The Witness
Monday, October 13, 2008 -- Week of Proper 23
Today's Reading for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 989)
Psalms 1,2, 3 (morning) 4, 7 (evening)
Micah 7:1-7
Acts 26:1-23
Luke 8:26-39
Acts 26 gives us Paul's witness before King Herod Agrippa II. Paul tells how he once persecuted the followers of Jesus. He did so with the authority of the chief priests. He tells of the vision that he experienced and how he changed his life's mission.
Paul is telling his own story about what God has done for him. He is describing what difference his experience of the risen Jesus had made in his own life. He frames his testimony within two religious principles, both controversial within Judaism -- the hope of resurrection and the necessity of the suffering of the Messiah.
Paul is being self-defining and relating his understanding of himself to the religious tradition. That is something that each of us can do.
In the gospel reading we see Jesus liberating a man from a life of troubled incoherence, the Gerasene demoniac. Instead of having the man follow him as a traveling companion, Jesus sends him home with the admonition to "declare how much God has done for you."
How do we describe what God has done for us? How do we witness to our experience of Christ? What makes sense to us so that we can ground ourselves within some religious principles that are personally meaningful to us? If we were asked to give a defense for our own faith, what would we say?
It is important to me to account for how I have experienced a sense of the divine presence in the Eucharist and in prayer. I find that being a part of our community of worship gives me deep gladness, a sense of joy and belonging. My own experience of love and union grounds my believing in a God of love and unity. These are things I find that I can talk about with a sense of authentic self-definition.
I don't expect everyone to have the same experience I do or to react as I do. I've met people who find the Eucharist quaint or perplexing rather than mysterious and exhilarating. What works for me may not work for all.
But I am convinced that everyone has experiences of the divine or intimations of the transcendent presence. Whether or not we claim those experiences and treasure them is key. When we find our heart to be strangely warmed or our frame of reference deeply widened, do we pay attention or do we just let those moments pass without reflection or memory?
What is your witness? What is your experience of God? What makes sense to you or works for you? Where have you found meaning? How is your experience grounded in some form of religious principles? Each of us has something to say, something to witness to. What is your witness?
Lowell
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Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
Lowell Grisham, Rector
Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
Lowell Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
posted by Lowell @ 7:55 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I recently did a spiritual autobiography and I saw how deeply God had woven a tapesty in my life ever since I was a young boy. No piece works without the other. Everybody has their own journey and they are all unique. No story is any better than the other. In essence, we are one body in unity with Christ. Praise the Lord.
Should your witness be kept to yourself, or should it be broadcast aloud?
Ours is not a "witnessing" church in that there is not a regular call for people to stand up during church to tell their story. I do prefer to get smaller doses of witnessing at longer intervals. My story or personal witness is something I share when appropriate, and with prayer that it will help that other person. I have heard these stories shared effectively in small groups as well.
One of the great things about Paul is his courage and persistence in sharing his conversion and its consequences with large groups, small groups, the Jews and the Gentiles, the mighty and the small.
I've been put off by the tradition in some churches of preparing a "witness" (they often sound very similar) in order to convert, save or fix other people (the lost). It can sound and feel canned and condescending.
I'm with you about sharing in a more personal way, more focused on the situation of the other person. I share to be self-defining. I try not to project expectations upon the other person, except to listen and to connect.
Lowell
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