The Reluctant Witness
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The common thread that runs through the lectionary readings for the Second Sunday of Easter is the theme of witnessing. In the Acts passage, Peter delivers a stirring sermon in which he attests to his firsthand experience of Jesus' many powerful deeds -- the most important being the resurrection, which Peter notes that "all of us are witnesses" to. He goes on to point out in the epistle text the transforming power of the resurrection, an "inheritance" that everyone is a part of by faith -- even those who did not see it with their own eyes. And of course we have the story of "doubting" Thomas, whose initial skepticism melts away when he witnesses Jesus' scars and proclaims, "My Lord and my God!" In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer reminds us that these stories demonstrate that witnessing is a two-part process -- not only seeing for ourselves (being an "eyewitness"), but also then sharing and proclaiming what we have seen and believe (the evangelistic element that we traditionally associate with Christian "witnessing"). Dean suggests that while modern culture makes many of us (particularly "mainline" Christians) somewhat reluctant about the whole issue of witnessing, it's an important element of living out our faith.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the epistle passage and Peter's statement that through the resurrection we have been given a lasting inheritance. It's natural to think about the whole notion of inheritance against the backdrop of this week's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton -- but while the British royal family inherit great wealth and celebrity status as the historic symbols of their nation, they also have a more often dubious inheritance as some of the world's most hunted targets of the paparazzi. But for Christians, Mary notes, our inheritance is not defined by bloodlines or by wealth -- it's a living and breathing presence that permeates our entire lives... one so real that it even convinced "doubting" Thomas to become an enthusiastic witness.
The Reluctant Witness
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 2:14a, 22-32; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
The word "witness" conjures up some weird images for many Christians -- images that make us skittish about the whole subject of witnessing. We think of street-corner preachers screaming invectives and damnation at passersby. We think of people knocking on our door and refusing to take "no" for an answer. We think of courtrooms and promising to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God," even though many who make that promise are lying through their teeth. So a certain ambivalence about the whole subject is understandable.
This week's lectionary passages give us a different slant on the topic, however. Witnessing, it turns out, is about receiving and giving. It's about receiving the promise of Easter and then sharing that promise with others, through the things we are, the things we do, and the things we say.
Witnessing has to do with our response, in word and deed, to an earthquake in Japan, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a lost student in Tennessee, a homeless person on the street in our town, or a slur spoken in our living room. It has to do with how we treat other people in the things we say and do.
THE WORLD
The scene has become so commonplace on our nightly news that we don't even think about it anymore. It's 11:00 PM and dark outside, but a reporter stands bathed in light in front of a government building that has been closed for hours to deliver a report that could just as easily have been delivered from the warm, comfortable confines of the newsroom. Why is she standing there in her stocking cap and mittens, teeth chattering as she tries to shuffle papers and talk about something that happened in mid-afternoon? To witness, of course. To show that her report is not just hearsay but that she was actually on the scene and saw and heard, firsthand, what she is now reporting to us.
First she witnessed something, and now she is witnessing to us what she saw. She is fulfilling both aspects of the word "witness": to see, and then to testify as to what was seen. She is using words, of course. But there are other ways of witnessing (testifying) as well.
Fifty-three weeks ago the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico owned by Transocean Ltd., burst into flames after drilling a well for BP, killing 11 workers on or near the drilling floor. The rig toppled into the Gulf and sank to the sea floor. The bodies were never recovered. Over the next 85 days, 206 million gallons of oil -- 19 times more than the Exxon Valdez -- spewed from the well. In response, the nation commandeered the largest offshore fleet of vessels since D-Day to clean up the mess. Thousands of citizens sped to the Gulf coast to offer help without thinking of the cost. A year later, the effects of breathing microscopic oil particulates into their lungs is beginning to be felt. Their actions serve as a witness to and testify to their values.
Two weeks ago Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo disappeared from her backyard after she was seen talking to an unidentified man dressed in camouflage. The town of Parsons, where she lives, has only 2,500 residents -- but within hours more than 3,500 people, some from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania, had arrived to help search the deep woods near her home on foot, on ATVs, and on horseback. Police and the FBI said there were just too many people to help effectively. Six hundred joined the search, while the rest kept vigil in town, at the Bobo home, and in churches nearby. Their presence and their prayers are witnesses to their faith, hope, and compassion.
In Japan, workers are entering the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to measure the damage and make repairs -- knowing that, as they do so, they are being poisoned by the radiation leaking from the plant. Their sacrifice witnesses to their humanity and their concern for the safety of their fellow citizens.
Six years after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi, over 2,000 volunteers still arrive each year to help in the ongoing recovery efforts. And that's not counting the ones who have made the region they came to serve their permanent home. Their continuing faithfulness after the reporters have gone home testifies to their commitment and their devotion to the ongoing needs of those damaged and hurting communities.
THE WORD
The Sunday after Easter is in some traditions known as Saint Thomas Sunday, and the emphasis for that day is placed on Thomas's confession: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
It is important when we reflect on the Thomas story that we remember the entire story. Thomas dared to doubt. He was a skeptic -- and more power to him. The witness of one who believes everything has little credibility. It is the witness of the skeptic -- the one who believes little and is not afraid to test the assertions and claims of others -- that bears weight and is taken seriously by our incredulous culture.
Thomas knows that one cannot fulfill the second half of witnessing -- testifying and reporting -- unless one has experienced the first half -- seeing and experiencing.
The witness in the Acts lesson and the epistle lesson is Peter. In Acts, Peter fulfills both aspects of witnessing. He has seen the risen Christ and experienced his transforming presence. Now he is testifying about what he experienced and the effect it had on him. In his letter, Peter encourages those who did not witness the resurrected Lord firsthand, as he did, but who do so now, in faith.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Today, we proclaim with Peter, "This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses" (Acts 2:32). The lections present for the contemporary listener not answers so much as questions -- and they are different questions than at first glance we might suppose.
The first question for the contemporary listener is not, "Do you believe even though you have not seen?" It is rather, "Where have you seen the risen Christ?"
What does the risen Christ look like today? Where do we encounter the risen Christ in the church, in the community, in the world? And how do we know it is the authentic Christ when we see him?
Thomas teaches us to look for the nail holes. Look for the signs of sacrificial suffering. Look for the sweat, the blood, the tears, and the toil that are expended for the salvation of others. There is the resurrected Christ.
The second question is, "Now that you have witnessed him, what shape will your testimony take?" To whom will you testify? When? Where? How?
Since Jesus invited us to follow him, one form of powerful testimony is to be found in the nail holes in our own hands. Often we speak the gospel most articulately through the silent testimony of our own blood, sweat, toil, and tears.
But neither can we dismiss the power of words. When we give sacrificially of ourselves it is important that those who receive our ministrations know why we give them. It is not as a demonstration of our moral superiority or our Christian perfection. We do these things not because we are marvelous, perfect, saved, and sinless individuals, but because the one we call Lord did them first for us. We do it, in other words, because Jesus told us to.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
1 Peter 1:3-9
In my work as a hospice chaplain, one of the painful parts of the job is seeing the distress families cause each other over inheritances given and received. When the will is read, any surprises are cause for unbearably hurt feelings: the mother who left everything, even her jewelry, to one daughter, with nothing for the other one; the parents who leave one child out of the will because they think he can't manage money, and instruct the siblings to take care of him. What they mean by "take care of" goes unsaid.
When children receive different amounts of money, it feels like the parents loved them differently. If one is ignored in the will, the surprise is painful beyond words. With the parents gone, and no way to ask questions and hear answers, the hurt lingers on forever. As a pastor, I suggest to people that there be no surprises in the inheritance, and they still sometimes fail to advise their families about what will happen.
In any bitter conversation about who received what, I mentally substitute the word "love" for "money," and it works equally well. "My mother gave all her money to my older brothers..." "My father left all his money to his new wife, and forgot about his children." An inheritance is about more than the tangible items we have to give -- it's about the essence of the person gone, and how they share themselves with loved ones.
The question of inheritance is on our minds this week with the royal wedding on Friday. By the time this text is read in worship, guests in Westminster Abbey and interested television watchers will have seen Prince William and Kate Middleton become husband and wife. The difference between Prince William's wedding and any one we might attend is simply about who he is... not his character or personal accomplishments, but who he is by virtue of the title he inherits. Inheritance transforms him from an ordinary young man into someone of interest. By virtue of that inheritance, the wedding of Prince William commands frenzied, almost inexplicable attention.
The royal family inherits more than bloodlines, long-held titles, or even the throne. They are also the repository of our fantasies about their lives. They carry our fascination with a different realm of reality, where we believe ordinary cares don't apply. Of course, the recent spate of divorces and financial woes in the British royal family have dented that illusion for us, but the allure still holds.
The reading from the first letter of Peter also reminds us of our inheritance in the risen Christ, an "inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading." Like our fascination with "the royals," as the media dubs them, we have cherished illusions about our faith too. We believe that faith should save us from pain, illness, or betrayal. The prosperity gospel has given us the illusion that faith is more about receiving than giving. Onto our faith, we project our fantasies about safety, or material security, or a life free from trouble. When life unfolds with its predictable mixture of sorrow and joy, health and illness, loss and success, we wonder what went wrong.
The author of First Peter also addresses those projections and illusions in this text. Our enduring inheritance of faith, this gift received from the risen Christ, is intimately related to suffering. After being "tested by fire," our faith is developed and strengthened. One grows from the other.
This gift of the risen Christ is also the gift of the Good Friday Jesus. That imperishable, undefiled, and unfading faith is deeply connected to the suffering that travels with it. As Peter W. Marty notes in Feasting on the Word [Year A, Volume 2, p. 392], "Most of the time in scripture, joy actually springs from sorrow or suffering. It can even be a consequence of defeat. It need not arise from the neatness of life, when all is running smoothly."
This is the inheritance that no one can take away from us, that can't be diminished or divided, lost or repossessed. It is impervious to our illusions, and perfect for our needs. This inheritance is a sign of perfect love, and can't be tarnished, or lost in the attic, or sold on eBay. This is the gift of love that is undimmed, no matter what else happens. Even when -- especially when -- we have to share it, it only grows.
ILLUSTRATIONS
To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. What we live is more important than what we say, because the right way of living always leads to the right way of speaking. When we forgive our neighbors from our hearts, our hearts will speak forgiving words. When we are grateful, we will speak grateful words, and when we are hopeful and joyful, we will speak hopeful and joyful words.
When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages -- one with our words and another with our actions -- makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life.
-- Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (HarperCollins, 1997)
* * *
The mainline print media is often accused of being liberal and humanistic, degrading religion whenever possible. But a recent article in the Washington Post by Brigid Schulte, titled "Christians reaffirm faith during Holy Week," demonstrates otherwise. Schulte discusses the sacrificial rituals that the estimated 2 billion Christians worldwide make during Lent. Then, accompanied by photographs, she describes the joy Christians celebrate during Holy Week. She concludes her article with this sentence: "At the end of this Holy Week, on the Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox, Christians celebrate Easter, the day they believe Jesus rose from the dead, once again reaffirming their faith that out of darkness, there is light. Through death, there is life." Our Acts reading this week says "that all of us are witnesses" -- truly a confession recognized and affirmed by Brigid Schulte and the Washington Post.
* * *
David Stone, in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, declares, "The teenage phenomenon Justin Bieber is arguably the most popular Christian in the world." Stone relates that Bieber freely discusses in interviews his involvement in an evangelical church, his multiple prayer times during the day, his belief in angels, and his stance on social issues such as his opposition to abortion. Yet, Stone writes, "Where you won't hear Mr. Bieber talk about faith very often, however, is in his songs." Stone concludes that this is "also a reflection of a split in popular music between the secular and the godly." Stone presents a history of music over the last several decades, demonstrating that conservative Republican evangelicals have accepted "contemporary Christian music" as their norm. This group, according to Stone, is not the base that purchases Bieber's CDs and attends his concerts.
Bieber might be a popular Christian, but how authentic is his Christianity? Bieber's music is his message, and he has refrained from singing gospel by placing fame and profits above a true evangelical witness. Justin Bieber is hardly an imitation of Peter, who stood before the Jews, at great personal cost, and said, "Listen to me!"
* * *
The disciples huddled in the Upper Room with the doors locked and the windows closed, in fear that the authorities would come and arrest them as they did the insurrectionist Jesus. Given the safety and security of those of us who reside in the United States, this is a nice story -- but the impact of its meaning is lost on us. Not so for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in other countries of the world.
In Iraq the persecution of Christians is so severe that those who have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein have brought the population down from 1.5 million to 650,000. Bombings are commonplace in front of churches, especially on Christmas and Easter. This past Easter, the violence was so prevalent that Iraq's state-run television broadcast the Mass so Christians could worship in the privacy and protection of their homes.
* * *
In his book The Heart of Christianity, professor Marcus Borg of Oregon State University describes how his university students who grew up outside the church have a uniformly negative stereotype of Christianity. "When I ask them to write a short essay on their impression of Christianity," says Borg, "they consistently use five adjectives: Christians are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted." I suspect that Borg's unscientific conclusions apply well beyond his university students to our broader culture. Why these stereotypes persist, the extent to which they are deserved, or whether they are even accurate, are all interesting and complex questions, but at least we can say this much -- the emergent community of those who had followed Jesus gained a different reputation; they "enjoyed the favor of all the people" (Acts 2:47). Why the contrast between then and now?
-- Daniel Clendenin, "Much Grace Was With Them All: Our Distinctive Sign", Journey with Jesus
* * *
In his autobiography, A Mass for the Dead, William Gibson writes of that time when he picked up his late mother's gold-rimmed spectacles and her faded, dog-eared prayer book. He sat in what was once her favorite chair. He opened the prayer book and tried to hear in those words what she must have heard. He placed her spectacles on his own nose and tried to see what she must have seen in that prayer book. He reached -- in desperation -- for the slender thread of her faith, once so alive, so real, so meaningful. And William Gibson writes that he did not see what she had seen; he could not hear what she had heard. The man tried to stoke the fires of his dead mother's faith -- but it never works that way. Every person must discover a faith of our own.
-- Roger Lovette, A Faith of our Own (Pilgrim Press, 1976), p. 129
* * *
The Thomas story in John reminds me of another Thomas. Years ago this second Thomas knocked on the great doors of the Abbey of Gethsemane outside Bardstown, Kentucky. He had come to learn and to study and then write and finally to proclaim the God who had only recently touched his life. That story was told by Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. The son of prosperous Americans, Merton spent his childhood abroad and was educated at Columbia University. He was deeply interested in intellectual pursuits and, because he was honest and open and flexible, he finally made the great confession: "My Lord and my God!" His prolific writing after that time still helps people today that struggle with faith.
In February 1969 at that same Abbey at Gethsemane outside Bardstown, they laid Thomas Merton to rest. His brother monks were dressed in white -- symbolic of the resurrection. A fellow-priest spoke these words at that service: "Tom and John XXIII, both revolutionaries, are now together, leading the vanguard, directing their revolution."
-- Roger Lovette, A Faith of Our Own, p. 134
* * *
Rev. Nicky Gumbell writes about faith: "When I was a child our family had an old black and white television set. We could never get a very good picture. It was always fuzzy and used to go into lines. We were quite happy with it since we did not know anything different. One day we discovered that it needed an outside antenna. Suddenly we found we could get a clear and distinct picture. Our enjoyment was transformed. Life with faith in God is like our old television with an antenna."
* * *
David Herbert Donald wrote a biography called Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, 1995), in which he noted "Lincoln's belief that the Almighty had His own purposes." He wrote that "this belief sustained him [Lincoln] during a life of constant striving that might otherwise have crushed him. It helped rescue him from self-righteousness, allowed him to be forbearing when others made mistakes, and encouraged in him the realistic caution that served him and his country so well during its gravest crisis, but that also profoundly irritated his more systematic and single-minded contemporaries -- and still troubles some of the more unforgiving students of his career in our own time."
* * *
Some time ago a conference of noted professors, industrialists, and government leaders met at Cambridge University. The purpose of their conference was to address this question: What causes certain persons to become visionaries or achievers in society? It was hoped that if the participants could isolate the factors that produce such persons that it would be possible to turn out more creative leaders by nurturing those factors in schools and universities. This was their conclusion: "The greatest visionaries and achievers live as though seeing another world. They live very much in this world, but they appear to have some other world in their sights and everything they do is governed by that other world."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Our God is our Sovereign.
People: We have no good apart from our God.
Leader: God is our chosen portion and our cup.
People: The lines have fallen in pleasant places for us.
Leader: In God's presence there is fullness of joy.
People: At God's right hand are pleasures forevermore.
OR
Leader: Come, let us give witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
People: But we were not there when he rose.
Leader: But you are still his witnesses; you know he is raised.
People: We have experienced his living presence.
Leader: We have experienced it within our hearts.
People: We have experienced it in the work of his Body.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken"
found in:
UMH: 505
CH: 534
"Wellspring of Wisdom"
found in:
UMH: 506
CH: 596
"Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart"
found in:
UMH: 500
PH: 326
AAHH: 312
NCH: 290
CH: 265
LBW: 486
"Pues Si Vivimos" ("When We Are Living")
found in:
UMH: 356
PH: 400
NCH: 499
CH: 536
"Spirit Song"
found in:
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
"Tu Has Venido a la Orilla" ("Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore")
found in:
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
"We Meet You, O Christ"
found in:
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
"Christ Is the World's Light"
found in:
UMH: 188
"God, You Are My God"
found in:
CCB: 60
"Jesus, Name Above All Names"
found in:
CCB: 35
Renew: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who raised Jesus to life eternal: Grant us the grace to witness to his life as we experience it within our being, and as he lives in and through us serving others in his Name; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, The Risen Christ, and acknowledge that it is only in you that we have found life. You have raised us from death into life eternal. So strengthen us by the words of scripture and by your Spirit that we may be faithful witnesses of the ever-living Christ in our midst. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we fail to witness to our Savior.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us and claimed us as your children, and yet we are reluctant to speak to others of our relationship with you. Even when we do things for others in response to our love and devotion to Jesus, we often fail to mention that motivation to others. Forgive us, and make us bold to act and speak as disciples of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.
Leader: God knows our frame, that we are weak. God knows we are not perfect, and yet God desires to love us and use us for the good of all creation. The love and forgiveness of God is ours, both for ourselves and to share with others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and bless your Name, O God, for you are the source of life for us and for all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us and claimed us as your children, and yet we are reluctant to speak to others of our relationship with you. Even when we do things for others in response to our love and devotion to Jesus, we often fail to mention that motivation to others. Forgive us, and make us bold to act and speak as disciples of our Savior, Jesus.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have moved and worked within, among, and for us. You have been the faithful one when all others have deserted us. You have been the one who has loved us when we were unlovable. You are the very source and ground of our being.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our need and for those anywhere who find themselves unloved or without meaning in their living. Empower us by your Spirit to be faithful witnesses to those around us that they can find life and meaning in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Bring in images of people in the witness box at court.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about being baptized as an infant. Their parents professed their faith and promised to raise them as disciples of Jesus. But one day they will need to also profess their faith at confirmation. As they learn about Jesus, they are learning to be his disciples.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
More Precious than Gold
1 Peter 1:3-9
Objects: gold jewelry and a placard with the letters G-O-L-D
Good morning, boys and girls! I love the look of solid gold. Gold is beautiful and valuable. People spend many hours of many days panning for gold in the cold mountain streams where gold nuggets might be found. Companies build large mines that go deep into the earth to find gold. We wear gold jewelry and put gold on things that are important to us. Gold is expensive and beautiful.
Peter reminds his readers that their faith is more important, more "precious" than gold. What is faith? (Let the children answer.) Faith is trusting in God. That is not always easy to do. When we trust in God, that is faith -- and that faith is more valuable than all the gold in the world. Gold is nothing compared to God. (Hold up the placard and erase or mark out the letter L in "GOLD" so that the word now spells "GOD.")
You have to have lots of money for gold, but you don't need any money for God. Gold can be stolen. No one can take God away from you. Gold can be melted down and destroyed. God can never be destroyed. Gold can make us worry and fret. God can take away our worry and fretting. Gold is beautiful; God is far more beautiful.
I'm glad you have faith in God and trust in God alone. Gold we can do without, but we cannot do without God.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for being there for us. Thank you for the faith we have. Amen.
* * *
Alternative: Retell the classic King Midas story about the king who longed for gold. When everything he touched turned to gold, he was initially quite happy. Then his joy turned to sorrow when he learned that those things most precious to him were more valuable than mere gold. You could say: "Imagine a world where everything was gold-colored and hard and cold like gold! How would you like a King Midas to touch your favorite friend and turn her to gold? She might be pretty to look at, but she wouldn't be much fun!" Gold is beautiful and valuable, but our faith in God is so very much more important!
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 1, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Mary Austin shares some additional thoughts on the epistle passage and Peter's statement that through the resurrection we have been given a lasting inheritance. It's natural to think about the whole notion of inheritance against the backdrop of this week's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton -- but while the British royal family inherit great wealth and celebrity status as the historic symbols of their nation, they also have a more often dubious inheritance as some of the world's most hunted targets of the paparazzi. But for Christians, Mary notes, our inheritance is not defined by bloodlines or by wealth -- it's a living and breathing presence that permeates our entire lives... one so real that it even convinced "doubting" Thomas to become an enthusiastic witness.
The Reluctant Witness
by Dean Feldmeyer
Acts 2:14a, 22-32; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
The word "witness" conjures up some weird images for many Christians -- images that make us skittish about the whole subject of witnessing. We think of street-corner preachers screaming invectives and damnation at passersby. We think of people knocking on our door and refusing to take "no" for an answer. We think of courtrooms and promising to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God," even though many who make that promise are lying through their teeth. So a certain ambivalence about the whole subject is understandable.
This week's lectionary passages give us a different slant on the topic, however. Witnessing, it turns out, is about receiving and giving. It's about receiving the promise of Easter and then sharing that promise with others, through the things we are, the things we do, and the things we say.
Witnessing has to do with our response, in word and deed, to an earthquake in Japan, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a lost student in Tennessee, a homeless person on the street in our town, or a slur spoken in our living room. It has to do with how we treat other people in the things we say and do.
THE WORLD
The scene has become so commonplace on our nightly news that we don't even think about it anymore. It's 11:00 PM and dark outside, but a reporter stands bathed in light in front of a government building that has been closed for hours to deliver a report that could just as easily have been delivered from the warm, comfortable confines of the newsroom. Why is she standing there in her stocking cap and mittens, teeth chattering as she tries to shuffle papers and talk about something that happened in mid-afternoon? To witness, of course. To show that her report is not just hearsay but that she was actually on the scene and saw and heard, firsthand, what she is now reporting to us.
First she witnessed something, and now she is witnessing to us what she saw. She is fulfilling both aspects of the word "witness": to see, and then to testify as to what was seen. She is using words, of course. But there are other ways of witnessing (testifying) as well.
Fifty-three weeks ago the Deepwater Horizon, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico owned by Transocean Ltd., burst into flames after drilling a well for BP, killing 11 workers on or near the drilling floor. The rig toppled into the Gulf and sank to the sea floor. The bodies were never recovered. Over the next 85 days, 206 million gallons of oil -- 19 times more than the Exxon Valdez -- spewed from the well. In response, the nation commandeered the largest offshore fleet of vessels since D-Day to clean up the mess. Thousands of citizens sped to the Gulf coast to offer help without thinking of the cost. A year later, the effects of breathing microscopic oil particulates into their lungs is beginning to be felt. Their actions serve as a witness to and testify to their values.
Two weeks ago Tennessee nursing student Holly Bobo disappeared from her backyard after she was seen talking to an unidentified man dressed in camouflage. The town of Parsons, where she lives, has only 2,500 residents -- but within hours more than 3,500 people, some from as far away as Ohio and Pennsylvania, had arrived to help search the deep woods near her home on foot, on ATVs, and on horseback. Police and the FBI said there were just too many people to help effectively. Six hundred joined the search, while the rest kept vigil in town, at the Bobo home, and in churches nearby. Their presence and their prayers are witnesses to their faith, hope, and compassion.
In Japan, workers are entering the earthquake-damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to measure the damage and make repairs -- knowing that, as they do so, they are being poisoned by the radiation leaking from the plant. Their sacrifice witnesses to their humanity and their concern for the safety of their fellow citizens.
Six years after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana and Mississippi, over 2,000 volunteers still arrive each year to help in the ongoing recovery efforts. And that's not counting the ones who have made the region they came to serve their permanent home. Their continuing faithfulness after the reporters have gone home testifies to their commitment and their devotion to the ongoing needs of those damaged and hurting communities.
THE WORD
The Sunday after Easter is in some traditions known as Saint Thomas Sunday, and the emphasis for that day is placed on Thomas's confession: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28).
It is important when we reflect on the Thomas story that we remember the entire story. Thomas dared to doubt. He was a skeptic -- and more power to him. The witness of one who believes everything has little credibility. It is the witness of the skeptic -- the one who believes little and is not afraid to test the assertions and claims of others -- that bears weight and is taken seriously by our incredulous culture.
Thomas knows that one cannot fulfill the second half of witnessing -- testifying and reporting -- unless one has experienced the first half -- seeing and experiencing.
The witness in the Acts lesson and the epistle lesson is Peter. In Acts, Peter fulfills both aspects of witnessing. He has seen the risen Christ and experienced his transforming presence. Now he is testifying about what he experienced and the effect it had on him. In his letter, Peter encourages those who did not witness the resurrected Lord firsthand, as he did, but who do so now, in faith.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
Today, we proclaim with Peter, "This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses" (Acts 2:32). The lections present for the contemporary listener not answers so much as questions -- and they are different questions than at first glance we might suppose.
The first question for the contemporary listener is not, "Do you believe even though you have not seen?" It is rather, "Where have you seen the risen Christ?"
What does the risen Christ look like today? Where do we encounter the risen Christ in the church, in the community, in the world? And how do we know it is the authentic Christ when we see him?
Thomas teaches us to look for the nail holes. Look for the signs of sacrificial suffering. Look for the sweat, the blood, the tears, and the toil that are expended for the salvation of others. There is the resurrected Christ.
The second question is, "Now that you have witnessed him, what shape will your testimony take?" To whom will you testify? When? Where? How?
Since Jesus invited us to follow him, one form of powerful testimony is to be found in the nail holes in our own hands. Often we speak the gospel most articulately through the silent testimony of our own blood, sweat, toil, and tears.
But neither can we dismiss the power of words. When we give sacrificially of ourselves it is important that those who receive our ministrations know why we give them. It is not as a demonstration of our moral superiority or our Christian perfection. We do these things not because we are marvelous, perfect, saved, and sinless individuals, but because the one we call Lord did them first for us. We do it, in other words, because Jesus told us to.
SECOND THOUGHTS
by Mary Austin
1 Peter 1:3-9
In my work as a hospice chaplain, one of the painful parts of the job is seeing the distress families cause each other over inheritances given and received. When the will is read, any surprises are cause for unbearably hurt feelings: the mother who left everything, even her jewelry, to one daughter, with nothing for the other one; the parents who leave one child out of the will because they think he can't manage money, and instruct the siblings to take care of him. What they mean by "take care of" goes unsaid.
When children receive different amounts of money, it feels like the parents loved them differently. If one is ignored in the will, the surprise is painful beyond words. With the parents gone, and no way to ask questions and hear answers, the hurt lingers on forever. As a pastor, I suggest to people that there be no surprises in the inheritance, and they still sometimes fail to advise their families about what will happen.
In any bitter conversation about who received what, I mentally substitute the word "love" for "money," and it works equally well. "My mother gave all her money to my older brothers..." "My father left all his money to his new wife, and forgot about his children." An inheritance is about more than the tangible items we have to give -- it's about the essence of the person gone, and how they share themselves with loved ones.
The question of inheritance is on our minds this week with the royal wedding on Friday. By the time this text is read in worship, guests in Westminster Abbey and interested television watchers will have seen Prince William and Kate Middleton become husband and wife. The difference between Prince William's wedding and any one we might attend is simply about who he is... not his character or personal accomplishments, but who he is by virtue of the title he inherits. Inheritance transforms him from an ordinary young man into someone of interest. By virtue of that inheritance, the wedding of Prince William commands frenzied, almost inexplicable attention.
The royal family inherits more than bloodlines, long-held titles, or even the throne. They are also the repository of our fantasies about their lives. They carry our fascination with a different realm of reality, where we believe ordinary cares don't apply. Of course, the recent spate of divorces and financial woes in the British royal family have dented that illusion for us, but the allure still holds.
The reading from the first letter of Peter also reminds us of our inheritance in the risen Christ, an "inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading." Like our fascination with "the royals," as the media dubs them, we have cherished illusions about our faith too. We believe that faith should save us from pain, illness, or betrayal. The prosperity gospel has given us the illusion that faith is more about receiving than giving. Onto our faith, we project our fantasies about safety, or material security, or a life free from trouble. When life unfolds with its predictable mixture of sorrow and joy, health and illness, loss and success, we wonder what went wrong.
The author of First Peter also addresses those projections and illusions in this text. Our enduring inheritance of faith, this gift received from the risen Christ, is intimately related to suffering. After being "tested by fire," our faith is developed and strengthened. One grows from the other.
This gift of the risen Christ is also the gift of the Good Friday Jesus. That imperishable, undefiled, and unfading faith is deeply connected to the suffering that travels with it. As Peter W. Marty notes in Feasting on the Word [Year A, Volume 2, p. 392], "Most of the time in scripture, joy actually springs from sorrow or suffering. It can even be a consequence of defeat. It need not arise from the neatness of life, when all is running smoothly."
This is the inheritance that no one can take away from us, that can't be diminished or divided, lost or repossessed. It is impervious to our illusions, and perfect for our needs. This inheritance is a sign of perfect love, and can't be tarnished, or lost in the attic, or sold on eBay. This is the gift of love that is undimmed, no matter what else happens. Even when -- especially when -- we have to share it, it only grows.
ILLUSTRATIONS
To be a witness for God is to be a living sign of God's presence in the world. What we live is more important than what we say, because the right way of living always leads to the right way of speaking. When we forgive our neighbors from our hearts, our hearts will speak forgiving words. When we are grateful, we will speak grateful words, and when we are hopeful and joyful, we will speak hopeful and joyful words.
When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages -- one with our words and another with our actions -- makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life.
-- Henri Nouwen, Bread for the Journey (HarperCollins, 1997)
* * *
The mainline print media is often accused of being liberal and humanistic, degrading religion whenever possible. But a recent article in the Washington Post by Brigid Schulte, titled "Christians reaffirm faith during Holy Week," demonstrates otherwise. Schulte discusses the sacrificial rituals that the estimated 2 billion Christians worldwide make during Lent. Then, accompanied by photographs, she describes the joy Christians celebrate during Holy Week. She concludes her article with this sentence: "At the end of this Holy Week, on the Sunday that follows the first full moon after the vernal equinox, Christians celebrate Easter, the day they believe Jesus rose from the dead, once again reaffirming their faith that out of darkness, there is light. Through death, there is life." Our Acts reading this week says "that all of us are witnesses" -- truly a confession recognized and affirmed by Brigid Schulte and the Washington Post.
* * *
David Stone, in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, declares, "The teenage phenomenon Justin Bieber is arguably the most popular Christian in the world." Stone relates that Bieber freely discusses in interviews his involvement in an evangelical church, his multiple prayer times during the day, his belief in angels, and his stance on social issues such as his opposition to abortion. Yet, Stone writes, "Where you won't hear Mr. Bieber talk about faith very often, however, is in his songs." Stone concludes that this is "also a reflection of a split in popular music between the secular and the godly." Stone presents a history of music over the last several decades, demonstrating that conservative Republican evangelicals have accepted "contemporary Christian music" as their norm. This group, according to Stone, is not the base that purchases Bieber's CDs and attends his concerts.
Bieber might be a popular Christian, but how authentic is his Christianity? Bieber's music is his message, and he has refrained from singing gospel by placing fame and profits above a true evangelical witness. Justin Bieber is hardly an imitation of Peter, who stood before the Jews, at great personal cost, and said, "Listen to me!"
* * *
The disciples huddled in the Upper Room with the doors locked and the windows closed, in fear that the authorities would come and arrest them as they did the insurrectionist Jesus. Given the safety and security of those of us who reside in the United States, this is a nice story -- but the impact of its meaning is lost on us. Not so for many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in other countries of the world.
In Iraq the persecution of Christians is so severe that those who have fled the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein have brought the population down from 1.5 million to 650,000. Bombings are commonplace in front of churches, especially on Christmas and Easter. This past Easter, the violence was so prevalent that Iraq's state-run television broadcast the Mass so Christians could worship in the privacy and protection of their homes.
* * *
In his book The Heart of Christianity, professor Marcus Borg of Oregon State University describes how his university students who grew up outside the church have a uniformly negative stereotype of Christianity. "When I ask them to write a short essay on their impression of Christianity," says Borg, "they consistently use five adjectives: Christians are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted." I suspect that Borg's unscientific conclusions apply well beyond his university students to our broader culture. Why these stereotypes persist, the extent to which they are deserved, or whether they are even accurate, are all interesting and complex questions, but at least we can say this much -- the emergent community of those who had followed Jesus gained a different reputation; they "enjoyed the favor of all the people" (Acts 2:47). Why the contrast between then and now?
-- Daniel Clendenin, "Much Grace Was With Them All: Our Distinctive Sign", Journey with Jesus
* * *
In his autobiography, A Mass for the Dead, William Gibson writes of that time when he picked up his late mother's gold-rimmed spectacles and her faded, dog-eared prayer book. He sat in what was once her favorite chair. He opened the prayer book and tried to hear in those words what she must have heard. He placed her spectacles on his own nose and tried to see what she must have seen in that prayer book. He reached -- in desperation -- for the slender thread of her faith, once so alive, so real, so meaningful. And William Gibson writes that he did not see what she had seen; he could not hear what she had heard. The man tried to stoke the fires of his dead mother's faith -- but it never works that way. Every person must discover a faith of our own.
-- Roger Lovette, A Faith of our Own (Pilgrim Press, 1976), p. 129
* * *
The Thomas story in John reminds me of another Thomas. Years ago this second Thomas knocked on the great doors of the Abbey of Gethsemane outside Bardstown, Kentucky. He had come to learn and to study and then write and finally to proclaim the God who had only recently touched his life. That story was told by Merton in his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. The son of prosperous Americans, Merton spent his childhood abroad and was educated at Columbia University. He was deeply interested in intellectual pursuits and, because he was honest and open and flexible, he finally made the great confession: "My Lord and my God!" His prolific writing after that time still helps people today that struggle with faith.
In February 1969 at that same Abbey at Gethsemane outside Bardstown, they laid Thomas Merton to rest. His brother monks were dressed in white -- symbolic of the resurrection. A fellow-priest spoke these words at that service: "Tom and John XXIII, both revolutionaries, are now together, leading the vanguard, directing their revolution."
-- Roger Lovette, A Faith of Our Own, p. 134
* * *
Rev. Nicky Gumbell writes about faith: "When I was a child our family had an old black and white television set. We could never get a very good picture. It was always fuzzy and used to go into lines. We were quite happy with it since we did not know anything different. One day we discovered that it needed an outside antenna. Suddenly we found we could get a clear and distinct picture. Our enjoyment was transformed. Life with faith in God is like our old television with an antenna."
* * *
David Herbert Donald wrote a biography called Lincoln (Simon & Schuster, 1995), in which he noted "Lincoln's belief that the Almighty had His own purposes." He wrote that "this belief sustained him [Lincoln] during a life of constant striving that might otherwise have crushed him. It helped rescue him from self-righteousness, allowed him to be forbearing when others made mistakes, and encouraged in him the realistic caution that served him and his country so well during its gravest crisis, but that also profoundly irritated his more systematic and single-minded contemporaries -- and still troubles some of the more unforgiving students of his career in our own time."
* * *
Some time ago a conference of noted professors, industrialists, and government leaders met at Cambridge University. The purpose of their conference was to address this question: What causes certain persons to become visionaries or achievers in society? It was hoped that if the participants could isolate the factors that produce such persons that it would be possible to turn out more creative leaders by nurturing those factors in schools and universities. This was their conclusion: "The greatest visionaries and achievers live as though seeing another world. They live very much in this world, but they appear to have some other world in their sights and everything they do is governed by that other world."
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: Our God is our Sovereign.
People: We have no good apart from our God.
Leader: God is our chosen portion and our cup.
People: The lines have fallen in pleasant places for us.
Leader: In God's presence there is fullness of joy.
People: At God's right hand are pleasures forevermore.
OR
Leader: Come, let us give witness to the resurrection of Jesus.
People: But we were not there when he rose.
Leader: But you are still his witnesses; you know he is raised.
People: We have experienced his living presence.
Leader: We have experienced it within our hearts.
People: We have experienced it in the work of his Body.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken"
found in:
UMH: 505
CH: 534
"Wellspring of Wisdom"
found in:
UMH: 506
CH: 596
"Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart"
found in:
UMH: 500
PH: 326
AAHH: 312
NCH: 290
CH: 265
LBW: 486
"Pues Si Vivimos" ("When We Are Living")
found in:
UMH: 356
PH: 400
NCH: 499
CH: 536
"Spirit Song"
found in:
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
"Tu Has Venido a la Orilla" ("Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore")
found in:
UMH: 344
PH: 377
CH: 342
"We Meet You, O Christ"
found in:
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
"Christ Is the World's Light"
found in:
UMH: 188
"God, You Are My God"
found in:
CCB: 60
"Jesus, Name Above All Names"
found in:
CCB: 35
Renew: 26
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who raised Jesus to life eternal: Grant us the grace to witness to his life as we experience it within our being, and as he lives in and through us serving others in his Name; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, The Risen Christ, and acknowledge that it is only in you that we have found life. You have raised us from death into life eternal. So strengthen us by the words of scripture and by your Spirit that we may be faithful witnesses of the ever-living Christ in our midst. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins, and especially the ways in which we fail to witness to our Savior.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us and claimed us as your children, and yet we are reluctant to speak to others of our relationship with you. Even when we do things for others in response to our love and devotion to Jesus, we often fail to mention that motivation to others. Forgive us, and make us bold to act and speak as disciples of our Savior, Jesus. Amen.
Leader: God knows our frame, that we are weak. God knows we are not perfect, and yet God desires to love us and use us for the good of all creation. The love and forgiveness of God is ours, both for ourselves and to share with others.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We worship and bless your Name, O God, for you are the source of life for us and for all creation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have called us and claimed us as your children, and yet we are reluctant to speak to others of our relationship with you. Even when we do things for others in response to our love and devotion to Jesus, we often fail to mention that motivation to others. Forgive us, and make us bold to act and speak as disciples of our Savior, Jesus.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have moved and worked within, among, and for us. You have been the faithful one when all others have deserted us. You have been the one who has loved us when we were unlovable. You are the very source and ground of our being.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray to you for one another in our need and for those anywhere who find themselves unloved or without meaning in their living. Empower us by your Spirit to be faithful witnesses to those around us that they can find life and meaning in you.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the Name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Visuals
Bring in images of people in the witness box at court.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about being baptized as an infant. Their parents professed their faith and promised to raise them as disciples of Jesus. But one day they will need to also profess their faith at confirmation. As they learn about Jesus, they are learning to be his disciples.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
More Precious than Gold
1 Peter 1:3-9
Objects: gold jewelry and a placard with the letters G-O-L-D
Good morning, boys and girls! I love the look of solid gold. Gold is beautiful and valuable. People spend many hours of many days panning for gold in the cold mountain streams where gold nuggets might be found. Companies build large mines that go deep into the earth to find gold. We wear gold jewelry and put gold on things that are important to us. Gold is expensive and beautiful.
Peter reminds his readers that their faith is more important, more "precious" than gold. What is faith? (Let the children answer.) Faith is trusting in God. That is not always easy to do. When we trust in God, that is faith -- and that faith is more valuable than all the gold in the world. Gold is nothing compared to God. (Hold up the placard and erase or mark out the letter L in "GOLD" so that the word now spells "GOD.")
You have to have lots of money for gold, but you don't need any money for God. Gold can be stolen. No one can take God away from you. Gold can be melted down and destroyed. God can never be destroyed. Gold can make us worry and fret. God can take away our worry and fretting. Gold is beautiful; God is far more beautiful.
I'm glad you have faith in God and trust in God alone. Gold we can do without, but we cannot do without God.
Prayer: Dear God, thank you for being there for us. Thank you for the faith we have. Amen.
* * *
Alternative: Retell the classic King Midas story about the king who longed for gold. When everything he touched turned to gold, he was initially quite happy. Then his joy turned to sorrow when he learned that those things most precious to him were more valuable than mere gold. You could say: "Imagine a world where everything was gold-colored and hard and cold like gold! How would you like a King Midas to touch your favorite friend and turn her to gold? She might be pretty to look at, but she wouldn't be much fun!" Gold is beautiful and valuable, but our faith in God is so very much more important!
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, May 1, 2011, issue.
Copyright 2011 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
