Faith worth sharing

Life goes in cycles—birth, growth, and death; followed by rebirth. The seeds planted this spring will sprout, grow, and produce food. When the plant has given its all, at the end of its season, it will die, after it has made the seeds for the next season. In human terms, each person knows friends and family who have given themselves for worthwhile causes, and in so doing offered teaching and examples for the next generation.

In our worship order, we have completed another story cycle. We heard the prophecy of Messiah. We heard of the birth of the Savior. We saw his life, then his death, followed by his resurrection. He told us to tell others what we know, and he said his power would always be with us. It is the Christmas story, the Easter story, and, just last Sunday, the Pentecost story.

God has done a wonderful thing for humanity, long before humanity realized a problem. God intervened in human history to show that God is and to show what love means. God continues to work in and through human history to make people aware of God’s offer of forgiveness and life. Humans are made for so much more than we realize.

Jesus told his eyewitness followers to tell others about him. At first, they were utterly scared to death for fear that they might be next on a cross. To do God’s work requires God’s power. The gift of the Holy Spirit came on those eyewitness followers in that apparent chaos on Pentecost, and with that baptism of God’s power, the Church was born.

The Church’s job is to tell what the eyewitnesses told, and to invite others to discipleship. Disciples are to repeat the story, and also to tell what belief has meant personally. It is one important thing to tell the story. What brings the story to life is telling the difference that believing has made.

In our congregations of the Church, we review the story cycles to remember what God has done. We watch for what God is doing. And we tell what we have known and discovered when we believed.

There is no other faith even close to this one. This is the faith of the Christmas baby, the Easter miracle, and the Pentecost Spirit!