WITNESS IN OUR LIVES
Ute Caspers
Emma Espinoza de Vichez
Wilson Shivachi
Jaime Tabingo
A Panel Presentation
at the 21st Triennial meeting
of the Friends World
Committee for Consultation
King's College, Auckland,
Aotearoa/New Zealand
January 23, 2004
Tom and Liz Gates
Benson Simiyu
Messages given during worship
at the Triennial
Introduction
The first four talks were presented by participants in a panel, and are printed here in the order they were given. The presenters were asked to speak on their own experiences in relation to the theme of the FWCC Triennial:
"Being faithful witnesses: serving God in a changing world."
Emma Espinoza de Vichez spoke in Spanish. The text provided here was translated (and interpreted) by Vicki Hain Poorman of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting. The English equivalents of the biblical passages Emma quoted are from the New International Version.
The two messages were given during times of worship at the Triennial. Tom and Liz Gates spoke on 18 January, and Benson Simiyu on 23 January.
The four panel presentations, and the message from Tom and Liz Gates, are published separately as two pamphlets by Wider Quaker Fellowship, FWCC Section of the Americas (see back page). Vicki Hain Poorman edited the English text of these five items. The text of Benson Simiyu's message was edited by Annis Bleeke.
Ute Caspersis a seeker, mother, grandmother, friend, neighbour and peaceworker. She is a member of German YM, and serves as FWCC observer at the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches, and as "Visiting Friend" for the Europe and Middle East Section of FWCC.
It is an enormous honour -- and a challenge and responsibility -- to be asked by the World Office if I would give a testimony on the Triennial theme. I did not ask them "why me?" I am challenged by the thought that I shall have to ask myself seriously--and more or less publicly--am I, indeed, a faithful witness, serving God in a changing world?
Where I live, in Europe, people--even Friends--like to define everything, even God. People use their heads a lot, sometimes to the detriment of our hearts and faith. The most intriguing definition of God I ever heard was "God is the Big 'And Yet'".
I would like to talk to you about two encounters I had witnessing this big 'And Yet'. One has to do with faith; the other one with being a witness.
And the changing world? Unfortunately, in the field of conflict and war the world has not changed too much in the past 3,000 years. Weapons technology has changed, which kills more people more easily; and propaganda technology has changed, which makes it harder even for people who care to resist.
The Gulf crisis 13 years ago was, to me, the first time that a war started out on the TV screen. For several months we were bombarded with news about Saddam Hussein's atrocities in Kuwait--some of which later proved to be outright lies, invented for the purpose of making military action look like the only option to stop this. US troops were sent out, ultimatums were set, and there was talk about war in a cold, business-like manner. That constantly hurt me. As I myself, like millions of others, had lost my family and home in WWII, I could feel the future pain of the Iraqi people, saw the future orphans and broken families. This pain was almost unbearable. In a world like this, I felt, there was no longer room for me and I was seriously feeling suicidal.
And Yet - one day, in the middle of my housework routine, I heard a voice talk to me: "And Yet you can live. People will be needed to mend what has been broken". What an experience. I was filled with awe. My depression was gone and soon I had the energy to give up my work as a language teacher and equip myself for active conflict and peace work. In my frame of mind, I was not consciously following a calling, but in hindsight I can see there must have been a fair amount of faith that enabled me to take this step.
Since then I have witnessed a wide range of conflict situations, in South Africa, in the African Great Lakes Region, in Sierra Leone, and I was involved in guiding other people on the path of active peace work.
My most recent encounter as the witness of the big "And Yet" happened a year ago when I took part in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme for Palestine and Israel of the World Council of Churches. Jean Zaru mentioned this programme on Sunday night when she gave that moving account of the desperate situation in her country. I was posted in Bethlehem.
You may be able to imagine that Bethlehem had a very special celebration in the year 2000. Politically, the second half of the 1990's seemed calm in that troubled region. The Oslo Accords had given rise to hope, and from virtually all over the world Christian individuals and communities, whole countries even, adopted buildings, streets, squares to brush up the town for a very special birthday party. Bethlehem must have looked a gem--for a few months. This I could still see last year--if and when I was allowed out. The recourse to violence in the Al Aqsa intifada (the second attempt of the Palestinian People to shed Israeli occupation) had spurred several incursions into the town. Particularly heavy was the siege of the Church of the Nativity around Easter 2002. I could see evidence of death and destruction wherever I looked, and hardly any remnant was left of the beauty and despair. Destitution was palpable.
And Yet! And Yet, I met people in this stricken community who refused to give up hope. My placement at the Lutheran Christmas Church was planned for giving an extra hand in the preparation of the grand opening of their new International Centre. This, however, had to be postponed--for a third time, due to renewed curfews and blockade.
And Yet, there was this new, bright and aesthetically most pleasing building. The congregation had found funding and commissioned an award-winning Finnish architect to design an inspirational structure which would help to foster a renewed sense of self-worth in the local community. I called it my "star of Bethlehem." Meanwhile, it has been launched and serves the community--Christians and Muslims alike--with arts and crafts classes, concerts and exhibitions, offering a counterweight to the everyday deprivation and oppression which Jean put before us in her talk.
These were examples of getting close to being a faithful witness. And yet, I do not often hear clear directions and I do not often have the chance to witness a miracle as bright as that in Bethlehem.
Not all of us are in a situation to experience or to go out and witness big things, but we all can support smaller "And Yet's" by keeping our eyes open for the needs of our neighbours.
While my "Star of Bethlehem" was shining brightly I have witnessed many situations that were dominated by despair, where an "And Yet" was not obvious. I believe it is our task to watch out hard for even the smallest "And Yet"--just as we are called to look out for God.
Supporting the bigger or smaller "And Yet" wherever it wants to occur, that means making a difference. Perhaps that is as close as I can get to serving God in our changing world.
The biblical image that came to mind as I pondered this testimony was that of the rainbow following the big flood, and the covenant which God offered Noah and his people as we can read in Genesis:
I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life.
(Genesis 9:13-15)
Emma Espinoza de Vichezis a pastor and the clerk of El Salvador Yearly Meeting. She also teaches at the Friends school in San Ignacio. Emma is married with two grown daughters and one granddaughter.
I would like to thank God and the World Committee for the privilege of having the opportunity to speak to this theme today. The honor and glory are all for God.
Acts 1:8 says:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
What I hope to share with you this morning, with God's help, may be unknown to some of you, and for others may be part of your identity. I hope to glorify God and also give witness to what God has done in my own life.
We do really live in a changing world, and we ourselves are changing, but there is someone very special who said "I the Lord do not change." (Malachi 3:6). He is the almighty God. The writer to the Hebrews affirms this when he says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Heb. 13:8) Jesus Christ is God.
This is a hymn that truly blesses my soul, and I will attempt to sing the first chorus and the first verse:
Times and ages change
Flowers will wither,
But there is only one who is unchanging,
Christ will never change.
Christ will never change.
All will pass.
The years like fast rivers will flow,
Life like a shining dream will go,
But keep this certain truth,
Christ will never change.
This marvelous being who does not change asks you and me to be witnesses to him. How can we achieve this?
The first step needed is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. John 1:12 says: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Another important aspect of this is that "the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin." (I John 1:7b). No matter one's spiritual condition, God gives us new hearts. We only need to open our hearts to him. (Rev. 3: 20).
The second step is to experience of the fullness of the Spirit. Jesus Christ, after his crucifixion and resurrection, but before the ascension, asked his disciples to remain in Jerusalem until they had been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. They knew Jesus and had followed him, but Jesus knew them and knew that this experience was necessary so they could be faithful witnesses to Him. For example, Peter promised Jesus that if it were necessary, he would follow Him even to unto death; but when the master was arrested, Peter did follow Him, but only at a distance, and even denied Him. Then, after the experience with the Spirit, Peter was pressured and threatened so he would not speak any more in the name of Jesus. He answered them with authority:
Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. (Acts 4:19 & 20).
What made the difference? The power of the Spirit.
Another example is that of John, when he was traveling with Jesus, and the Samaritans did not welcome him. James and John said, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" (Luke 9:54). The were angry and vengeful. Yet later John himself wrote, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love ... If anyone says, '1 love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar." (I John 4: 8 & 20)
What made the difference? The power of the Spirit. To be faithful witnesses to God in a changing world, we need this experience.
The third step is: To serve God faithfully, we need to live in the Spirit. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) The apostle Paul confirms this when he says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Gal. 5:22, 23)
This makes us different from others. In a world full of hate, resentment and bitterness, we can have, and give, love. In the midst of suffering there can be joy and peace in our hearts.
I would also like to share a little experience with you. I have heard so much about the difficulties so many of our Friends had to come to New Zealand. I have my story, too. On December 22 my husband and daughter and I traveled to the capital of Guatemala in order to apply for a visa. There is no British Embassy in El Salvador and we thought it would be a good date to travel as a family. We arrived at the capital of Guatemala at ten in the morning. We spent about two hours in the Embassy. My husband left the car in a parking lot where there were a lot of lovely new cars, not like our little old car. But to our surprise, when we returned to the lot, the car wasn't there. The beginning of a sad story. Our personal things were gone. My husband had been carrying paper work for the Ministry of Education. We were just at the beginning of our Yearly Meeting and I'm the Clerk, and I had been carrying a folder with the paper work for the sessions.
The following day, after obtaining my visa, my daughter and I returned by bus. My husband stayed another day in Guatemala to see if the car would be found. I arrived home on the 24th of December. The young people at Church were very enthusiastic in getting ready for Christmas and I had to prepare my Christmas sermon. But my heart was sad. I spent the time reading and praying and writing, and also a time crying with a lot of questions. "Lord, tonight I have to preach a message of good news and great joy. But I'm sad." But God spoke to my heart. In Habakuk 3:17-19 he says:
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
And I was able to say "I love you, Lord." And there was great joy in my heart that I could love Him and serve Him.
Let me finish by saying: God is faithful, and he wants you and me to be his faithful witnesses and to serve him.
Let us seek an ever-deeper experience, and let us give Him our best. This will bring blessings for the present and for eternity. In the final days God will tell us;
Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!
(Matt. 25:23)
Thank you.
Wilson Shivachiis the clerk of Nairobi Yearly Meeting, in Nairobi, Kenya. He is aged 55 years, married with seven children aged between 18 and 34 years. He has just retired from the University of Nairobi where he worked as an Electronics Technologist. His desire is to continue serving the Lord.
I give glory and honor to God our creator and also thank the FWCC World Office for giving me this opportunity share with you my experience as a Quaker.
I was born and brought up in a Quaker family and went through Quaker schools. But this alone was not enough to make me a witness of God. It takes the hand of God to make one understand and be in communication with our creator--the Almighty God.
When I was a young man in church, my pastor read verses in Isaiah 6: l-8, and in particular verse 8 which says: 'Whom shall I send? And who shall go for us." This was God talking to his servant Isaiah: and in response the prophet said, "Here am I. Send me." This moved me and I started reflecting on what God wanted me to do for Him.
One cannot witness the faithfulness of God until he accepts being used by the Almighty God--I then accepted to serve God.
Who, then, is a faithful witness? This is a person who is reliable, trustworthy. And honest. This person gives honest testimony before the eyes of God.
One day I went to draw some money from a bank for some work. I went with the person to whom I was to give this money. Somewhere along the way, I met with an old friend who I gave a lift. After coming from the bank, I forgot that there were three of us in the car. So after a short distance I gave this money to the person who was seated next to me in the front seat. But some hours later, the man to whom I should have given this money asked me about it. By our standards, it was a substantial amount of money.
Now that the other man had gone and I could not trace him; it became apparent that I had to look for some money elsewhere to give to the right recipient. I was disturbed and confused. I prayed to my God and four days later I traced this old friend, and how faithful God is! This man gave me back all the money that I had given to him and said, "I thought about it and felt you did not intend to give all this to me." This was clear manifestation that God answers prayers when you trust in him.
As I was reflecting on the theme of this triennial, I realized that God who calls us in his service gives us different gifts to enable us to give testimonies as faithful witnesses in this changing world. In I Corinthians 12:1-4 onwards, the apostle Paul enumerates some of these gifts. In fact, the Bible eventually tells us clearly that each one of us shall give an account of how we used these gifts. In the same book, I Corinthians 1:8-9, Paul says, "God will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who called you into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." He continues on to say that God's faithfulness has contributed to his own faithfulness.
The world is changing, but we must remain focused on our God that we are serving. There are some Christians who insist that we should never admit to "the going being tough" and must maintain a "positive look" on everything. This is why whenever you meet them and ask, "How are you doing today?" they respond, "Wonderful! Everything is fine." Well, there is nothing wrong with having a positive outlook on life (it is better than being negative), but we must be real. It is not being negative to face the fact that sometimes life is difficult. To deny reality is to diminish yourself and become less of a person, and the unreality will lessen your ability to stand up to difficulties in the future.
In life, there are more growing and learning days than great and fantastic days. One Christian remarked, "Sometimes the Christian life is like taking three steps forward and one step back." If the Christian life is anything, it is about persevering regardless of the obstacles and the crushing events of life. God has given us the grace to do that, but once again we must throw our will on the side of that grace. There is the need for trusting and there is the need for trying. Keep on trusting and keep on trying.
In the book of Matthew 24:45, God talks of "being a faithful and wise servant." This is a servant whose master has entrusted him his household, and when he returns he finds him doing so. This is a faithful servant and gives a faithful account.
In this changing world full of wars, hatred, incurable diseases and other calamities, our only hope is in God. I am delighted by the spirit of God within this gathering. We have continued to exhibit cordial relationships in sharing our strengths, weaknesses, problems and wealth. This is a true Quaker spirit and evidence of the love of God in this Triennial. Friends, keep up to that same call, for you will give a true witness of the same at the end.
In conclusion, Friends, you will realize that I have shared on a number of issues and even made several Bible references. One may be tempted to say that these could only apply at that time. The word of God is real and we must rise to the occasion and remain faithful witnesses to God as he calls us into His service.
May God bless you all.
Jaime Tabingois the national director for Evangelical Friends Missions in the Philippines, and General Superintendent of Philippine Yearly Meeting. He also teaches in the Manila Theological College, preparing students from all over Asia to return to their home countries as pastors and missionaries.
To be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ is not an easy task. You must have personally experienced the power of the Holy Spirit before you can be an effective witness for Him. I think we should clarify first about the responsibility of a witness. He should be qualified, otherwise he would not be effective. Let's remember that before Jesus Christ gave this statement to the disciples, they had been with Him for three years. And then they were instructed to go to Jerusalem to devote themselves for ten days in prayer in an upper room. After that, the Holy Spirit descended and filled each one of them. On that same day (Day of Pentecost), they stood before the people and began to share the Word of God. That was the beginning of their effective witnessing.
From my own experience, I would like to share with you how I started to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ in this changing world.
First, I began witnessing for Jesus in 1963, when the true Light enlightened me. Before that, I didn't have that personal relationship with Him, although I grew up in a Christian family. I thought I was a child of God because I was attending Sunday school and going to church regularly. At home, my parents taught me how to read the Bible and pray. But deep down in my heart, I was struggling within myself about my personal relationship with God. Then finally one night, as I was listening to the preaching from the Word of God, He spoke to me very vividly. I was convicted of my sinful condition. I learned that Jesus Christ died for me on the cross to take away all my sins. That night in December, I humbled myself before God and accepted Jesus Christ as my own personal Lord and Savior. That night, too, I experienced that wonderful peace and joy that only Jesus Christ can give. I can say for certain now that if something happens to me, I am sure of entering His Kingdom because I have the Light of God. And that Light is Jesus.
Second, I have continued my witnessing for Jesus by taking heed of His call for me to surrender my life for a full time pastoral ministry. In 1964, I definitely was sure that the Lord was calling me to serve Him full time. Before that, I had my own secular ambitions. I was planning to take up courses in medicine when I would go to college. Although I came from a poor family, I was determined to pursue my ambition. But the more I served God in our local church, the more it was impressing in my mind and heart the desire of going into a full time pastoral ministry. Whenever I involved myself in teaching the children and young people the Word of God, they responded enthusiastically about what I was imparting and sharing with them. And whenever I retired during the night, I sensed that sweet peace and joy of Jesus saturating my whole self.
Third, my full-time ministry led me to engage in church planting and the training of young leaders for the ministry. I have been engaged in this kind of ministry for the last thirty-eight (38) years of my life. Twenty-six of those thirty-eight years were spent with the Evangelical Friends. The Lord called me when I was nineteen years old. I began preaching, teaching and training young people to do the same kind of ministry that I am doing up to the present. At the Manila Theological College where I teach and preach, my students come from several Asian countries, like China, Myanmar, Korea, and the Philippines. What a joy to see them graduate and go back to their respective countries, towns and provinces, reaching out to their own people with the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. Although I may not go to all these places where my students come from, they are the ones that become missionaries to their own people. And because I had a part in their lives and in their training, it is as if I had already gone to these places. That's the beauty of training others through your head and heart knowledge.
Last, my ministry with the Evangelical Friends helps me widen my vision, not only to plant Friends churches in the Philippines, but also throughout Asia. Just recently, I had a stint of ministering to a church in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. I have convinced them to adopt the teachings and doctrines of the Evangelical Friends. I ministered to them for four months. I left with sixty of their leaders trained how to share and preach the Word of God. Last month, I had a week of training and preaching in our new missionary field in Myanmar. Mr. Tual Khan Pau, the National Director of our Friends' work, came to the Philippines several years ago and was trained in the ministry. He joined our Friends church in Pasig City, Metro-Manila. Learning our Evangelical Friends teachings and doctrines in our church, he went back to his home country and started the Friends work. Now, we have a thriving Friends work in Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar. Hopefully next year as the Lord leads and guides us, we will start an Evangelical Friends church in Hong Kong.
Conclusion: After all the efforts and the years I have spent in serving the Lord, I can only say that I have done it due to the love of the Lord Jesus Christ that He has placed in my heart. That love has compelled me to follow Him and obey His will in my life. I can only say with the Apostle Paul, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service" (I Timothy 1:12).
Teach Me Your Way, Oh Lord
Meeting for worship, 21st FWCC Triennial, Sunday 18 January 2004
Tom and Liz Gates(Philadelphia Yearly Meeting) live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and are members of Lancaster Monthly Meeting. They have lived and worked with Friends in different corners of the Quaker world, both programmed and unprogrammed. They both seek to live more deeply into the gifts God has given them.
Scripture Reading:
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Acts 1:8
Liz: Tena koutou, Tena koutou, Tena koutou katoa.
Tom: Hamjambo Marafiki.
Liz: Bon jour, les Amies.
Tom: Buenos días, Amigos!
Liz: Good morning, Friends.
Liz: Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
give me an undivided heart…
Psalm 86:11 (NRSV)
I stand before you this morning, struck by the irony of having been asked to speak in worship. For the past year and a half in my home meeting I have been mute - words have not come into my heart. I have felt dry, remote, lost, alone, isolated, even abandoned; there have been times when all I could do in meeting for worship was weep. The deep and abiding assurance of God's love and guidance I had always known evaporated,
leaving behind a void I have never experienced before. For months I have been saying with the Psalmist:
Hear my cry, O God; Listen to my prayer
From the ends of the Earth I call to you,
I call as my heart grows faint;…
I long to dwell in your tent forever
And take refuge in the shelter of your wings
Psalm 61:1-2,4 (NIV)
And yet, here I stand before you today.
The pain of this estrangement, this dark night, has confused and bewildered me, yet I am coming to know that it is a path I do not walk alone. God lays it before many of us; it must be navigated if we are to mature in our faith, to grow in our capacity to love. Faith alone allows me to continue to trust that God walks beside me even when I can't feel God's presence.
In preparing for worship this morning, I have been thinking about what it might mean to be a "faithful witness." In English, the word witness can be either a noun or a verb. A witness is a person who observes or who testifies. The verb "to witness" can be either active or passive. A person can witness to the truth through words and actions - active witnessing; or a person may witness things - simply observe -passive witnessing.
Can I be a faithful witness when I walk in this dark dryness? I am learning that I need only open my eyes. When I allow myself to see - really see - the staggering variety and beauty of the world, I know that God is real. When I witness the tenderness of a son walking with his aging father or the compassion of a mother for her daughter with cancer, the substance of Love stands before me. The God who loved us first is there, teaching, waiting, watching, hoping. Thomas Merton has written that, "even the desire for God is pleasing to God". Even in my dark night, the desire for God has not left my heart.
Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be born again - a seemingly impossible feat. Yet in this life, we all have times when we need to stop, to rest, to wait, to struggle. Before every new birth, there is a time of dark incubation, of growth in the quiet. We must be knit together in new ways while we wait in pregnant expectancy for the Light that is always there to steal into our hearts and illuminate the path ahead. The prospect of this new birth can be so daunting, it seems like death. Near the end of his life, Jesus told his followers,
…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12:24 (NRSV)
The old must die for the new to become.
The idea of "dying to the old self" is hard to grasp. Recently a story book, Hope for the Flowers, has helped me to see it in a new way. The book tells about two caterpillars and their quest for a meaningful life. One of them meets an old, gray caterpillar who tells her it's possible for her to become a butterfly. She doesn't know what that would mean and asks him, "What is a butterfly?" He answers, "It's what you are meant to become…." She asks how one becomes a butterfly.
"You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."
"You mean to die?"…
"Yes and No… What looks like you will die but what's really you will still live. Life is changed, not taken away…."
- Hope for the Flowers (p. 75)
In the end, she takes the risk, enters the dark of the cocoon and dies to her old life, becoming what she was meant to be. Parts of us need to die in order to be transformed. Giving birth to new life is both agony and joy.
And so it is my prayer that with time, I can move forward, that we can move forward, move from passive to active, can be born anew and sing a new song - one that God plants in our hearts - that our hearts of stone will be transformed into undivided hearts of flesh.Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;
Give me an undivided heart…
Psalm 86:11
Tom:
Liz's thoughts leave me with two questions. First, what is it to which we are called to witness? And second, what is it that leads to transformation? I think these questions are related, because I suspect that in the end, what we are called to witness to is that which transforms us. Liz reminded us of Jesus' saying about the grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit. In Luke (chapter 8), Jesus gives us a similar metaphor. In the parable of the sower, a man went out to sow grain. Some seeds fell on the path, some on rocky ground, some among the thorns, but some fell on good soil and bore fruit a hundred fold. When the disciples ask him about the meaning of the parable, Jesus by way of explanation, says "The seed is the word of God" (Luke 8:11). The Epistle of James picks up on this theme:
"Submit to God and accept the word that God plants in your hearts, which is able to save you. [Furthermore] do not deceive yourselves by just listening to the word; instead, put it into practice"
(James 1:21-22, Good News Version).
Or, as the King James Version says: "Be not hearers of the word only, but doers."
This seed, which is the word that God plants in our hearts, the word that is able to transform us, is in the Quaker understanding, not just the Bible. Rather, it is the word of John's Gospel, the logos:
"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and Word was God ...
all things came into being through this Word ...
what came into being was life,
and the life was the light of all people..."
(John 1:1-4).
So the word that we are speaking of was from the very beginning, before people, before books. It is the Word which the author of Deuteronomy says is not far off, but very near to us, in our hearts (Deut.30:14). Now, the purpose of any word is to reveal. If I speak a word to you, it reveals my thoughts, reveals what is inside of me. In the same way, the word of God reveals God to us. That is why George Fox, following John's Gospel, says that it is Christ who is "the Word of God", because God is revealed to us most completely through the Jesus of history and the inward Christ today.
One of the things that I love about our Quaker forbears is the rich vocabulary they used to talk about spiritual reality. We have already mentioned two, the Seed, and the Word. They also talked about the Light, the Light of Christ, the Inward Light, the Inward Christ, the Inward Teacher, the Holy Spirit, the Wisdom from above, and most often, simply Christ. Rooted in the New Testament, these are all ways of speaking about that divine mystery which is able to transform us. And it is these to which we must witness. Jesus before Pilate said, "For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth" (John 18:37). We Quakers talk about our testimonies. Properly understood, these testimonies are how we testify, or witness, to the Truth of our inward transformation, wrought by God. William Penn said of those first Quakers: "They were changed people themselves, before they set out to change the world". We need to remember that.
Despite this rich vocabulary and tradition, Quakers today face a great obstacle when we talk about transformation. The obstacle is this: we are good people; good people, with a good reputation. So good that we are often tempted to think, that if only others were more like us, the world would be a better place. We are sorely tempted to first change the world, instead of starting with ourselves. But, in our journey together over these last several months, the journey of darkness to which Liz alluded, we have come to realize that at some level, we are all broken people, broken people in need of healing, in need of transformation, in need of God's grace. At some level, we are all caterpillars, not yet willing to trust in the possibility of flying, not yet willing to become what God intends us to be.
I want to return to the image of the seed, which I find particularly helpful in thinking about the spiritual life. As anyone who has planted a garden knows, we can put a seed in the ground, and we can work to create the proper conditions, by fertilizing and watering and weeding, but we cannot make the seed grow. Only God can do that. Likewise in the spiritual life: we can and should work to create the optimal conditions, but transformation comes from God. Listen to the words of Isaac Penington:
"Give over thine own willing, give over thine own running, give over thine own desiring to know or be anything, and sink down to the seed which God sows in thy heart, and let it be in thee, and grow in thee, and breathe in thee, and act in thee..."
The Apostle Paul makes much the same point (I Cor. 3:7-9, GNV). Who plants and who waters is not important. "It is God who matters, because God makes the plant grow... We are partners working together with God ... and you are God's field," or, in other translations, God's garden.
We are God's garden ... what a beautiful thought. But I never fully realized how beautiful until I read it in my Swahili Bible: wewe ni shamba ya Mungu. You are God's shamba. Now, as our Kenyan Friends can tell us, in Kiswahili, a shamba is a garden or a field, but it is also one's homestead, the place where you were born. Even if you move to the city to live and work, it is the place you will always call home. You return there at least once a year, hopefully to plant some maize and live as your ancestors did. It is the place where one day you will be buried. Even when circumstances take you away, your shamba is where you long to dwell.
To say, then, that we are God's shamba is to say that we are where God longs to dwell. It is in our hearts that God longs to plant this seed, and see it come to fruition. God longs for us, just as we long for God. It is from this longing that God sends forth his Word, his Light, his Grace: God's self-revealing initiative, surrounding us, inviting and waiting for our response. Thomas Kelly wrote that in this modern age
"we suppose [that we are] the initiator and God the responder. But the Living Christ within us is the initiator and we are the responders...
All our apparent initiative is already a response, a testimony to [God's] secret presence and working within us"
(Testament of Devotion, p.30).
We are God's shamba. It is God who chooses the seed, and plants it. Our first task is to wait, to notice, to really see: to witness God's initiative, in the passive sense. Then we water and nurture and respond to the seed: to be witnesses to God's truth in the active sense; to be not just hearers, but doers of the Word. It is this which can transform us, and this which, through us, can transform the world. It is this to which we are called to be "faithful witnesses".
Closing Prayer:
Loving God, creator and sustainer of all life,
Thou at the heart of all things:
Teach us your many names.
You are the Word, spoken from the very Beginning;
The Seed, planted in our hearts.
You are the Light which enlightens all people;
The Spirit which gives life.
You are the Bread of Life which nourishes,
The living Water which alone can quench our thirst.
Open our lives to your transforming presence.
Teach us, guide us, lead us, forgive us, transform us.
Give us the courage to become what you intend us to be;
The courage to become faithful witnesses. Amen
Being Faithful Witnesses: Serving God in a Changing World
Meeting for Worship, 21st FWCC Triennial, 23 January 2004
Benson Simiyuis the General Secretary of Nairobi Yearly Meeting.
Amigos!
That is a very beautiful way of saying hello, and I'm glad for my Friends who have taught me that. It is similar to mirembe.
Mirembe! Mirembe!
Friends, this year's Triennial planners chose a challenging theme.
Being faithful witnesses : serving God in a changing world.
I think the author of the book from
which this theme was taken (Acts 1:8) had an intention
of preaching a message that would unite all people regardless
of their big or small differences.
In the Bible we read about the transition from a Palestinian
sect to a true religion. Paul testified:
I confess to you today that I worship the God of our ancestors by following the way which they say is false. I also believe in everything written in the law of Moses and in the books of the prophets. Acts 24:14
The Bible goes further to state that
they confronted him openly and said, " we would like to hear
you because we know that everywhere people speak against this
party to which you belong (Acts 28:22)."
Looking at these two quotations, you may agree with me that this is an
indicator that the Jews to whom Christ came regarded Christianity as a movement of no value. To make the authority of the witness clear, the writer states clearly that Jesus commissioned his followers through the Holy Spirit before his departure. (Luke 24: 44-49) The writer goes on to tell us that He told them that they would be his witnesses to all that they saw and heard from him. Friends, this can apply to each and every believer today.
My dilemma is this:
How do we witness in a world which
has two classes of people, the free and the slaves? By
slaves, I mean people who have never known what freedom means.
In some of our states, our countries, we hear of freedom of
speech, we hear of freedom of choice, we hear of freedom of
worship. As our Friend Jean Zaru told us the other day, some
countries have no word like 'freedom' in their
vocabulary.
How do we witness in a world where visas cannot be issued
easily, unless what some people call the "higher authority"
intervenes?
I don't uncerstand "higher authority"
in this case. Even if you have all the necessary documentation,
may God help us to know the authority from above.
How do we witness in a world where when we attend a
conference or gathering, some of us come with wrong
motives?
I don't know why you came. Maybe you
came to say "I will find a Friend and stay with a Friend". I
thank God for those who understand the fact that, "whether east
or west, home is best". I am referring to east or west, knowing
that in my geography I learned about the "far east", and today,
this morning, I am standing in the land of "far east".
How do we witness in a world where we have two separate classes of people?
Even when they call themselves a
"family of Friends" there are two classes, the have and the
have-not. A better language might be the owners and the
beggars. It is as if you own a television set right in your
sitting room, but someone else has the remote control. As one
Friend mentioned, you hear the statements like, "Do as I say,
because I have the chequebook".
How do we witness in a world when a person stands in this
congregation to address us and is careless of our French and
Spanish speaking Friends?
Are we talking about things which are
far from us, or are we talking about things which we need to
practice here and now? No wonder my literature teacher taught
me a saying, "Benson, although all animals are equal, we have
some which are more equal than others".
How do we witness in a world where perception of money
becomes the cause of differences?
How do we witness in a world where some of us are asking questions like, "Is the Bible anti-gay?"
I wonder whether the Bible was for-gay. Probably some of us need to open kiosks in our various places to explain this.
No wonder our theme finishes by saying "in a changing world". But this makes me pose a number of questions.
Has the world really changed?
Has it changed for better or for worse?
Is it you as a person who has changed?
I have no answer for these
questions.
Acts 1:8 is both a promise and a command, both a gift and an obligation. No wonder some people say it is final and conclusive. Final and conclusive in the sense that Jesus made this speech at the time of his departure. It is a gift because he made the promise to his disciples. (John 16:7) It is an obligation and a command because the disciples were required to go out after they have received this gift and tell others about Him. This means that Christ gave them a gift of the courage to witness for him. This is clearly seen in Acts, Chapter 3, when Peter and John went out and witnessed to the man who was really in need. They had a wonderful message.
Rise up and walk. Praise God.
Friends, Praise God.
Rise up and what?
And walk!
It was a gift and a promise because it
made the followers of Christ one. They had unity of purpose.
They had unity in service. They had unity in mind. They had
unity in giving.
Of course none of them said "this belongs to me"(Acts
4:32ff). That was clearly spelled out in the prayer of Jesus,
when he said, "Make them one" (John 17:11) It was a
gift and a promise that made them a blessing to many. When they
received the gift they became a blessing to other people. The
example of Philip and the Ethiopian officer is very clear
(Acts 8:26ff).
What then, Friends will be the basis of our witness?
One of the things we need to put at the back of our mind is to recognise that we are one body and, as we always say, there is that of God in every person. This means we must ensure that we image God. We need to know our differences, but not capitalise on our differences. We must use our differences for the glory of God. We need to know our commonalities and our strengths, and by all means use them for the glory of God. We need to know our moral obligations and our duties and therefore exploit every opportunity for the glory of God. Above all we need to know our call, if we are really called. That is why the Bible urges each one of us to "test our selves and see if we are still living in the faith"(2 Corinthians 13:5).
Dear Friends, I echo the words of the
author of one the books of the Bible, " the letter kills, but
the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). Letters
kill, but the spirit gives life.
Oh Spirit of the living God,
may you fall afresh on us
now and forever more.
Published 2004
with permission of the authors
by
Friend World Committee for Consultation
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The first five items published jointly with
Wider Quaker Fellowship
a program of Friends World Committee for Consultation,
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