11 April 2010
Carolyn L Roberts
Acts 5.27-32

            I have a miniature figure under a glass dome set on a round circle of wood about three inches in diameter. It was given to me in the very first church I served as an interim pastor, created by the director of music ministry. To be more specific, the miniature is of me, and I’m in a very small natural area, represented by a tiny evergreen and a few flowers. I’ve kept it with me all these years, in part because I appreciate the gift, and find its simplicity charming. There’s no question I feel a deep connection with the natural world. That said, there is also something about this miniature that has always bothered me. I have my arms open as though I am speaking...preaching, I would suppose. And that’s the disconnect. For all the research that’s been done about how plants grow better listening to Mozart as compared to acid rock, how they grow better when people speak to them in dulcet tones, I know of no one who was called to witness to plants and trees. On behalf of them, yes. Absolutely. But to them? No one that I know.

            Which leads me to an obvious point: the Christian is called to witness in community–even when it’s the smallest community possible: a community of two. That’s because witness is about communication, about how we communicate to others the redeeming, life-transforming love of our still-speaking God.

            That issue is part of the challenge facing Peter, John and other apostles as they are called before the Jewish council and high priest. These apostles have experienced first-hand the redeeming, life-transforming love of God. From the standpoint of any practicing Jew, so far, so good. In fact, more than good. Fantastic! Enough to make a Jewish mother proud.

            The apostles are called before the Jewish council and high priest and they give witness–witness that it comes out of personal experience. And here’s the thing: the council doesn’t question the authenticity of the apostles’ experience; the council doesn’t challenge the validity of their witness, because the apostles are speaking for themselves, and they are speaking out of what they have experienced. For all of their theological and priestly authority, the council members are not experts when it comes to the apostles’ experience. These apostles have experienced first-hand the redeeming, life-transforming love of God made known to them through the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. These apostles stand before authorities in their own faith tradition, and are forbidden to share their personal experience–the very thing about which they are experts. So what’s the first thing they do? They share their experience–with the same community they are a part of, the same community that challenges the witness they now bear. Think of it as differences within the family. The experience of the first child will not be the experience of the third child. Or the middle child. Both the experience and the feelings that attend it have their own validity, whether or not this is recognized and affirmed within the family.

            This weekend, Christie Holland and I–along with about sixty others from around the Central Atlantic Conference–attended a workshop that among other things, helped us look at healthy communication practices within the church. The work that we have done here at UCCSV in the various Completing the Circle listening groups over the past year has modeled these practices. We have gathered around our ministries of Christian Education, Worship, Emergency Assistance, Confirmation, and New Members. We have been able to make appropriate changes as a direct result of these sessions. One mark of healthy communication is to speak from our own experience. Peter is telling his own story. The corollary to this is that it is the responsibility of the high priest and the council to tell theirs.

            Secondly, our witness, our communication is most healthy–and most effective–when we say what we need to say to the one who needs to hear it. That’s exactly what Peter and the apostles are doing in our scripture reading. It’s what German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer did in Nazi Germany. He wasn’t preaching to Hitler; he was preaching to the Christians in the German churches, calling them to live as followers of Jesus, to practice community building, life-affirming behaviors, especially in the face of vilification, hatred, and distrust. Hitler wasn’t the one who most needed to hear Bonhoeffer’s testimony. Those who most needed to hear it were members of the German Christian community.

            Finally, the other part of our scripture story–the part about Peter standing up in front of the council and high priest and giving personal testimony...that part admittedly gives many UCC folks the heebee geebies. It carries too many negative associations from our own experience: door-to-door fundamentalists pushing their particular theology with no respect for yours; stereo-typical television evangelists. Most of us here simply do not see ourselves giving witness to our faith on a street-corner. And yet...most of us here have been moved deeply by the personal witness shared by Gina Domingo who spoke of the power of prayer and the support of this congregation during her long struggle to pass the bar, or by Floyd Price in his song about serving the homeless, or by Deborah Tomblyn or Colby Harmon or Maggie Nyamweya. Their testimony rings with the authenticity of their faith and personal experience. Not all witness belongs on a soapbox.

            Our witness may be as simple and profound as parents teaching their child to pray...a practice that begins before we even remember: thanksgiving at a meal or a time of special joy; prayer at bedtime; prayer when something of concern happens. Hopefully, the witness of this practice leads to a relationship with God that continues through the child’s lifetime. What does this communicate; how does this give witness? This simple witness teaches our children that a caring, loving God is present with us always: when we eat, when we are joyful or stressed.

            We are called to witness; we are called to witness in community. Whether the witness to which we are called is to our children, our families, or to some other community, may we give witness that comes from our own experience, full of the Easter grace of our still-speaking God.