On being witnesses

The church as community – the communion of the saints (i.e. each believer as holy/set apart, not the appointed saints of the Roman Catholic church…just in case some of you were quacking in your boots) – is something that we talk about very easily and very often. We profess to its importance every time we recite one of the creeds together. It is often the hinge point of many a sermon. It is something we try very hard to establish in one form or another in the faith communities we are a part of.

And yet, as I was sitting with the 13thFLOOR students in our Face2Face service Sunday night - listening to their prayers, their questions and their comments – I couldn’t help but wonder whether we really understood what we are saying? A question becoming ever more prominent as I sit in meetings and experience the desire, the need, to be heard...to be acknowledged as "being there"...as existing...

Com-mun-ion (kəˈmyo͞onyən): 1) The sharing or exchanging of intimate thoughts and feelings, esp. when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level. 2) Common participation in a mental or emotional experience. What does that mean for “the communion of the saints” we so eagerly profess? That we as community of believers, in every context we find ourselves in, should be the space where others are free to exchange with us their innermost thoughts and questions and desires and fear. That there should be no boundaries between us, no closets for skeletons to hide in, no taboos. But THAT is a space that can only be created in the following ways:

• In order for others to open up to us, we need to be willing to open all of ourselves up to them. It's a risky business for both sides, but true exchange without risk is not true.
• Where judgement is first and foremost, there is little to no room for vulnerability. The sharing of truly intimate thoughts and feelings thus needs us to be willing to really hear the whole story and see the whole person.

I am reminded of something Susan Sarandon’s character says in Shall we dance? (I have edited it a wee bit): “We need a witness to our lives. There are a billion people on the planet, what does any one life really mean? But, in communion, you're promising to care about everything - the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things; all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying: ‘Your life will not go unnoticed BECAUSE I WILL NOTICE IT.  Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness’.”

To be able to notice, we need to have our eyes and ears open. More than that, we need to be inquisitive. We need to take the initiative. Only then can we be a witness worth mentioning. A witness that helps those around us realise, with every fibre of their being, that they are important beyond words. That is what Jesus spent His days doing - noticing (especially) those people that nobody bothered with, witnessing not only that they existed, but that their existence mattered! 

“One must always be aware, to notice even though the cost of noticing is to become responsible.” - Thylias Moss 

Well then, what are you waiting for? :)