It's a Red Horn! — Plucking and Planting

As a child, I loved going up north with my family. Michigan is one of those states where you can stay within the state, drive a few hours, and feel like you are vacationing in some exotic locale. Sometimes we would go south of the bridge to Sleeping Bear Dunes or Traverse City and other times we would cross the bridge to the U.P. and see the Tiquanimum Falls or vacation on McDonald Lake. This was before kids had to have their vacations filled with theme parks and video games. We spent the majority of our travels seeing wildlife preserves and natural wonders and I don't remember ever getting bored. One of the best parts of our trips was the time spent in the car, which is probably why to this day I love road trips so much. When I was probably 5 or so, the youngest in my family by at least 4 years, we were on one of those summer trips and I was beginning to become overwhelmed by my family. There were several reasons that a young boy with two older sisters could become overwhelmed on a long car trip but this day it was less what everyone else was doing than what I was unable to do. You see, my whole family had eagle eyes when it came to spotting animals from the car and I, well, I was 5. "Oh look, it's a herd of deer!" exclaimed my oldest sister. "Yes it is. Good eye." said my mother. "I didn't see anything" I whined from the middle of the backseat of our two-toned Ford Fairmont. "That's ok", my mom would say, comfortingly, "you'll see the next ones". The truth is, I never did. My other sister would spot a hawk and my mom would catch a family of raccoons crossing the road and I could never move quick enough to see any of it. Even my dad, who was driving, seemed to be able to see all of the animals that I was missing and simultaneously keep the car on the road. It could be that I, at 5 years old, was below the car window height that would allow me to spot the animal kingdom surrounding us, in all of its glory. Finally, I had enough of feeling like I was missing out on the wonder of it all so I looked out the window and exclaimed, "I see a red horn !". There were several moments of silence before my mom was brave enough to ask, "What did you see?". "A red horn", I responded, this time with much less confidence. What seems like an eternity passed before the whole car erupted in laughter. the whole car, that is, except for the 5 year old wedged between his two sisters, in the place of least honor in the world of road trips. I went on to answer questions about the red horn, this mythical creature I had created in my mind. I know it was brownish with some sort of red horn, about the size of a deer and was a master at hiding. I had just managed to spot it myself, even though I had missed every other animal on the trip. I had answered enough questions and had built up enough defensiveness about the matter that I started to be able to picture what it may look like. I started to believe my own lie and was a witness to it. Red Horns and Witness

Acts 5:29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority 30 The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”

This is part of one of the texts from the Revised Common Lectionary this week. I have been thinking a lot about the implications of these words from Peter and the apostles and the story of the red horn popped in my head. "And we are witnesses to these things", Peter speaks quite a bit about witness in these first chapters of Acts. Whether the people had actually seen the events of Jesus' ministry and or the crucifixion, for some reason Peter says that they were all witnesses to these things. It is clear by their resolve and the willingness to take this message to strange and dangerous places, that the witness is strong. It led people to sell all that they had and give to the poor or other communities to share all that they had with one another. Some went to violent lands with foreign gods and strong opposition. They were ship wrecked, beaten and left for dead, dragged before Roman leadership, and killed but their witness did not end. In fact, it strengthened and more and more people began to share this message and meet in secret places to avoid being killed . They shared meals, sang spiritual songs, the widows and orphans were cared for and no person was left in need. They had witnessed a way of power that looked like dying to self and so they all died in that way. So, more and more people were proclaiming, "I see Jesus!" and they did.

You may be asking what all of this has to do with the red horn. Well, I suggest that our churches are full of young people, spiritually, sitting in the middle of the backseat straining to see all of the things that the other members claim they see but they are missing all of it. What could they do? Well they could be honest and just say, "I don't see it.", but we all unfortunately know how well that kind of honesty is received in our churches. In fact, I would venture to guess that there are several people who have been relying on another person's witness for decades because they are too afraid to admit that they hadn't really witnessed what they are preaching they had. We are left with generations of people looking out the wrong side of the car for the elusive red horn and we are missing the majestic deer out the other window.

How Do We Become a Better Witness?

1.Be honest. I'm going to say that this is probably the thing that is plaguing our churches more than any other factor. We are so afraid to admit our weakness that strength has become nothing more than a disguise. When we have moneys of doubt we tend to demonize others who doubt instead of asking for the prayers of the church. The truth is that we all wrestle with this gospel message because it goes against everything within us and around us in this world. Wrestle with it, let others see you wrestle with it. It will let new believers know that this is a faith to be worked out.

2.You can't say you see and follow Jesus AND follow the empire at the same time. When we tell people that we have encountered Jesus but then act exactly like the empire then we bear false witness. The world is full of people who are in love with the person of Jesus but can't stand Christians. I'd say that's a problem. Are we witnessing to the reign of Caesar or of Jesus? One is status quo and the other is transformational. If you are wondering why the people around you aren't being transformed it may be that they are confused by your witness. (This isn't always the case but is a good signal for self reflection)

3.Slow Down. Unfortunately our churches are trying to get people from A to Z in a two week "new believer" class. Celebrate moves from A to B and from J to K, all while tending to your transformation from maybe P to Q. Our family car was moving 55 to 75 mph and for a 5 year old's eyes that was too fast to catch particulars of scenery. In the same way, dive into in-depth studies of the gospels and the prophets that will give people the time to bring up questions and doubts, don't take the fact that you speak "christianese" to mean that everyone does.

4.Give them the window seat. New believers, addicts, people who have been hurt and shamed by other churches, often take the seat in the back or off to the side. We often put up hurdles that prevent people from catching these divine moments of God's movement among us. Maybe we are afraid that if we give up the window seat, we will miss it too. I would say that unless you give up the seat of honor, you are guaranteed to miss it.