We’ve just ended the season of Lent and yet another glorious celebration of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  If we were faithful during the season of Lent, then we chose to give up something — at least for the 40 days of Lent (not including Sundays) that began on Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is the day we — those of us who chose to give up something — began a period of self‑‑denial, humbling ourselves before the Lord and denying ourselves some of the pleasures we normally indulge in.  And while we no longer cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, we do call our period of self-denial a fast.  God calls it something else.

         It seems that we’ve mistaken what a fast is really about — at least a fast as God sees it.  God does not view fasting as a ritual tied to a calendar or the weeks leading up to Holy Week.  It’s something that’s given to us to do daily.  To God, a fast is an issue of justice for the oppressed and the disenfranchised.  To God a fast is what we do to bring relief to the least of those God’s children.  It is a spiritual commitment to make sure that those who are homeless have adequate shelter; that those who are hungry have adequate food; that those who are naked have adequate clothing.

         Churches United for Justice, a ministry that our church participates in, has made every effort to find adequate housing options for those who are homeless.  It’s not our efforts that are holding things up.  We’ve been successful in establishing a housing trust fund.  It is the administrative authorities of the county who have yet to take any meaningful action letting go of the purse strings.  Yet, I noticed that God didn’t provide us an excuse for not doing justice as a spiritual fast.  There were no loopholes.  Our responsibility is to fast, giving honor to God by seeking shelter for those who are without, as well as ministering to the other needs of the poor.

         And for those who pursue justice in the name of God, there is a very handsome reward.  What we do will allow the light of the glory of God to shine brightly in the community.  And God will be there whenever we call.  There is no better fast than one that leads to a more intimate relationship with our God.

• Why do you believe God sees fasting as an issue of justice for the poor?
• What more would you like to see our church do to create a daily, weekly, or monthly fast in the name of our Christ?
• What are you willing to do to make sure that our light shines and when God hears our call, God will answer, “Here am I.”

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Righteous and just God, increase my human and spiritual desire to live the fast You have chosen for us. Strengthen me to do justice doing all I can to secure shelter for the homeless.

         What do we do when we are witnesses to something that is truly amazing?  My first guess is that we can hardly wait to tell someone what we’ve experienced.  Our first instinct is to tell every detail because of our excitement.  And we often do.  We cover every aspect of the incident as if we were making a “BREAKING NEWS STORY” on whatever station is the most watched or listened to.  But I’m not so sure we’re as anxious to share our excitement and tell what we know about our God and our Christ as we would be if we were in the bank when it was being robbed or seeing and touching our favorite musician or celebrity.  And yet, as people of faith, that is our charge.  Our charge is to become witnesses to God’s promise of faithfulness that Jesus would suffer, die, and be raised from the dead on the third day so that repentance and the forgiveness of sins could be preached in his name to all nations.  A daunting task for sure — but a task that is built upon God’s faithful witness of who Jesus Christ was, what he did, how he died, and his resurrection to new life.

         All we’re tasked with is the responsibility to be faithful witnesses of God about the truth of Jesus Christ.  Our only responsibility is to verify and testify to God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ and how Christ’s faithfulness has bought our salvation.  Our job is simply to tell the story as God has told it to us, and as Jesus has lived it before us, and as we now have and know the truth of the story as told to us by other faithful witnesses.  We’re just one faithful witness telling the story of other faithful witnesses who have heard and believed before they became faithful witnesses of Christ.

• Who were those faithful witnesses who first told you the story of the risen Christ?
• Were there other ways you heard the story (i.e., songs, poems, prayers, etc.) that led you to believe in God’s faithfulness and Christ’s resurrection?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Loving Christ, empower me to become a more faithful witness of Your resurrection and the power it has to save us all.

         God’s promise to his Son, Jesus, the Christ, is perhaps one of the most significant records of the life of Christ we have.  There was nothing secret about it.  It was prophesied and promised thousands of years before it became evident.  Perhaps that’s what made it so difficult to accept.  The length of time between a promise and the fulfillment of it can be a real party stopper.  We all want things to happen in a time where we can have a full ‘eyes-on’ experience of the event.  And yet none of us were here when Christ walked the earth, but we trust that those who witnessed his presence were truthful in the sharing of his life.  None of us were here when Christ was crucified.  Yet we trust that those who witnessed the event and reported it among the people were telling the truth.  None of us were here that Sunday morning the stone was rolled away, and the ladies came to the tomb and found it empty but for an angel telling them to not be afraid, telling them that Jesus — the one whom they were looking for — was risen.  And none of us were here to verify that he indeed showed himself to the twelve and thousands of others following his burial and resurrection, yet we take the word of faithful witnesses that experienced exactly what God prophesied that he did.

         We live with the truth of the witness of all of the faithful persons who came before us.  And we trust their witness to be true because we’ve had our own spiritual experiences to confirm that what they have witnessed is true.  But it all leads back to God and God’s faithfulness to do what God said God would do.  There was no time frame established about when it would happen.  Just God’s faithful witness that it would.  And it did.  And now, we’re charged with the responsibility to add our faithful witness to the long list of anonymous believers who faithfully told their story in a way that led us to believe.  There is tremendous power in the witness of the faithful when they pass on the faithful witness of God to God’s people.

• What does it mean for you to realize that you are one of God’s faithful witnesses charged with the responsibility of telling the story of God’s salvation of humanity through Jesus Christ?
• Does coming to that reality make it harder or easier to tell the story of God’s faithfulness rather than your own?

Todays Prayer

Today’s Prayer —
Holy and loving God, strengthen me to become better at being a faithful witness for You. Help me to tell the story of Your faithfulness as it relates to the life of Your Son, Jesus Christ.