Sermon Preview: You will be my witnesses.

The ascension 
Peter Rogers (1933- ) Oil  1963

Methodist Collection of Modern Christian Art, No.29

Hello everyone! Tomorrow morning is the last Sunday of Easter!.... So hopefully by now you've eaten all your Peeps and Cadbury eggs. If you haven't, then I guess you'll have to bring them to church so I ... I mean we... can help you finish them off. :) 

We'll be talking a little bit about the Ascension--- one of the lesser-known Christian celebratory days in our tradition--- and also the idea of "witness."

Witness is usually referring to, in our day especially, something having to do with courts. Accounts that give credibility to a person's claims.... or, oftentimes, invalidate their claims. 

At the ascension--- Jesus tells his disciples, "You will be my witnesses." The church has always believed and understood---- this was not a one-time charge to such that group of disciples alone. That's the charge for all of us, today. "Be my witnesses." 

Most Christians believe this.  The question becomes, what does it mean? 

Does it mean that we have to be able to 'explain' God, or the Gospel, or Jesus, to other people?   (Does it mean that we need to get in their face and  tell them, whether they're interested or not?)  That seems a little judgmental, I think, to most of us. 

Does it mean that we have to give 'credibility' to God, somehow? --- Maybe so. I think of how many people I've met that have given up faith in God, but the reason is often tied to having had a really terrible or oppressive experience with Christians, or a particular church. I think lots of people today relate to Gandhi's quote about liking Jesus, but not being so crazy about the church. (I have to admit, sometimes that includes me.) 

But, we're not perfect, and that's okay, right? And maybe we have some doubts or questions about faith, too, that we can't answer---- so does that mean that our "witness" is somehow less?

---(And, really, do I have to go TALK to people about God? I mean, really.) 

---So, what do YOU think?  What DOES "be my witnesses" mean? More importantly, what should it look like? 

We'll get into it a bit more, tomorrow. Enjoy the beautiful Saturday!