For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others (Romans 12:4-5).

Today, we begin to talk body image. No, not as it is usually understood within our cultural context. Rather, this is body imagery as the Bible relates it to the church. To understand it, we need to recall how we got here. Romans 12 began with a view of God's mercy. This, of course, refers to the great work of redemption in Christ. All who believe in him become recipients. To receive God's salvation, nothing more is needed then to believe that God redeems us in Christ. In response, we are called to offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God and be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

The renewed mind, that is, the Christian mind, can discern and commit itself to accomplishing the will of God. The first act of the renewed mind is to view oneself with sober judgement, not too highly and not too lowly. Rather, we are to see ourselves as the adopted children of God and as his instruments of mercy. We have reflected on all this in previous editions of Wilderness Wonderings. Now we come to the second task of the renewed mind: to view the church properly. The Bible offers us a very strong image for the church: the church is compared to a human body. And like the human body has many parts which all have different functions, so the church consists of people who all have their own function.

In these verses there is a key phrase: 'in Christ'. The church is not just a lose connection of people, rather it is a people joined together in Christ. This establishes something significant about the redemption God has brought into the world through Christ. Christ's death and resurrection did not just redeem individual people who are now heading towards heaven. Rather, Jesus' own sacrifice brought about a new humanity, which is the church. Paul does not mince words: "each member belongs to all the others". Let me not mince words either, 'You cannot do this Christian thing on your own. You need other Christians.'

To be "in Christ" is to be joined to "his body." In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul also makes use of this imagery. In chapter 11 he writes at length about Christ's body. But there the phrase refers to two things: Christ's physical body and the church. Sometimes, one just doesn't know which he means. Of course, he is writing about the Lord's Supper, other wise known as Communion or the Eucharist. But his point is exceedingly clear: when we participate in the Lord's Supper, we are being joined both to Christ's body (physical) and to Christ's body (church), and we better have a high regard for both.

The Bible calls us to live out our Christian faith along with other Christians. The gathering of these Christians is called a church. As followers of Jesus, we need to identify and participate with a church. Nobody in living memory remembers a time in Canada when the local church was not able to meet together for worship, fellowship and outreach. As such, the church in Canada does live in unprecedented times. Which raises an important question: how do we participate in a local church in this context?

We will continue reflecting on this body image next week. Until then, take some time to consider these questions: have you been connected to a local church during these days of physical distancing? What can you do to forge a deeper connection with the church, the body of Christ Jesus?

Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!" So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man's feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:2-8)

Every day, a man who could not walk was carried to the church. Every day he begged the people going to church to worship God to give him money. And so he made his difficult living. We're not told, but no doubt there were unkind comments, aggressive refusals, and jokes thrown at him from those who quite literally looked down on the man who could not stand.

Begging was not an honourable thing to do. Beggars were not necessarily clean folk to touch. "Death is better than begging" said some ancient Jewish writers (Sirach 40:28). Beggars were objects. Akin with the gate the beggars sat in—no more humanity to them than the architecture. They were naught but objects of charity for the more privileged, able-bodied folks to demonstrate their piety upon.

Now, this man had been lame from birth. His situation was not of his own making, nor was there anything he could do to change the realities that had placed him in this disparity of health or economic standing. He was simply born that way. Out of his control. Yet it forced unkind, even cruel societal distinctions and labels upon him like "lame" and "beggar" and "object of charity." He's not even dignified with a name.

Yet when Peter and John, the Spirit-filled witnesses of Jesus' kingdom walk through, they hear him. They are affected by him—and they stop their trip to worship at the sound of this man's voice. Then they turn to him and they see him. The text almost uncomfortably points out how they "looked straight at him." And they would not move their gaze until he met it. "Look at us!" Peter said. This was not a cold, passing transaction that one has with an object—this was a real, person-to-person, human encounter.

Peter and John did not only dignify the man's humanity, though that was an important part of their witness. They also offered him a taste of the kingdom. One that not merely pitied the man or helped him, but one that reached out and was willing to make contact with the man through touch. It was a taste of the kingdom that quite literally raised him up and made him an equal part with them. This taste of Jesus' kingdom restored his dignity, empowered him, healed him, made well and made right the evils of this world as embodied in his story—evils that once seemed beyond any remedy.

No matter how someone looks, where they were born, the colour of their skin, the tenor of their accent, the ability of their body, or their gender—they are human persons, created in the image of God and therefore have inherent dignity. All these distinctions we make are distinctions we make. But their worth in the eyes of God does not change. Jesus came for such as these. The Holy Spirit works among all of these. And as witnesses of the kingdom of God, we are called to join Him.

So: who among the image-bearers of God have you treated as an object, rather than as a person? Who is crying out at the gates that you might need to hear and listen to? Who is longing for restoration that you might be called to see? How can you, in the Name of Jesus, offer to the least of these, a true empowering, restorative, dignifying taste of the kingdom of God?

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you (Romans 12:3).

Based on the 'Therefore'… which marks the beginning of Romans 12, many believe this chapter shifts the nature of the letter. Some have made the observation that the first 11 chapters are theology while the rest of the letter is the application. It's my opinion that theology and application are not so easily divided. Surely chapter 8, which is beloved by so many Christians, is beloved because it resonates with the heart. That chapter holds profound theology and application that cannot be separated from each other.

One thing is sure, the emphasis in this entire letter is the mercy of God poured out in Jesus Christ. One major application is that this stream of mercy is rich and powerful enough to overcome the long-standing division between Jew and Gentile. Since, both Jew and Gentile are now part of this new thing called the church, how does that mercy enable us to live together? That, I think, is the real burden that chapter 12 introduces. Paul wants us to take a good long look at that mercy, so that it saturates our beings like water a sponge. And as a full sponge just leaks water, so he wants the followers of Jesus to just leak mercy.

But where to begin? Well, by offering our bodies as living sacrifices, of course. And since our bodies are controlled by our minds, our minds need renewing. Understand, that Paul is not making a neat modern division between mind, body and soul. The Bible sees us humans as holistic beings. Its better to think of the mind as our control centre, so it's a good place to start the renewal. Remember, that God is the one who, through his Word and Spirit, is doing the work of transforming us. But since we participate, it is helpful to know what God is up to.

And so, in our verse for today, we are told to think properly about ourselves: "Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment." Arrogant people love to tell you how well educated they are, they focus on how much they have accomplished or acquired, and they can't hear a story without having to top it. They know more, travel farther, work harder, and play better — and they are never, ever wrong. As Christians, we are not to act this way. We are not to imply or think that we are better than others. Is this not the issue that divides our world so violently today? Some of us think that we are better than others; more deserving of the world's resources. Elsewhere, Paul has made it clear that he used to think about himself that way. He used to be all puffed up about his Jewishness; not anymore.

On the other hand, Paul is not telling us to think terrible thoughts about ourselves; as if we are no good for anything. We may be broken but we are God's great treasure on this earth. We have been given adoption papers that provide us the honour of being called children of God (8:14-17). This is cause for celebration, not self-condemnation. We are to have a balanced, sensible, realistic view of ourselves. In other words, we are to see ourselves as God sees us, not in comparison to others. He sees us as his redeemed instruments of mercy. And that is what we are. We are to become servants in the world, not doormats.

All who believe in Jesus have received God's mercy. We are sponges full of that mercy, walking through this world pouring out the mercy upon others. This is the sober judgement we ought to have about ourselves: we are God's instruments of mercy. And we don't need to worry about running out. God's mercy knows no limits: as we give, God fills us up again. As Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy."

With many other words [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:40-44)

It's an incredible story. The Spirit comes on the apostles. The Spirit gathers a crowd from "every nation under heaven." The Spirit equips Peter to witness of Jesus to this crowd and enables that message to be heard by that crowd across all their different languages. And then by the end, the Spirit has opened the hearts of 3,000 people to receive the message, be baptized, and take their place in the fellowship of believers.

And what a fellowship it was! They all were together and had everything in common. Devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. How we wish our churches looked like that, especially right now in these days when we're no longer able to gather.

But I think Luke left something out of the story. A pretty important detail, actually. This large crowd that had gathered from every nation under heaven in Jerusalem that day—were all from out of town. They didn't live in Jerusalem. They lived elsewhere—in all those other nations under heaven. They had only come to Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost.

Which meant that even though the believers may have been all together in those first few days—they didn't stay that way for long. Like at the end of a church service—soon they would all go home. So while we think of this idea of the early church being "all together" sharing "everything in common," that's not quite the whole story. It was probably only just a taste—a glimmer of what true Christian fellowship could be. Then, it was time to go home.

Those early travelers would bring to their homes a taste of something good indeed though. A taste of the Kingdom of God breaking out on Earth through the power of the Spirit—Jesus reconciling a church to Himself from every nation under heaven where all are truly and justly: together. Filled with the Spirit they too would go and tell as witnesses of what they had seen, heard, and experienced of Jesus and His Spirit filled community.

As yeast through the dough, the Kingdom of God would spread. And with it, this taste of a church without borders or barriers of race, culture, wealth, or language. Sure, the church wouldn't and hasn't always—or even often—looked like that. But a community like that is the longing placed in our hearts by the reconciling power of Jesus through the Spirit. And so we pray: come, Lord Jesus.

Where is a taste of Jesus' kingdom needed in your life or community? How might the Spirit be equipping you to witness to it?

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

This is the last Wilderness Wanderings on these two verses; next week we move on. For today, we focus on the last sentence of these verses, "Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

We have been reflecting on the spiritual transformation that Christians experience because they have attached themselves to Jesus. Even though God does the transforming, we are called to participate. Our main task is to situate ourselves in the streams of God's grace. When we do that, we begin to change from the inside out. Our outward behaviour will either mimic the behaviour of people with different faiths, or we will be transformed from the inside out by the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The call in these verses is that we get busy with the later…to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Understand, this is a fundamental transformation of character and conduct, away from the standards of the world and into the image of Christ himself. To the Ephesians Paul expresses the same ideas this way, as Christians we are "to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness…." He also tells us to "Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 4:24-25, 5:1-2).

As we humbly respond to this, the Lord does the transforming. We learn to view the world through the lens of Scripture, that is, through the eyes of God, and we learn to respond to events as Scripture teaches. The Holy Spirit uses many means for this transformation: Scripture, our experiences, trials and hardship, joys and successes, and fellowship with other believers. Gradually our minds begin to think as God thinks, desire what God desires, love as God loves, and see things with the same perspective as He sees them. As this becomes a reality, we are able to discern the will of God and to cooperate with Him in accomplishing it (Eph. 4: 17-24; Col. 3: 1-11).

Our minds need to be renewed, otherwise we detest and rebel against God's ways. Let's be clear: Christians are intended to think and act differently then those of other faiths. Because we believe there is a better way, we don't go along with the crowd. As our minds are renewed, we begin to see God's will as good, perfect and pleasing. And we want to do his will which is given in broad strokes in the scripture. But we encounter many situations where there is no specific law. For those occasions we need renewed minds to determine how to think and act.

What Paul wants us to understand is that a renewed mind can discern God's will in situations where there is no biblical instruction. A renewed mind can also appreciate that this is the best way forward. And thirdly, a renewed mind can and will decide to obey God's will.

How is it that each of us hears them in our native language? …we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine." (Acts 2:8, 11b-13)

2,000 years after the New Testament, we don't always appreciate just how radical a change Jesus inaugurated through His resurrection and gift of the Spirit.

We look back at the story as Christians and so we identify with the Christians in the story. Jesus' death and resurrection are no surprise to us anymore. Neither is the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. We know how the story turns out and we know that we're on the right side of it.

But would we have been on the side of Jesus if we were there so long ago? If we had been a part of the crowd walking through Jerusalem that day, what would've our reaction been to see and hear a bunch of men of darker skin speaking in a confusion of languages, including our own? Would we really have been among the crowd pressing in to learn more and understand what it meant? Or would've we been among those tossing dismissive words insults?

Our reactions to the protests for justice in the US, Canada, and elsewhere in these last days may provide a clue. What thoughts have run through your head? Your heart? Across your lips to family members and friends? Across your fingers to social media and elsewhere? Are you leaning in to understand what it all means? Or has your reaction been to dismiss or insult the pleas of those seeking justice?

It's a good example to consider, because we're not always as charitable or Christian in our thoughts and language as we'd like to think. Nor are we very open to engaging change or the things (like protests) that demand for change. We're often quicker to demean or dismiss than we are to lean in to learn and understand.

The Spirit's arrival was a demand for change though, and not necessarily a welcome one. Barriers of language had just been obliterated in a violent wind and flames that announced the Spirit's arrival. It left the crowd amazed and perplexed. This was not a neutral or even a happy moment. It was a confronting moment—a moment that demanded people stop their lives, pay attention, and make a decision. Would they let this new reality enter into their ears, hearts, and lives and perhaps change them? Or would they dismiss it out of hand so as to hold on to their normal?

It was a further work of the Spirit to open ears, hearts, and lives to that kind of change. But that's the work the Spirit does—blowing in, changing and transforming us as He conforms us to the likeness of Christ. He never leaves us where we are. The Spirit brings change.

He brings change in our world too, in the form of the kingdom of God. As Paul tells us, "the Kingdom of God is… a matter of… righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17). But righteousness—or justice—must come before true peace and joy. The Spirit is not interested in binding wounds lightly, saying "peace, peace… when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14).

So, in this time of much perplexity and amazement, how might the Spirit be blowing the winds of change that come with the Kingdom of God through our world? In what ways might He be inviting us to lean in to understand what it all means? Might He even be inviting us to join Him in this kingdom work of justice and peace?

Looking for a place to start? Colin Watson, acting Executive Director of the CRCNA, has written the following article from his perspective, giving ideas of how to lean in and engage the often unseen rifts of race. Click/Tap here to read: "Beyond Thoughts and Prayers"

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

This is the second meditation with the title 'Training for Transformation' which are both based on the phrase 'be transformed by the renewing of the mind'. The phrase, 'be transformed', tells us that something happens to us. To put it differently, we have to make sure that something happens to us. I promised another analogy to help us explore this.

Before I moved to Hamilton, I spent 17 years living along the Trent River. I could always hear the water rushing by; much of the year, I could also see it. One day while listening to this sound, I was pondering 1 Peter 2:5 which says, "you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." I noticed how similar it is to our verses from Romans 12. The question under consideration was, "How are we transformed?" or in Peter's version, "How are we being built?"

In both passages, something happens to us. Does that mean we just sit and let it happen? I realized that Peter gave the answer to this. In verse 4 he writes, "As you come to Him…" This is the primary Christian activity in the work of transformation, "we come to Jesus…" not just once or twice, but all the time, daily, hourly. Now back to the Trent River. If you were to throw a jagged rock into that river it would immediately sink to the bottom. If it was heavy enough, it wouldn't move; but it would change. Slowly, to be sure. But it would change. The water rushing over that rock would slowly wear off the ragged edges. If you could find that rock a few years later, it would be smooth.

This, it seems to me, is how Christian transformation takes place. We get ourselves into those places where God's grace to us in Christ can sometimes rush and sometimes gently flow over and around us. Rocks don't get smooth overnight. Neither do living stones. It takes time. We tend to want to get it done and over with. We want to be transformed. That's a good thing of course, but we can't get it done. Jesus, through His Spirit, transforms us. Our challenge is to be in those places where it happens. That's our task.

This is not new information for many of you, but it is so essential it bearing repeating. So, how do we come to Jesus? Mostly, through very ordinary means. Historically, they are called the spiritual disciplines. And of late, the term is making a come back, so you may have heard of it. There is quite a list, but let me shorten it for today: scripture and prayer are the two most essential. Its not about rushing through, or how long we take; its about the work of wrestling these into our brains and souls. Repetition of a passage or a prayer can go a long way in transformation. Its about engaging our minds and souls in the work.

Two other disciplines will be enough for today. One, participation in the body of Christ, the church. This may take a little more work than usual, during these days of physical distancing. Nevertheless, the biblical language of transformation is overwhelmingly plural. It doesn't happen well in isolation. Christians transform together. And two, acts of love. Love is the heart of the Christian law. And so somehow, in the process of transformation, the Holy Spirit will move us to love God and neighbour. As we progress through Romans 12, there will be much to say about love. So, this is fair warning. If you place yourself in the pathways of God's grace, you will end up learning to love better.

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. … When [the God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven] heard this sound, a crowd came together… (Acts 2:1-4, 6)

They were all together when the Spirit gusted into the house with flame and rested on each one of them. In that moment, the barriers of language that separated them from the ends of the earth to whom they were to witness disappeared.

In that moment, the apostles could not but become witnesses. The violent noise. The flames. The crash of languages. Whether they wanted to or not, they had become a spectacle. A spectacle of unifying force. Those gathered in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven came together in an instant. The Spirit who had breathed life at creation into all humanity had once again gathered all humanity to hear the promise of life in Jesus through these witnesses.

That day it became clear that faith in Jesus and membership in His church translates into any and every culture and language—belonging to all completely, but none exclusively. In Christ we are united across traditional divides in a church in which no one can lord it over another, because Jesus is Lord. Meaning we are not.

However, barriers of language, culture, and race remain in our world today. That fact has been displayed with vivid and visceral clarity to our South this past week, following the callous death of an unarmed black man in Minneapolis. There are in the US deep structural fault lines of injustice that run along racial lines, bringing poverty, alienation, and violence to racialized communities. And it's a problem not unique to the US. You find these divides in Canada too. And in the church.

But that's not the way it's supposed to be. These divisions and injustices are examples of the sinful things Jesus came to heal and set right. And that's why the Spirit is still to this day moving to gather a single, unified Church from every nation under heaven where barriers that divide language, culture, politics, and race are toppled.

Is the Spirit blowing today through these violent noises and fires and crash of cultures we see on our screens? It's a strange juxtaposition to even contemplate, I know, and maybe it goes too far. Yet the violent wind, flames, and languages enabled by the Spirit were not benign and gentle—this spectacle of a church reconciled together in unity across lines of class, race, and language would confront societal norms, rulers, and structures in deep places (indeed, the first conflict in this new church happens along racial/linguistic lines and is met with distribution of power, reconciliation, and equality).

And that's important to note: Jesus' Spirit-filled church does not obliterate the diversity of differences, but reconciles them. Through the Spirit, the languages of all the nations were not collapsed into one. No, each diverse language was spoken, and was spoken as those native to it would: without an accent. The stunning diversity of the humanity God created is kept with integrity and reconciled.

We haven't arrived there yet. Far from it. But that's where the kingdom leans and where the Spirit blows. Thanks be to God that He does, because left to our own, we find that the barriers are too high, the challenges too deep, the structures and relationships too broken. It takes an act of God to reconcile such diversity. Thankfully, our God acts.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:1-2).

Years ago, I came across this quote regarding Romans 12:1-2: "Because believers are live rather than dead sacrifices, they have a tendency to want to crawl off the altar. That's why this deliberate decision to place oneself at God's disposal must be made daily." It resonated with me, so I tucked it away in my digital file on Romans 12. In our reflections on this passage, we've gotten to the place where we are exploring what it means to stay on the altar.

Last time we looked at the idea of being 'conformed to the pattern of this world.' Conformed means 'to assume an outward expression that does not come from within.' In our passage, it means we imitate non-Christian values and concerns rather than Christian ones. Therefore, Paul calls on us to stop mimicking the world's system and start becoming 'transformed by the renewing of our minds.'

The term "transformed" means "to assume an outward expression that reflects what is deep within." We are told to pattern our external lifestyle to match our internal identity as the children of God. The key to this process is our minds, for it is our thought life that controls our attitudes, feelings, and actions. Thus, it is written, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). That sounds extremely demanding. Are we up to the task? No! When Paul tells us to be transformed, he gives a command, but in a passive voice. He doesn't say, 'transform yourself; he says, 'be transformed.' We can't transform ourselves; it is something God does to us. But what then is our role?

1 Corinthians 9:25 says, "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." This may be only a matter of word play but it may be a main reason why many people give up on transformation or accept outward appearances as pseudo-transformation: we spend ourselves trying to be transformed, when the Bible calls us to train to be transformed.

There is an enormous difference between trying to do something versus training to do it. Take for example a marathon. How many of us could run a marathon right now? Even if we tried, really, really hard? But many of us could run a marathon eventually, if we trained for it. I cannot play the piano even if I tried really hard. Others can, not because they try harder than I do, but because they have trained.

On occasion, when my children were small, they'd try to do a jigsaw puzzle. I often chuckled when they took out a big puzzle box, opened it up, took out two pieces and tried to put them together. As I watched, I knew what is coming, "Dad, its too hard. Can you help me?" So, I'd take the box and dump all the contents onto a big enough surface, then I'd turn all the pieces right side up, and sort them. Only then, would I begin trying to put them together. You see, my mother taught me and I had some experience. Now my children have experience and follow my example.

Next time we will use a different illustration about 'being transformed?' For today, I invite you to sit with this passage, let it percolate in your grey matter. Think about your life, how did some major moments of transformation happen for you? Why do you keep trying to crawl off the altar?

"…I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:1-3)

The kind of witnesses Jesus sends out are sent with a message.

The biggest reservation for most of us when it comes to sharing faith with anyone else is "I don't know what to do/say." But that's not actually true—you do! Because Jesus sends His witnesses out with a message.

A few times in the opening chapter of Acts we hear what that message is about. It's about Jesus and all the things He did and taught. It's about His resurrection—the fact that though He was dead, Jesus is alive again! And it's about the Kingdom of God that He now rules from His heavenly throne, and which is even now breaking into this world bringing life, justice, and peace. One day we believe, that kingdom will come fully and those promises with it: life, justice, and peace in the presence of our Lord Jesus forever.

Now, some of us have been kicking around church all our lives. Others of us have come more recently. But in that time, whether long or short, we've been steeping in these stories and realities of Jesus: through the Word, the songs, and the practices and habits of worship and devotion. That stuff gets into our bones over time. And we've been walking with Jesus and filled with the Spirit in our daily lives too. After all, something brought us to faith. Even for those who grew up in the church, something tipped the balance to make believing in Jesus and trusting Him with your life the more sure path to follow. That's a story worth telling in itself: the story of how the Word put on flesh and made His dwelling with you.

Because He has. Jesus has made His dwelling with us. The Spirit is living within us. God the Father continues to guide and sustain us. So every day brings new opportunities to see, hear, and experience the message of Jesus and His love anew right where we are. Even as every day brings new opportunities to share that simple message in the way we live and the conversation we have. It doesn't have to be eloquent. It's a bit awkward. But so is human life. The very human life that Jesus took on to show us the message of His love, life, and kingdom.

Who will you share that message with today?