. Yet, there is something important in this story that we are likely to miss – something that is as important, or more important, than other things we do.

When his followers returned to Jerusalem they went back to the upper room, where they gathered together with some others of his followers, where they all constantly devoted themselves to prayer.

I am afraid that too often prayer is an afterthought for us. I am afraid that too many of us share the opinion that prayer is best left in the hands of the professionals, and that for the rest of us it is sufficient to simply make our prayer requests. I am afraid that too many of us believe that one’s prayer life is strictly private business. And I am afraid that this is true for too many congregations in our denomination and other mainline denominations.

When I did a google search on the subject of praying together, I came up with a lot of material from Baptist churches and some from charismatic churches. But nothing from any churches like ours.

You might want to push back right now and remind me that we have a lot of prayer in our worship service. And you might remind me that we have a policy of praying before and after every church meeting. And you are right, but it’s not enough. We need to devote ourselves to prayer.

You see, Jesus’ first followers were lost, just as we are lost, when it came to the matter of responding to his call to bear witness. They stood dumbly, waiting for who knows what. It took some nudging from the angels to get them moving, but then they did something right – something truly necessary. They devoted themselves to prayer.

If they had not devoted themselves to prayer, they would have been unable to make a faithful decision about replacing Judas who had betrayed Christ. If they had not, they would not have been ready for the Spirit when she blew in that room a week later, on the day of Pentecost. If they had not, they might have drifted off, somewhere else, unable to even see the point in remaining in Jerusalem any longer.

It was the power of praying together that made these men and women ready to receive the Spirit and able to respond to Jesus’ call to be his witnesses to Jerusalem, to Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

It is by the power of praying together that we will be ready to receive the Spirit and able to respond to Jesus’ call to be his witnesses to Huber Heights and to the ends of the earth.

It is prayer that connects us with God. Without it we are just a gathering of nice people that like to be together. With it we are the body of Christ. And we have words to say, stories to tell, the gospel to share in powerful ways.

Last week, I shared with you how we gather the preschool children together here for Children’s chapel. Let me tell you, now, what happens when we pray. When I say, “let us pray,” and begin to offer a prayer, I hear all these little voices around me praying too. They don’t need me to give them the words – they have their own words and they are unafraid to offer them to God.

Are we unafraid? Now is a good time to begin shedding any fears. Prayer is merely a conversation with God. Among friends. About whatever is on your heart.

Now is a good time.

Closer and Closer, Part 4: The Air We Breathe

You and me, we belong together, just like the breath needs the air.  You+Me

John 14:15-21     

Before I came to Huber Heights I was a campus minister at a state university in Pennsylvania. One of the things I would do with college students was to visit different churches on Sunday mornings, to have different kinds of worship experiences.  We just called it church field-tripping. It was always a good experience. It always opened our eyes.

One Sunday we went to the local Quaker church. Actually, they call it a meeting house.  This one has been there a long time – since 1795.  It is a very small, simple, old building with plain wooden pews.  In the front of the room there’s no pulpit because most Quakers don’t have preachers.  They are known for worshiping in silence and waiting on the Holy Spirit to speak to them. When someone feels inspired by the Spirit to share something, he or she will simply stand up and say what is on their heart and mind.

There were a couple of long benches in the front of the room that faced the pews, sort of like a choir loft, I guess.  We were invited to sit there so that we could watch things as they unfolded, so we did. The worship hour began and there was a long period of silence.

Then, someone stood and spoke briefly. Shortly after, another person stood and said something. It was all very calm and mostly quiet. From my seat in front, I found myself most interested in a family sitting toward the back. A father and mother with three young children. The children sat, leaning against mom and dad, all quiet and serene.  And I thought it was amazing.

After the worship ended I made a remark to the mother about how impressed I was that her children were able to sit so calmly and quietly during the hour. She told me the whole family really treasured this time together – to be able to sit with one another, to hold one another. During the rest of the week, they led busy, active lives just like every other family we knew. But for this one hour of the week, they really valued the quiet.

So, I guess that’s something the Quakers have going on. They are offering us something that we need – quiet. But most of us probably don’t even realize we need it, because we are so used to its absence. It’s not easy to find quiet in our world.  Even in our homes when we are sleeping, our appliances are still humming away. Even when we are not talking to one another, our TV’s and phones, and computers are making noise, talking to us. But without the quiet we are missing something we need.

This year we started something at Faith Preschool called children’s chapel. I learned about children’s chapel from Reverend Jackie Nowak, who developed it at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Xenia, Ohio, where it is still practiced weekly. Observing their practice, I became aware of the ability of children as young as three years old to participate fully in the spiritual life of the church.

Once a month the children and the teachers walk in straight lines from their classrooms to the sanctuary. When they arrive at the door, I remind them that in this place we move more slowly and we talk more softly; that in this place we are meeting God.

We sit in a circle and the first thing we do is to quiet and center ourselves with a couple of deep breaths.

Then we greet one another with the ancient words of the church –

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

We light a candle to remind ourselves that God is here and God is the light of the world.

And then we do the most amazing thing – we share our joys and concerns. Because we all care about one another and all the good and bad things that are going on in our lives. Here is something very important for us to know: The children understand that life holds both joys and sadnesses. It is the adults who think we can, somehow, prevent any sadness from impacting their lives.

But after we have all shared our joys and concerns we know it is not enough, just to share with one another. We share all these things with God, who is with us, loves us, and cares for all the little and big things in our lives.

Finally, and I think probably the favorite part, we bless one another. We remind one another before we leave this place that God made us, God loves us, and God is always with us. We have heard from some parents that their children are taking this practice home with them.

When we come together in this place, we draw close to one another, we draw close to God.

When we come together in this place we breathe deeply, knowing that with each breath we are filled with God’s Spirit. That it is like Jesus said, “I am in the Father, and you are in me and I am in you.” That God is as near to us as our breath.

Closer and Closer, Part 3: Someone to Watch Over You

John10:1-10      

When I was very young I loved Romper Room. I planted myself in front of the TV daily to watch Miss Beverly and the lucky children who got to play with her in her TV classroom. Whatever she said was gospel to me. I was a staunch proponent of the Do Bee concept, ever wary of the Don’t Be. My grandmother loved to tease me and sing the Do Bee song backwards, “I always do what’s wrong, I never do anything right,” just to see me get apoplectic. I loved everything about Romper Room. But the moment Miss Beverly picked up her magic mirror at the end of the show was unfailingly a moment of despair for me.

She would begin to name all the children watching at home whom she could see through her magic mirror: Bobby and Cathy and Barbara and Jimmy, Lucy and Davy and Billy and Nancy, and on and on. Every day I sat holding my breath waiting for her to see me, but she never saw me. My mother told me once how hopeful I looked, listening and waiting, and how disappointed I was every time.

It’s nice when they know your name. If Miss Beverly had called my name just once, I would have pledged myself to her for eternity. But, alas, she never saw me. She never knew me.

I think it’s fair to say that knowing someone, really knowing them, involves at the very least knowing their name.  That’s where we begin, usually.  It means something to us, when someone remembers our name.  Aren’t you always pleasantly surprised when someone you only barely know actually remembers your name?  I know I am.

Some years ago, I had a pastor who did not know the names of the children in the church.  He knew the adults all by name, but he never bothered to know the children’s names.  That always bothered me, that he didn’t seem to care enough about them to know their names.  How could he be their pastor, their shepherd, if he didn’t know their names?

The shepherd knows his sheep and calls them by their names, Jesus says in this parable.  And they follow him because they know the voice of their shepherd when he calls their names.  Just as Mary Magdalene knew the voice of Jesus when she heard him call her name in the garden. 

In this passage of John’s gospel, Jesus seems to be speaking to not only his followers, but also some Pharisees, some men who have just finished grilling the young man Jesus cured on his lifelong blindness. Some Pharisees who are blind themselves in some very critical ways, and who may be deaf as well, as they wouldn’t likely hear the voice of the shepherd calling their names. And so, it is little wonder that these Pharisees did not, as the text tells us, understand what Jesus was saying to them. 

So, he tried another metaphor, saying “I am the gate.” The one who guards the sheep in the enclosure, the means by which you may come in or go out, the gate by which one may enter the kingdom of God. Whether it is as the shepherd or the gate, these Pharisees were unable to comprehend his message to them. They did not see him for who he was.

Whether it is the shepherd or the sheepfold gate, it is clear to us that Jesus is identifying himself as the one who watches over us. He is the one who is strong enough to protect, the one who cares enough to save us. Jesus can be trusted to guide us in and out of the sheepfold. In our coming and our going, we may rely on the one who would lay down his life for us.

This is the gospel message: we have a savior who knows us because he chooses to know us; he loves us enough to suffer on our behalf for the sin of the world so we have life, and life abundant; he cares for us enough to send an advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will continue to be with us, watch over us, and guide us in his path. Amen?

It gives us comfort to know that we have a good shepherd watching over us. But, as the little boy who was frightened by the thunderstorms said to his father, “I know Jesus is with me, but I need Jesus with skin on!” We need to warmth, the firmness, the tenderness of flesh and blood companions who care for us.

I know Jesus loves me and Jesus saves me. I am more concerned about whether there are people who know me, love me, care for me, and are willing to protect me if need be. I know I have a friend in Jesus. I am more concerned about how many true friends I have in Jesus’ church. And what’s more, I am concerned about whether my love is great enough to be a faithful friend in Christ’s name – a friend to my brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as those who are outside the sheepfold.

I am concerned that we rest too comfortably in the knowledge of Christ’s saving love and let it go at that. The hard truth is that there is nothing Christ did for us that he does not also ask us to do for others.

As followers of Christ we must ask ourselves how well we are doing at providing this kind of love and care to others. Do we know one another’s names? How well are we doing at knowing one another and the needs of each one? Jesus assured his followers and even those who didn’t follow him that he will know them and care for them individually. Jesus needs us to do that.

And, actually, we have some great ways in which we do that at Faith. There was an interesting conversation a few weeks ago at the roundtable that I want to share with you. The conversation started with someone telling us about an acquaintance who came to visit one Sunday. And when we got to sharing our joys and concerns, this woman was surprised. She was a member of a much larger congregation, where they don’t do such things – it’s really not feasible for very large congregations to do it. So I guess it seemed bizarre to her and she said something like, “Really, does anyone actually care about Aunt Tillie’s toe?”

And the answer was, yes. We care. Because we care about one another as members of this flock. And if you are worried about your Aunt Tillie’s toe then we are, too. We share the joys and concerns of each one in common. The sharing of joys and concerns, and the prayer chain in which all these concerns are recorded and shared more broadly, is one important means by which this congregation demonstrates this loving care Jesus speaks about.

And what’s really cool is that by practicing this as a congregation we have sort of woven a safety net of love. If a stranger walks into our sanctuary and worships with us, and this stranger shares concern about their Aunt Tillie, we will care. Even if we don’t know them. Because it is an expression of who we are.

This is an important thing that we do. We should keep doing this thing we do. But let’s also take it a step farther.

Jesus is able to assure his listeners that he will be watching over them because he is expecting us to pick up this mantle. Jesus is expecting us to care for his sheep. He is expecting us to watch over the most vulnerable and needy of his children. And to do it with the confidence of the sheep who know their good shepherd is guiding them, feeding them, and watching over them.

There are many people in this world who have, in one way or another, bee gravely harmed by the church – a church that has twisted the gospel into a message of discrimination and hate and rigidity and exclusiveness. There are spiritually hungry people in the world who are wary of the church, who do not trust the church, because of how we have failed them in the past.

What are we willing to do for them? Are we willing to earn their trust? Are we willing to love them unconditionally, showing them the grace of God and the care of the Good Shepherd? Do we care enough about them to learn their names and their stories? Are we willing to watch over them and protect them from harm?

Christ offers himself as the good shepherd and the gate. He lays down his life for us and everyone else. He calls us by name, and he expects us to be able to do the same. Let us follow in Christ’s example for this world, to know one another by name and watch over one another in his name.

photo: two friends, Niki and Megan, watching over each other