Friday, May 27, 2016

Can I Get a Witness

Sermon preached May 8, 2016

Texts: Acts 1:1-11; Luke 24:44-53

            Every confirmation class is unique, and each class is special.  It is special because of the unique individuals that comprise the class.  Those individuals develop and community and a chemistry.  I continue to enjoy working with confirmation because of these uniquenesses, because of the opportunities I have to get to know these youth.
            Among the unique things each class has are my connections with them.  I have had my own three children in confirmation, so the connections with those classes was always interesting.  One of the unique aspects of this confirmation class was some of the long-standing connections I have had with some of these students and their families.
            Andrew will be a first for me, the first time I have confirmed both a father and a son, a parent and a child.  Andrew’s dad Corey was in one of the first confirmation classes I ever taught.  I officiated at his parents’ wedding.  I knew Rowan’s grandfather, Loren Nelson for many years.  He was my clergy mentor when I was going through the ordination candidacy process.  He and I were district superintendents together when Rowan was born, and I got to see him become a proud grandpa.  I went to Junior High School with Noelle’s dad Mike.  Then he went off to Duluth Central where his dad was the band director.  From my time as district superintendent, I knew some of the members of Kiah’s extended family in Hewitt, Minnesota.
            There are other connections.  Riley Rowan, and Rebecca were pre-schoolers when I started my pastoral ministry here.  Wow – hard to believe.  I remember when they were not much taller than the bell tables.  One of Grant’s parents is our choir director, Mike, and I had heard really good things about Mike before he ever became our choir director.
            Will and Mullen, I have not had as long a period of time to make those connections with you, but I am delighted that we have made our connections particularly through confirmation.
            I am delighted that we are all connected, and will always share this together.  It is my joy, and delight, and honor, to have worked with you these past two years, getting to know you, even if you were kind of quiet at 8:45 Sunday mornings.  We have laughed and learned and played together and prayed together.  Thank you, and I know Julie thanks you, too.  You would not be the group you are without what each of you has brought to this class.
            Not surprisingly, I use a bit of music when I teach confirmation.  Sometime I might just have to play that Garth Brooks video, “We Shall Be Free” during worship.  Anyway, this is the last time you confirmation students will have to listen to my music before you become church members.  Of course, there will be plenty of opportunities after you become church members!
Marvin Gaye, “Can I Get a Witness” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whTb96zr9_w
            Can I get a witness?  Jesus, toward the end of the Gospel of Luke says to his disciples, “You are witnesses of these things.”  The author of the Gospel of Luke is also the author of “The Acts of the Apostles.”  There Jesus tells his disciples, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses.”  Can I get a witness?
            In a little bit, one of the vows you will take, following an affirmation of your faith, is a membership vow to uphold the ministries of this church by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service and your witness.  But what does that mean?
            Witness has some different shades of meaning.  It can be a noun or a verb.  Each shade of meaning has something to say to us about what it might mean for us to be the witnesses Jesus invites us to be, all of us, not just you being confirmed today, even if I address myself to you.
            Witness can be a verb meaning to testify to religious beliefs or faith.  This week I head to Portland for The United Methodist General Conference.  It is the place where broad policy decisions are made for the denomination.  I was at the General Conference when someone added the language of “witness” to the membership vows, and I kind of think they had in mind this meaning of “witness” – a verb meaning to testify to religious beliefs or faith.  Some Christians talk about going witnessing.
            I remember a time when that is just how I used the word.  I was about confirmation age when I was part of a Jesus movement organization and one of the things we did was go witnessing.  It meant standing on the corner of Second Ave. W. and Superior Street offering religious literature and inviting conversation.  There was very little conversation.  I went with this group to Minneapolis for a week one summer and did some street witnessing on Hennepin Avenue, a rather eye-opening experience for a young man from Lester Park.
            Is this what it means to say that you will be a witness, that you will be religious in that way?  That’s the kind of being religious that often gives being religious a bad name.  But that’s not the heart of Christian faith or Christian witness.  The writer David Dark, in his intriguing new book Life’s Too Short To Pretend You’re Not Religious, says that “religion happens when we get pulled in, moved, called out or compelled by something outside ourselves.” To witness is simply to be willing to tell the story of how Jesus seems to pull us, move us, call us to live more lovingly, more compassionately, more caringly.  Confirmation is about us hearing the story of Jesus.  It is about giving us some additional language so we can tell our story with Jesus.  It is about giving us tools to continue to grow in our faith and in our witness.
            Witness can also be a noun.  A witness is someone who saw or can give a first-hand account of something.  That “first-hand” thing is important for confirmation.  When you were baptized, others made promises on your behalf to have you be a part of a community that would tell you the stories of Jesus, and of the God of Jesus.  Confirmation is where it becomes your turn to say “yes” to Jesus, “yes” to the God of Jesus, “yes” to the Jesus community, “yes’ to this Jesus community.  You are making some promises of loyalty to Jesus and his way in the world, and you are making them for yourself.  You are not making them by yourself, however.  We promise to keep hanging with you.  We promise to continue to surround you with a community of love and forgiveness.
            Witness can be a verb in another sense.  To witness is to be present at or see something personally.  “I witnessed Paul McCartney this week in Minneapolis.”  To witness is to be present.  Today, you are saying that you will be present to God, the God we know in Jesus.  You will be present to others.  You will be present to this world in which we live.  Here is a good description of it, offered by Darcey Steinke.  Life is brutal, full of horror and violence.  Life is beautiful, full of passion and joy.  Both things are true at the same time. (Easter Everywhere, 219)  You are pledging today to be present to the God who wants to mitigate the brutality and maximize the beauty.  You are pledging to be present to people caught in brutal situations, who yearn for beauty, and may look to you for some help, for some witness of something better.
            Jesus calls you, calls us all to be witnesses – to have something to say about what moves us most deeply, to have a personal connection to God in Jesus and to the Jesus community, to be present to God, to each other, to others and to the world in ways that are healing and hopeful.
            David Dark sums this up well.  My witness is the sum of everything I do and leave undone.  The words are there, but the actions speak louder….  Your religion is your witness in the shape your love takes. (22-23)  The shape of our love is Jesus.

            It is really a life-long journey, this witnessing.  At baptism, we proclaim that God loves us wonderfully and wildly.  The church community keeps telling us that, at least when we are the community of love and forgiveness we strive to be.  At confirmation we say “yes” to the God and community that has been saying “yes” to us.  All together we continue trying to be better witnesses that God continue to be up to something wildly adventurous and loving in Jesus.  Grant, Riley, Andrew, Mullen, Rebecca, Rowan, Will, Noelle, and Kiah – welcome to the next chapter in the witnessing journey. Amen.

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