So, I have another
confession. When I read or hear biblical
passages that list names of families and relationships between generations of
persons, my eyes tend to glaze over and I can easily move towards tune-out mode. I am a big picture person. This level of detail rarely engages me. This is what happened at church this
Sunday. The Old Testament lesson from
Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15 began with a list of barely pronounceable characters and
their relationship to each other. I was
nodding off (I admit I feel shame).
All of a sudden, I heard
these key words, “I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses […], in the
presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed…in
the presence of all the Judeans…in their presence I charged….” I had an epiphany: the lists of individuals and people included
in the Bible are witnesses to thousands of years of history of individuals who
bear witness to the work of God in the world.
Listing these people identifies a community of believers. This is real history: These are families and generations of
believers and a community of God-fearing people.
We are not alone in our
belief of God. Never have been, never
will be.
The New Testament and Gospel
readings for Sunday went on to continue this theme of bearing witness to the
presence of the Holy Spirit in the World (1 Timothy 6: 6-19 and Luke 16: 19-31). People bore witness for each other in their
belief and supported a community that believed in God. When we have a family Bible with generations
written in the front of it, we are continuing this tradition of listing the
members who continue to establish generations of believers in a family of God.
When we baptize, we do this
in front of a church that bears witness to becoming a member of a community of
believers. We are becoming history when
we bear witness and add our name to this long list of witnesses who have gone
before us in our relationship with God.
I like being part of a
group. I am a natural extrovert and I am
comforted that I am one of many who have gone before me. The long list of individuals included in
Bible readings no longer bores me. It
excites me that there are so many historical believers identified in the Bible
itself.
We are not alone in our
belief of God. Never have been, never
will be.
#christwalk1 #believer
#church
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