Can I Get a Witness

Weekly Devotion – February 19, 2012 – Resources for Mission

Witnessing: Risking Your Reputation

Theme/Title: “Can I Get a Witness?”

Scripture:  Luke 24: 44-49; Acts 1: 6-8 & Acts 4: 1-4

Media:  

 YouTube “Practice what you preach” by cooltonetheman1

Reflection:

“Can you practice what you preach?” the Black Eyed Peas sing.  Are you willing to risk your reputation, your good name, your comfort?  You see we have to share the story of God’s grace and love if we truly want to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.  There isn’t any other way to accomplish our mission and reach our goals.  We are God’s witnesses to Hayhurst, Portland, the United States and the entire world.  Christ commissions us to this work.  And we are either witnesses in the legal sense – sharing what we know as truth to a world with God on trial – or in the evangelism sense – showing God to the world through what we say and do and how we live out our faith in our daily lives.  Either way we are sharing the story of our faith and our relationship with God so that others can come to know God too.  Either way we are risking ourselves.

In the past couple of decades I have been embarrassed to be known as a Christian because of the bad images and connotations associated with that word.  Think about it… televangelists stealing money, predominate pastors having drug induced orgies, Catholic priests sexually abusing children, right to life people bombing clinics and killing doctors, creationists pushing Intelligent Design as a reasonable theory for creation, and advocates for war in the Middle East who say it is what needs to happen to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.  I have hid my faith from public awareness because I didn’t want to be lumped in with these abuses of Christianity.  But in hiding I have abdicated the meaning of faithful living to the radical fringe and left people believing that this is what it means to be a faithful child of God.

I have sinned because I have done this.  I have allowed a false teaching to perpetuate.  I now confess my sin and know that speaking my story, sharing what I believe and why are critical to the realization of God’s dream for creation.  People need to know God and they can only begin to know God through my introducing them to God.  I must boldly stand before the world and proclaim the grace and love of God for all people.  I must offer others the space, time, experiences and opportunities to encounter God and I must help them as they too begin to practice what they preach.  When faithful people like you and me share what we know of God’s grace and love we begin to transform this world.

Meditation:

Reread the above paragraph.  Can you see yourself as the “I” in what it says?  When has someone shared God’s grace and love with you?  Have you ever shared your story of your relationship with God with anyone else?  How have you helped the world to know God?

Prayer:

Offer a pray of thanksgiving for those who have the strength and will to share God with others.  Thank God for those who have shared their faith with you.  Ask God to empower you so that you can share your experience of God with others.  Seek God’s guidance for yourself and for our church as we move ahead in our efforts to boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world.