Talk the Walk

Talk the Walk

October 16, 2022

Today we are talking about the next practice, Testimony, or what author, Diana Butler Bass, calls Talk the Walk. My preaching style is much more conversational than Pastor John’s. So, I’m wondering if anyone can give us a description or definition of testimony. Is anyone will to share your understanding? (Response)

“Can I get a witness?” Has anyone heard those words? What do or did people mean when they used that term? (Response) The individual asking the question is looking for someone else to validate what the speaker is saying.

Testimony is a court term. Testimony is something a witness does; they give testimony or words speaking to relevant information or events. Our gospel reading today gives us a setting where testimony could have made a difference for this nagging widow. The widow is asking for justice, healing, wholeness, or shalom. It could be that she was due money when her husband died and some other relative stepped in and received that money instead of her.

Is it just my family or has anyone else noticed that when someone dies families get a little crazy? (Response) Oh, you’ve noticed that people sometimes treat each other in ways they might not if they weren’t grieving, denying their grief, or worried more about money and possessions rather than people and feelings?

Well, in a time of grief and loss, this widow has been wronged, and she is not remaining quiet about it. She is determined. She is seeking justice the only way she knows how. She is using her voice and telling her story.

I imagine her arriving at the courthouse EARLY – day after day after day. She meets the judge at his car in the parking lot and talks his ear off until they reach the doors of the building, doors she is not welcome beyond. She pleads her case because there is no one left in this world to speak up for her. She is persistent. She is not going away. She does not care that days are getting shorter, and she has to get up and meet the judge in the dark now. She is determined to get what is rightfully hers.

Her life and case would be made much easier if she had a witness, some one who could testify alongside her, but she is a widow. She is alone. Being alone is also probably what made it easy to take advantage of her. In biblical times testimony was critical. You needed 2 witnesses to provide such testimony and be vindicated. This woman only has her own voice, but she’s using it. The gospel writer, Luke, tells us the widow begged the judge day after day, “Give me justice against my adversary.”

Without testimony to validate her claim against an adversary, even a righteous judge would have no reason to listen to her. Just her luck, she happens to be dealing with a judge who does not care about people or God. In other words, this judge is only concerned about himself. In this story the women used her voice to wear the judge down. Our theme or focus today, Testimony: Talk the Walk, asks us to consider, “Are we using our voices?”

Where are my talkers? (Response)

Where are my introverts, those who prefer to listen? (Response)

The charge to Talk the Walk applies to both types of people. If you are like me, perhaps you have the gift of gab, and you can talk for hours on end yet not say much of anything. That is NOT talking the walk. On the other hand, the quiet folk of the church are often great walkers on the journey of faith, but often they are not so great at sharing their journey with others.

Both talking and walking are important as we seek to follow Jesus. Being a faithful follower of Christ, walking the walk, does not always do the trick in bringing heaven to earth. Sometimes you have to use your voice. As we seek to expand the realm of God on earth, some people are inspired by what they see, what they witness with their eyes. Others are inspired by hearing your story of abundant life and eternal life, the life Jesus came to make possible for us. When they hear your story they want some of that, and they decide they too can have this new kind of life.

Psalm 119 speaks about God’s instruction, commandment, law, precepts, word, rules, teaching. There were all passed down through… words. They were all part of an incredibly accurate oral tradition way before anything was ever written down. But through talking and teaching, through people using their voice, God’s instruction for our lives and stories of God’s love for God’s people were passed down from generation to generation.

By the time Paul comes along, he is using the written word to instruct Timothy and those in his care. Yet to reach more people, and since most people did not read or write, Paul’s letters will be read to and passed around to many house churches. Paul reminds Timothy that he knows the scriptures because people taught him, and now those same scriptures are going to be useful in teaching and equipping others.

Jeremiah reminds us that a time is coming when we won’t need someone else to instruct us, that God’s instruction is engraved on each of our hearts. Each of us has a testimony! Many of us have been walking the walk as faithful Christians for a LONG time. It’s not enough! You must also use your voice to communicate what Jesus has done for you. The purpose of testimony is not to bash someone over the head or to prove you are right. Testimony serves to help open and pave the way for others. Diana Butler Bass says, “Testimony reminds us of where we have been, helps us see where we are, and directs us toward unanticipated paths.” (p. 139)

Although testimony used to be how you proved yourself in the faith, how you either knew the correct catechism or had been saved by Jesus in some dramatic way, now testimony is a way of sharing who we are and who we are becoming. We communicate that we don’t have all the answers but through some unlikely ways and unlikely people God is reaching and transforming us. Some stories involve being surprised by God’s love, others speak of changed lives, and still others simply communicate that we’re on the journey. God uses stories, we have a Bible full of them, and when we tell the stories of our lives, when we testify, we find we are not alone on the journey which then draws us closers to God who is always with us.

Now one might think this is a great way to introduce the new pastor, to have me show up on week 1 and give my testimony, to tell you all how Jesus saved my wretched soul and how when I gave my life to Jesus, God called me to assist others in finding their way to a closer and deeper relationship with God and God’s people through Jesus Christ. However, your former pastor, John Holden was an amazing teacher. He certainly used his voice to help you find yours. I think today might be a good time for us to testify to how John used his voice and his life to influence your journey with Jesus.

·         How did you know God’s love through John?

·         Tell us how John’s life influenced your life.

·         What did John teach you that helped you grow closer to God?

Generous sharing, testimonies of those in the congregation