You Will Be My Witnesses

 The first time I served communion as a licensed minister in Fargo, ND, I picked up the tray of cups and proclaimed, "This is the cup of the new covenant!" And then I remembered we serve the bread first, panicked, and said, "Which comes after the bread!" The next time, months later, I served communion, I took the cover off the communion cups, and the altar table was stone, and I timed it perfectly, and purely accidentally, so the cover spun on the table, and you would hear it go, "whew, whew, whew" faster and faster. Sitting near the front was a couple that worked closely with me in the youth groups, each time when I began and messed up, they were bent over, hands covering their faces, taking great humor in my mistakes.  In my first church in Walker, MN I messed up just about every baptism, including one time putting the head right on my lavaliere mike and the baby started crying into mike, and I almost dropped the baby when switching it around in my arms. When in South Dakota, I was officiating a wedding for a couple that weren't from my church, and I met with them a couple times and had everything printed out. Mark and Mary were so enjoying getting married by the lake and we were almost done and I pronounced them husband and wife, "I now present to you, Mark and Sarah McMillan! I mean Mark and Mary!" I was mortified and everyone laughed. I did check to see if Mark had a ex-girlfriend and he didn't. Whew!

If you really pay attention to the disciples in the Gospel of Mark, they are like the Keystone Cops of yore or the Minions of today, more concerned about goofing off and the spotlight than listening and learning. However, in the Acts of the Apostles, it tells us that Jesus spent forty more days with the disciples before ascending into heaven. Unfortunately, we don't get any of that on how to follow Christ or be the church. 

So, the stage is set, Jesus was resurrected, teaches, and after forty days, tells the disciples to stay close until they are baptized by the Holy Spirit. Instead of trusting, celebrating, or being patient, they have questions! "Is this the coming of the kingdom, when should we expect it?" Just one more question, and then you can go. However Jesus steps on the escalator, I mean cloud, and tells them, "That isn't important. How many times do I have to tell you, only God knows." And once he was out of hearing, Jesus probably muttered under his breath, "God, I need a vacation, please don't make it too soon." There they are, the crowd watching Jesus going up and up and up. He's getting smaller and smaller and smaller. The Gospel writer of Mark must have liked this next part, SUDDENLY, two beings in white robes were standing next to them. "People of Galilee, why do you stand there with your mouths gaping open? Friends, non-Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, Jesus will come back the same you have seen him leave. Stop looking up and get busy being witnesses to Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria, and all the world! The show is over!!!"

So they went to Jerusalem and devoted themselves to prayer, with other women, including Jesus' mother and his brothers. Paul's ministry began about 15 years after this, and if you read all of 1st and Two Corinthians, you will see the early church that really didn't have its stuff together. But they somehow kept growing and making a difference. There were really two ideas that propelled them forward. The first was the resurrection and the message of liberation from worldly powers and bad gods. The second was showing compassion to everyone and walking the walk that in Christ there is no Jew nor Greek, male or female, slave nor free. 

There are many voices out in the world today that proclaim that wealth, military power, and social media influence are the things that make the world go round. They claim that compassion, justice for the poor and oppressed, and giving a helping hand makes us and those who receive it weak. We are fools to believe such things, they do say and call us, 'snowflakes.' I hope that we proudly claim that we are fools for Christ and will witness the same in our actions in our lives. We are witnesses, imperfect as we are, to God's love for all. We are witnesses, impotent to stop wars and genocide, to a better way. We are witnesses, with Holy Laughter, that in a world filled with turmoil and sorrow, there is hope, grace, and there is love to propel us forward and to heal the world. Amen.