mirrored here may our lives tell your story

I attended the funeral of one of Bunyan's long-standing members this morning, Harold Endersby. I did not him well, but do know three of his grandsons fairly well. It was a good funeral, which celebrated the life of a 'perfect gentleman'. It got me thinking again - as we sang the song Shine Jesus shine (which contains that great line which I have named  this post) - about Stanley Hauerwas' argument for the necessity of witness in his 2001 Gifford Lectures The Grain of the Universe. He says 'Christianity is unintelligible without witnesses ...' (p214).  The truthfulness of the gospel does not come through appeals to a theology of scripture, but to lives of those that point to the truthfulness of the story of God we find within scripture.  In our churches we must recognise and imitate those who show us how to live in the way of Christ. People like Harold, and Edna, who visited him faithfully for 6 years - so often forgotten or marginalized in our church life, should be given the role of witnessess; those who, if we imitate, we imitate Christ.  As one who is relatively young, I need to remind myself that following Jesus does not come primarily through theology books, or bible commentaries, or attending conferences or dynamic worship - all of which have their place - but instead following Jesus comes from recognising and imitating those who know what it means to follow Jesus faithfully and truthfully, who embody the character of Christ, that fruit of the Spirit, to the church and to the world. Thank you God for men like Harold and women like Edna.