Read: ISAIAH 44:6-8

New life in Christ is wondrously non-static! We are not stuck. We are being transformed into persons and communities that reveal God’s redemptive action in this historical moment. To begin to believe, or at least to become willing to believe, that we are who God says we are (despite evidence to the contrary), requires a peculiar leap of faith. In today’s reading, we are named as witnesses of God’s mighty acts of love. Mercy is visible in our lives, testifying to God’s unrivaled goodness.

In John 15:26-27, Jesus promises to send the Spirit of truth, who will testify—and he charges his followers to testify too. Testifying is rooted in our identity as witnesses of God’s faithful presence and enduring strength. To claim faith as one’s own is also to affirm faith’s claim on one’s identity.

Spirit of truth, establish my identity as a witness, and empower me to testify to the reconciling love of Christ right now and right here in the days you have given me. AMEN.