DAY 206

FINDING YOUR VOICE

Psalm 35 & 36 and Acts 25

Today the Psalms are best read in a Bible that presents them in versicle format. As I mentioned yesterday, today I would comment on Acts, chapter 24 & 25. In these two chapters we read of Paul’s time with Roman authorities. What struck me in chapter 24 was not the vehement hatred that the Temple authorities had for Paul. What struck me was how Felix held him for two years. It seems that Felix had some mixed motives: he was hoping for money, he was trying to please those bringing charges, but he also had “a rather accurate knowledge of the Way” and he would summon Paul often and speak with him. Might Felix’s heart burned as he heard the truth? History records Felix as quite a scoundrel and we will not know his motives this side of heaven; he did however keep him for two years…wow!

In fact Felix left office with Paul still in prison and now Paul was Festus’ challenge. Both Felix and Festus were Roman Procurator’s, governors of a Provence. Now Festus, as the new guy in town, tries to win favor with the Temple authorities by trying to convince Paul to go to Jerusalem…instead Paul wants to go to Rome (you might remember that God told him he was going to Rome).

Next we read of Paul before King Agrippa and his sister Bernice (if you want to read about any of these folks just “Google” them). It is a rather grand scene, Paul coming before them. This “king” is a king of a portion of Judea and a descendant of the Herod. Imagine standing before a king and proclaiming that Jesus of Nazareth, a carpenter’s son born in Galilee, was really God come to earth, born by a virgin birth. And this God lived among us, died crucified, then miraculously rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, and then appeared to you on a road!

What would you say if you stood before a king? What do you say when you stand before your family. For quite a while now, say three or four decades or so, some followers of this man Jesus have fallen silent. We have been backed into a corner, had to answer for all the wrongs the Church has committed for two thousand years (while we don’t get to mention the good it has done), fallen into what I view as the trap of trying to answer every “question under the sun,” only to lose our voice about The One Question that matters…and that question is how we understand and are known by God.

I would like to share my approach these days. I recently was in a conversation with some people who were pulling out all the standard objections to Jesus and the Church. I listened for awhile, a long while, and then I asked a question. My question appealed to their perceived belief that they were tolerant. I asked, “Is it OK with you that I believe something different, can I have a different belief, or must I agree with you?” They were taken back. This conversation was taking place in a group and their tirade of tolerance now came home to them. Their response was, “Of course.” So I said, “Look I believe rather straightforwardly that Jesus is who He said He was, did the things the Bible says He did, and…and I am trying to follow Him…is it OK with you that I am trying to follow Him?” I went on, “I am not standing on a street corner with a bull horn condemning people to hell, nor I am proclaiming to have every answer to every question, but I am trying to follow Him…and when I do (and I don’t always get it right) I experience purpose and peace.” It had an interesting effect; a number of people seemed to nod as if to say, “Yes that is what we are trying to do.” I had found my voice.

The point I think isn’t that you do what I did, but that you think about how to share what is the most important thing in your life…your faith in God.