Witnessing Baggage
“Then they (Paul and Barnabas) returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith… After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Allalia.”
Acts 14:21-25
Dear Friends,
The book of Acts in the Bible includes many parts like this one where Christian leaders went from city to city for many months and even years to witness about God’s love through Jesus Christ for all people. But friends, Paul and Barnabas weren’t living out facts of where they went, like listing out ports on a cruise. They were living out their story of Christ’s redemptive love that brings life. Their lives were their witness.
I was 17 when I boarded the church van for the DC/LA Christian youth conference. In the height of MTV with Singled Out and The Real World, this conference attempted to spin Christian faith into a cooler, safer thing teenagers could latch onto. In between Michael W. Smith and Jars of Clay we learned how True Love Waits and what it looks like to be a good Christian. A good Christian, apparently, evangelizes their friends and strangers alike. We had multiple breakout rooms where we learned the ABC’s of evangelizing and witnessing—something I was deathly afraid of. I watched my friend boldly approach some random lady at the bus stop on the day thousands of teenagers were catapulted into LA to practice everything we had just learned. He confidently sat next to her and shared the formula we were given. She didn’t recite the “sinner’s prayer” but we all pat him on the back muttering something about a seed planted.
This was one of many shame inducing experiences I’ve had that reminded me of what a terrible Christian I must be. I felt God was truly humiliated since I wasn’t a good “witness,” as if witnessing was passing along an equation to follow or formula to fulfill. The pressure put on Christians to witness their neighbors and coworkers can be paralyzing causing them not to know their neighbors and coworkers at all. Like it’s easier to not engage and avoid than to share some formula.
But friends, Christ is no formula and witnessing isn’t some equation to reproduce and pass along. A few years ago, a friend of mine told me there are five Gospels. I didn’t understand what he meant until he said, “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and you.”
The Gospels are no formula or equation and I am no formula or equation. I am a whole person embodying the wholeness of God’s love and affirmation of the wholeness of all people. I’m not passing on an equation to follow or some rules to abide by. I’m embodying Love, given and received for the wholeness and flourishing and fullness of life, now and not yet. The Gospels tell a story of God’s love through Jesus Christ. They tell of incarnational Love who skinned his knees, argued with siblings, tidied the house, changed diapers, included the excluded, was tempted and hungry and lonely, partied with the wrong kinds of people, healed the sick, bestowed worth and value towards the marginalized, was fully present to people, and intentionally stepped away from it all to be with his heavenly Father. Not some formula. A story. A whole story of life now.
Witnessing looks like life now with Christ. I don’t step into church, grab my Jesus clothes by the door like it’s a name tag, do my church thing, and then hang Jesus back up before I step into my week ahead until next time. In the same way, when I connect with neighbors, friends, coworkers I don’t put on my Jesus clothes because it’s time to witness and then hang it back up when I’ve met some quota. My entire life is designed to embody Christ. Witnessing is not something I can take on and off.
Friends, your life is not a list of facts of where you went and what you did and how many people you helped lead to receive Christ’s love for them. Your life is a Gospel story that witnesses of God’s redemptive love through Jesus Christ. And friends, even in a wilderness God’s empowering Spirit is with you.
With (love)
Bethany