BROADCASTS.com

Since my youth, God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come. (Psalm 71:17-18)

We never retire from the Christian life.  From our birth and youth, until our senior years and death we are witnesses to the work of God.  That happens in two distinct ways. 

Firstly, we witness what God does across our lifetime.  He teaches us through those who go before us, through the scriptures and prayer, through worship and sacraments, through provision in times of need, through comfort in places of distress, grief, or loneliness—all across our lives we are learning about this God who has claimed us in our baptisms.  We witness, personally, his work in our lives as slowly the testimony of the scriptures become our own lived reality and belief.

These are the ways that we witness who God is and what he does.  These are the ways he teaches us.  But we also witness in another way.  We are not only witnesses of God—seeing, hearing, and receiving the things that God has done, but we are also witnesses to God—declaring the things that God has done.  Witnesses see something, but witnesses also say something.

Again, the second form of witnessing begins the moment we are born.  The very fact of our life—of a new life born into the world—is itself a testament to the beautiful handiwork of God.  But as we begin to speak across our first few years, we begin to offer other testimony as well.  We learn the language of faith—to say “amen” and “Jesus loves me.”  To offer those prayers pastor Michael mentioned yesterday of “thank you,” “help me,” or even of “I’m sorry.” 

And as we grow, we have more and more experiences of this God and of his people.  We hear more of the stories.  We learn more of the language of faith: learning things like lament, learning to wrestle and fight well with God, learning to submit and humble ourselves before God.  And in each new chapter of life, we have more testimony to give.  More witness to bear to the work and reality of our God as each year ticks by. 

Our life becomes a witness—a sign to others.  And we never graduate or retire from this work.  Despite the fact that we make profession of faith often quite early in life—we’re never done.  You elder saints among us bear a special responsibility in this regard: your memory stretches longer and your experiences deeper.  You become the living memory of the community, the ones who carry the wisdom of a life lived before God with all the joys and challenges therein.  When, around the Lord’s Supper table we are implored to “remember and believe,” you elder saints are the ones who have to help the rest of us do it! 

There is power in the stories of God’s power revealed and witnessed to through the life of someone we know.  So: dear people of God, continue to tell the stories of God!  The Biblical stories yes—but also the stories of where you yourselves have met God, where he has shown his faithfulness to you.  We all need to remember and believe again and again—and this is a work and witness best done together, in faith.