What shall your witness be... v. ... What shall your witness have been?

At the ELCA churchwide assembly this last August, I heard the ELCA's presiding bishop, Mark Hansen, give the remarks linked to above. He says "I invite you to think ahead eight years and ask the question this way: “Looking back from 2017, what do we want our witness to have been?”"

That question has been plaguing my mind for weeks now, as I grow into my pastoral identity, as St. James seeks direction in our missional identity. I wonder, do we ask only 'what will our witness be,' or 'what has our witness been?' Or can we look at ourselves, at our church, and wonder, "when people look at me, at us, 20 years from now, what do we hope our witness to have been?"

Bishop Hansen listed many things he hopes the church will witness to in the next 8 years.

• That we are a church whose first language is the Biblical language of faith; that we hear, share, study, pray and sing the scriptures
• That the ELCA's new tag line "God's work. Our hands" indicates not only who we are but whose we are
• That the ELCA is a growing missional church, a center of sharing God's good news in word and deed
• "That, as an entire church body, we resolved that no seminary graduate should be so burdened with educational debt that they are unable to flourish as faithful, wise, and courageous leaders"
• "That we have trained 1000 evangelists following the model of many of our global companion churches"
• That the ELCA committed to being a multi-cultural church, embracing new worship styles and languages
• That we are a church who has grown through renewed ethnic ministries and ministry to people living in poverty
• That we are a church that tithes, and that we are advocates for people who live in poverty or in other distressed conditions
• That we are a church that welcomes immigrants and advocates for their just treatment
• That we have been committed to reducing the prevalence and stigmatization of HIV/AIDS
• That the ELCA was a partner in eradicating malaria by 2015
• That we are a church who has been committed to the care of all creation
• That the development of a social statement for women was as lively and participatory as a social statement on human sexuality
• "That, accompanying the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and working with Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities locally and internationally, ELCA members celebrated the signing in 2011 of a just two-state agreement between Israel and Palestine with Jerusalem as a shared city between Jews, Muslims, and Christians."

Many of these hopes require not only the action of the Churchwide Assembly, but also action on the congregational level. Congregations must choose to become literate in the language of faith. We must choose to accept our identity as God’s children. We must choose to formulate our self-identity and ministry through the eyes of mission… Congregations must choose to be partners, working together to witness to the world as the larger church. In this way, we might look back in 20 years and see that our witness has been what we have hoped for it to be.

In looking forward to what he hopes our witness will have been, Bishop Hansen gives direction and purpose to the church’s life. I believe that if we formulate our lives this way, we too, give direction and purpose to our lives. If people look back on my life in 20 years, what do I hope my witness will have been?

·        That I embodied Christ’s compassion and love for God’s people and God’s world

·        That my identity was grounded in being a child of God

·        That I spoke wisely and carefully

·        That I have lived life abundantly

·        That I have not been afraid to have fun

·        That I have boldly made mistakes and learned from them

·        That I not only spoke out against injustice, but that I worked against it

·        That I was a person worth knowing, not because I am perfect, but precisely because I’m not

Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list of who I hope to be, who I hope to have been. But it is a start. And now I start to wonder, what do I need to do - what do I need to choose - in order to get there.

And so I wonder, people of St. James… in 20 years, what do you hope St. James’ witness to have been?

And I wonder, for all of you… in 20 years, what do you hope your witness to have been?

And how, pray tell, do you intend to get there?