The Importance of Witness
The Rule of Life, Week 15
by Adam White

We will share the redeeming, healing, creative love of God in word, deed and presence as an invitation to others to experience the transforming love of God
-From the MWF Rule of Life

You are a witness.

Really, you are! For instance, you are currently giving witness by way of reading a weekly devotional, for which we are very appreciative.

You are a witness everyday to many different things. You offer a witness to family members, colleagues, classmates, friends, strangers, yourself, and, yes, to God. You are not just a witness in a periodic sense, where only certain moments or actions or persons of your day are included. No, you are a holistic witness of life and everything that life has to offer.

But what makes up our identity as witnesses--what are we witnessing to? Really what we are talking about is our stories. We each have a witness, a story, that encompasses who we are and how we live.

Regarding our faith, we bear witness to following God as modeled in Christ by moving with the Holy Spirit. We have stories to tell and we have stories to listen to with others. Being a witness is a two-way street, where we offer as much as we receive. In this sense, we are not just handing something out to someone, but intentionally creating deeper bonds, deeper relationships, that become part of a collective witness. Witness represents an openness and willingness to share the ways that God acts in one’s life with others through actions and words. It is positive action combined with a willingness to attribute those actions to the power of God in one’s own life and with an invitation to learn more.1

As we look to share our stories and listen with each other, we also carry with us the realization that being a witness means being aware. We take in and exert energy to become aware of God’s presence at work in the world around us each day. This extends a sacred invitation to hear, touch, see: to witness God in what can so often seem ordinary. We may think our routines are ordinary, but we are living in extraordinary times.

We live in a time when people are divided and can be dismissed and dismissive and we are called, with others, to be a healing balm through our witness. Don’t believe me? It wasn’t me that said “that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed…You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:47-48) Jesus did.

It is one thing to witness the teaching of Christ, to understand what forgiveness and repentance mean, but another to become a living witness, embodying forgiveness and repentance at all times and especially when we encounter suffering. When we become stewards of reconciliation and turn around in a new direction, walking a path of unity with others rather than seeking division, then we indeed become living witnesses to a new reality of hope and healing. We become vessels of God’s transformative Spirit at work in the world.

Here’s to being a witness, to sharing and receiving God’s healing image that is within each of us. Amen.

Invitation to Missional Mindfulness:

How are you sharing your story with others? Who around you could you share your story with as a form of witness?
How are you receiving stories from others? Who around you could you ask to share their story with you as a way of receiving witness?

Reference:

[1] Larry Duggins, Simple Harmony, (Larry Duggins, 2012).

The Missional Wisdom Foundation Rule of Life

We hope you have enjoyed our study of the Missional Wisdom Foundation Rule of Life. This is our last week to focus on The Rule. This way of life continually blesses us in many ways and we hope that you, our Dispersed Community, have been able to share in that blessing. If you would like a very nice, framable copy of the MWF Rule of Life, you can find several options in our Merchandise Store.