Witness

After John 1:6-8 

He is sent,

deputized to serve,

not as a light

but as a witness

to the light, the one

sent before into

the darkness

to herald arrival,

the coming

of the light, 

not the light but

witness to the light,

the one to announce

in the appointed hour,

the darkest hour,

the arrival of the dawn,

so that all could see

its arrival.

He is sent by God,

a holy messenger

and he carries

the name of John.

 

Photograph by Jose Ortega Castro via Unsplash. Used with permission.

You ask, we answer

After Acts 4:1-14

There’s the question, tossed

lightly but landing with

a rather loud thud, asking

what power or name or

authority that the man is’

healed, that man crippled 

from birth, and that’s it,

the elephant in the room,

the asking powerful

surrounding the answering

insignificant. And the answer:

we heal in his name, you know, 

him, the one you crucified.

And if our words are lacking,

the healed man stands with us, 

a witness no one can refute.

Nothing can be done, they

mutter quietly to each other,

we’ll start a riot if we deny

the reality of what the people

see, so we come to this, 

a warning to stop the spread

of this contagion, already

afflicting thousands. 

They speak the warning,

looking into the eyes

of the future.

Photograph by Artem Maltsev via Unsplash. Used with permission.

The powers (earthly)

After Acts 4:1-14

We speak to the people,

telling them what we know

and experienced, explaining

the news (good). We say

nothing about priests or council

or rulers or elites, but words

strip away pretense, and there’s

the man, healed, the lame man,

the man hopping and jumping,

the man everyone knows

from birth, the man who never

walked, and there he is,

a living (walking) testimony

that what we say is true. It’s

annoying, and threatening,

because they know who we are,

the ones who were with him, 

the ones called disciples of that man,

that man they crucified. 

We have become an inconvenient

truth. 

Photograph by Sushil Nash via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Witness

After I John 1:1-4

He was there

from the beginning.

I heard him

I saw him

I watched him

I touched him

with my own hands.

I walked with him

I sailed boats with him

     boats on the small sea

     boats in calm

     boats in storm

It is because of these things

that I do what I do,

an ongoing infusion of testimony

empowering life, my life

and yours if you have

ears to hear

eyes to see

minds to know

hearts to believe.

Photograph by Austin Neill via Unsplash. Used with permission.