W for Witness

W is being brought to us by Marvin Gaye.  

Can I get a witness?  When things just aren’t right, when we need affirmation, confirmation, verification – we want a witness.  Another living, breathing human being who hears our story, sees our side, shares our joy or pain or anxiety, and makes our experience real and concrete.  

Webster defines a witness as one who attests to the genuineness of something, one who provides evidence of an event.  The Bible calls for punishment on those who bear false witness (Deut 19).  It also makes it an offense to refuse to bear witness (Lev 5:1) and it requires two or three witnesses to make a case (Deut 19).  The more who see it, the more real it becomes.

Maybe this is part of why social media is so popular – our online friends bear witness to our lives, the big stuff, the small stuff and all the in-between stuff. Someone sees, hears, connects with us.  Our lives are real, genuine.  There is evidence that, like Kilroy, we were here.

One of my favorite evenings during the holidays is dinner with Charlie, Kate and Jessica – just the four of us, a precious gift of remembering and sharing and laughing and crying.  We bear witness to the strength of our love for one another through the years.  We reaffirm that, regardless of what woes or wrath or weirdness may come, that love, grounded in our faith in Christ, will not fail us.  Life may be wacky, wild, and even wicked at times, but we will not fail to bear witness for one another.  “I know you.  You are good.  You are loved. You are precious. ”  

Isn’t this what the holidays are all about?  Going home to bear witness to one another.  In some cases, it may be accusatory and damaging and debilitating.  When done right, it’s life-affirming, soul-inspiring, heart-filling. That kind of witness says that when you forget who you are, the welcome mat is out, the door is unlocked, come home and we will tell you.  

Remember when…

And the stories unfold, the memory returns, and the soul is made whole.