Gossip On The Hill
Someone has said that the Bible is a record of the “glows and after-glows” of religious experience. After the Easter resurrection, two of the disciples were on their way to Emmaus, and were joined by a stranger. Luke 24:35 says: “They told what had happened on the road.”
In these words, we find a summary of the Bible from cover to cover...”They told what had happened.” The Bible is the story of witnessing, of how people found God, and discovered that His grace was sufficient for them. They took the witness stand, and they testified gladly.
A few years ago, much was made of thugs, racketeers, mobsters, etc. who called upon the 5th Amendment. They refused to testify on the grounds that it might be used to incriminate them. Falling back on the 5th amendment troubles me, but it reminds me of what a multitude of Christians are doing again and again.
Moses and Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah were willing to testify, no matter how unpopular their words might be. They were incriminated! Indeed they were willing to die for what they said. And this is the way our Bible came to us...through faithful testimony of men and women who had gotten all involved in the proclamation of the Gospel.
On what grounds do we dare refuse testimony? We are a people with a story to tell. We have words to speak, and there is power in words that burn their way into human life.
An unknown poet has written:
It is a continued story...a continuing story. There is an unwritten page left for each of us to write, and it is to be our record of what Jesus Christ means to us. I have some gossiping to do from my own hill-top. It is not the old game of “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?” I have the “button,” and no one else can do what I must do. I have a witness to share. God help me to do it well.
In these words, we find a summary of the Bible from cover to cover...”They told what had happened.” The Bible is the story of witnessing, of how people found God, and discovered that His grace was sufficient for them. They took the witness stand, and they testified gladly.
A few years ago, much was made of thugs, racketeers, mobsters, etc. who called upon the 5th Amendment. They refused to testify on the grounds that it might be used to incriminate them. Falling back on the 5th amendment troubles me, but it reminds me of what a multitude of Christians are doing again and again.
Moses and Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah were willing to testify, no matter how unpopular their words might be. They were incriminated! Indeed they were willing to die for what they said. And this is the way our Bible came to us...through faithful testimony of men and women who had gotten all involved in the proclamation of the Gospel.
On what grounds do we dare refuse testimony? We are a people with a story to tell. We have words to speak, and there is power in words that burn their way into human life.
An unknown poet has written:
“Good news, old world, good news;
The river and the winds refuse
To keep the matter still;
There is gossip on the hill.”
And this gossip is that the seasons are changing, and that the oriole, and the lark and blackbird all refuse to keep the matter still. Ours is an unfinished Gospel. And do we dare to keep quiet about it?
posted by Francis Geo. Guither at 8:07 AM
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