Cheers from a Cloud of Witnesses

Our pastor finished up his series on "The Race of Faith" this weekend. It has been a great series. You may remember some of my previous posts where I shared some of my thoughts (Hitting the Wall and Abrahamic Faith and Cleaning Out the Closets)and the "heroes" we examined in Hebrews 11 in the Bible. I have some final ponderings on the subject that I'd like to share. Although as a kind warning, they may be a little disjointed and rambling...things are not "flowing" out onto the keyboard this morning!

In thinking over the past many months I can see how my faith has been challenged, how it has grown, how it is being stretched and increased. After last night's message, the words of scripture in Hebrews 12:1-3 as well as Pastor John's, have been weighing heavily on my mind. This sensation I'm experiencing isn't the remnant of a great evening of worship (which it was) or the sweetness of fellowship with other believers (which it was), or the beauty of the warm day (which it was), but rather an understanding that I'm being called into action in some way. That something is being required of me. I hear the questions in my spirit, "Cheryl, are you getting this? Are you paying attention? What are you going to do with this?"

What has lingered in my mind and spirit is the understanding that we are all a part of something greater than ourselves. (I know, pretty rudimentary.) What has especially struck me, or the 'light bulb moment' for me was that I am a continuation of what the heroes of the 'Hall of Faith' did centuries earlier. There is a "cloud of witnesses", as Hebrews 12 calls them, that is cheering me on to stand firm and be faithful. These witnesses are the likes of Abraham, Moses, Joshua and on and on.

As our Pastor said this "race of faith" is a relay race where a baton is passed repeatedly, not a one man or one woman sprint to the finish line. Too often I live life like a sprint to the finish line. 'Let's just get done what needs to get done and get on with things.' I breeze right by the connected-ness of my part in the body of believers, or the grand scheme of things as God sees it. He wants me to be faithful in in every aspect of my "ordinary" life. Too often I compartmentalize things as "spiritual" or having eternal impact, and then view other things, like my job, or grocery shopping, etc., as just part of life and nothing that is of much consequence. But when I think about the men and women of Hebrews 11, I see that God seeks out ordinary people, who live ordinary lives, yet who are ready and wanting to be obedient and faithful, and trust God to do the extraordinary.

At the heart of things, I want to be a good team member. I don't want to let my other team mates down. Teammates like Joshua or Gideon, or my sister in Christ sitting next to me in the worship service. I don't want to fail my leg of the race by dropping the baton.

In an abstract way, I can see a lot of these principles in action as I work on 'Charlie Brown'. I was on my way to rehearsal Saturday morning when I was extremely convicted about my lack of commitment to prayer over this production. On occasion I have voiced prayers like, "help me memorize this section--I'm not getting it!", or "help us to all work together and not allow the stresses of life and the show break down relationships", etc. But I haven't intentionally been praying for every aspect of this play. In part this may be because I haven't been looking at this show as having eternal ramifications. It is fun and energizing; a time to "play"; and the content of the show itself is fun and lighthearted. It is like watching a live comic strip! Nothing overtly "spiritual" about this show.

But as I delve deeper (a Lucy-ism), the spiritual ramifications are obvious. Although being produced by our church, this is clearly a community production, and intentionally so. Auditions were opened up to the metro area, outside of the church community, encouraging non-church actors to participate. As a result, some of the cast members and musicians are from outside of our church. How wonderfully refreshing this has been in so many ways. I don't know where these new friends stand in regard to Christ, but they have had the courage to enter into a "church" production and mingle with believers. Conversely, the responsibility I have, and other believing cast members have, to represent Christ authentically, lovingly and with grace is huge--and takes great faith and sensitivity to His Spirit.

It has been enjoyable to watch relationships grown as we work on this show. Sure there are times when each of us have gotten a little tense and "testy", but as we all work for a common goal, there is also plenty of fun going on as well. Just yesterday as we rehearsed several songs that have choreography with them, amidst the sweat and out-of-shape bodies left gasping for air from trying to sing and dance at the same time, there was plenty of team work happening. This was team-building at its finest! No one escaped moments of frustration; times when brains didn't connect to the body part that needed to be moving, or missing the line that has been memorized for a month, yet we all shared in the joy of working together and making the musical number look good. We shared the encouragement of the accomplishment together. We all had our eye on the goal.

This musical is truly an ensemble piece. With only 6 actors, it is a fast-paced, intricate production where the most time anyone has off stage is probably a total of 3 minutes (as Director Wendy put it)! The "baton" is repeatedly passed from character to character at a lively cadence. Musically, the songs are very amusing, but many are technically difficult and have required a lot of rehearsing...and more to come. Clearly, everyone is dependent upon one another to remember their parts, to perform their lines, to hit the mark when needed so that the production can be it's best. We are all depending on one another to not drop the baton, yet firmly grasp it and keep moving forward. I don't want to be the one to drop the baton...or the line...or the entrance, that will affect the outcome of the show. I want to be there for my fellow "Peanuts" pals.

Like the encouragement from my fellow cast members, or the cheers of the crowd in the stadium stands at a relay race, I want to hear the encouragement of the "cloud of witnesses" continually in my ear. I don't want to let my fellow team members, like Abraham or Joshua, down. I want to be faithful in completing the race set before me, with God's power and strength; surrendering all the "ordinary" things of life and believing he can make them into something extraordinary for His glory. My prayer these days is that my eyes will be open to where my faith needs to increase; that I will be ready and be obedient to His calling.