Witness to the Unbelievable

This morning I read two passages of scripture:  Mark 9:2-9 and 2 Peter 1:16-19.  The first is the story of the transfiguration; the second is Peter's eye witness account of the transfiguration.

I've never read them back to back like that before, and their pairing was interesting to me. 

The first - the story of the transfiguration - seems so extraordinary that you wonder if its believable. I believe it because its in the Gospel, but it's an unbelieveable story. 

But the second - Peter (or the person who wrote in Peter's name) recounting the experience in his letter? It reinforces the first. The first is extraordinary, but the second strengthens the witness of the first.

I wonder if that is one of the purposes of our witness to the world.  People may hear of something extraordinary - there is a God, and God loves you and me and that person. It's unbelievable. But when we assume the role of witness, stating how we've seen the presence of God, and how God has changed our lives, we make the extraordinary real.  Believable. 

Ya gotta want it

Ya gotta want it, to be a witness to the Resurrection.

I was reading Martha's blog again -- her blog is always full of wisdom.  She was relating the story of a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses who came to her door to tell her about a convention they were going to be part of in town.  She explained that she was a United Church of Christ pastor, and that she probably wasn't going to come to their convention, but she did it in a polite and kind way.  She relates that she admired their courage.  It does take courage to knock on someone's door -- literally -- to tell them about Christ.  And then Martha wrote:

Ya gotta want it, to be a witness to the Resurrection.

A few year ago -- actually, more than a few, our Witness Committee at church targeted a few blocks near our church as a field for witnessing.  We got together as a group and walked the neighborhood, hanging door hangers on the doors.  Steve and I did it, but neither of us liked it.  It was a little creepy -- sometimes a lot creepy -- to walk up on people's front porches.

Ya gotta want it, to be a witness to the Resurrection.

It's hard, isn't it, to speak about God to those whose faith is not clear to you?  It's difficult to put yourself out there -- vulnerable - and speak the message. 

Ya gotta want it, to be a witness to the Resurrection.

And yet, even though it's hard, it is what we are called to do.  To be a witness to the Resurrection with the way we live our lives, what we say, how we go about touching the lives of others.

Ya gotta want it, to be a witness to the Resurrection.

Do we really want it?