"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning." [John 15:26-27]
Do you know how a cell tower works? Not the detailed schematics, but the basics of the theory? In broad brush strokes, it goes like this: you want to make a call from your cell phone, and the phone sends a signal (by radio frequency) to the nearest cell tower, whose job it is both to receive the signals from people's phones and also pass them along to the wider network to bring the call to your phone. A single cell site can typically handle a lot of calls all at once, which is pretty amazing if you think about it. And the antenna on a cell tower has to be able to receive, process, and then retransmit the initial call, all at the speed of light (again, pretty amazing).
It happens so fast and we are so used to it that we probably don't even realize how much is happening from the time we press "send" to the time we hear a "hello" on the other end of the call. If you're a fan of The Lord of the Rings, it's kind of like those bonfire beacons they have set up across the chain of mountain peaks to communicate across vast distances. If you're one of the soldiers stationed at a beacon and you see the fire off in the distance, you are to light your beacon then so that someone miles away will know that "Gondor calls for aid!" In the movie version, there's a whole sequence showing a long series of these giant bonfires where those who are stationed have to have their eyes open to receive a signal and then to pass it along to the next set of distant eyes. Well, whether you picture the instantaneous transmission of a cell signal or the drawn-out bonfire communications of a fantasy tale, the central idea in both is how one point can be both recipient and transmitter of a message. And when that happens, the message remains constant, even if it is transmitted along the way through multiple points or even people.
And if you can envision that happening, you've got a good feel for the way Jesus talks about the work of the Spirit in our lives--and then our work in the world. The Spirit, Jesus says, communicates Jesus' ongoing word to the community of Jesus' followers ("he will testify on my behalf"), and then we become witnesses who "testify" what we have seen and known of Jesus. The Spirit takes what comes from the living Jesus and passes it along to us--and then we also receive what the Spirit speaks so that we become messengers and witnesses to the world. Like watching the bonfires on the mountaintops of Middle Earth, or like a cell signal going from the palm of your hand to a tower and then out beyond into the wide world carrying your voice, the message remains the same while at the same time it is transformed and processed through each of the different points along the way. The fire at one beacon doesn't move to the next mountain peak, but the light does. And as it moves, so does the meaning of the light--the message is received at the next beacon, so the people there can light their fires and the message can be seen even further in the distance by the next.
In a similar way, perhaps, our calling as Jesus followers is simply to be witnesses as the Spirit directs us. We receive the ongoing Word from the living Jesus through the Spirit, and we embody the Good News of Jesus, each in our own way, so that the next person and the next will receive the news, too. The Light that has first come to us gets passed along, and the meaning of the Light flows through us to others who will receive it and respond. You are the beacon, in other words, through whom someone else might hear Jesus' persistent invitation, "You are beloved, and you belong: follow me." You are the one through whom some stranger will see a glimpse of the way God's love reaches out to all people--and you'll become the conduit for the Spirit's signal. You are one of many countless faces, in whom someone else will catch a glimpse of Christ's face. And once again, that means that the Spirit is always consistent with the character of Jesus--the Spirit "testifies" on behalf of Jesus, so our message to the world will also always sound like Jesus... look like Jesus... love like Jesus.
That also means our calling is to stay in constant eyesight with the beacons around us, too. We followers of Jesus keep gathering together because the Spirit might be speaking through someone around us to get the word to us--and then through us to the world around. We keep close to Jesus himself--constantly seeking to re-align our words, our actions, our priorities, and our love to be in step with his. We are called to testify, not to sell something--that means our witness to the world will always simply be to give away the free Good News of God's equally free and audacious love to the world. We don't have to spice it up with gimmicks or catch-phrases; we don't have to chase the latest trend. We don't have to peddle some version of "Jesus-and-also-you'll-get-rich" religion that thinks Jesus isn't enough. We just pass along the light we've been given, knowing that it has first come from none other than the Spirit of God. And for those around us who are watching (and believe me, there are lots of folks watching and listening to us when we don't think anyone is paying attention), they'll see the meaning of the light passed along through us into the next mountain peak and the next beyond it. God's message will flow through us and from us like a cell tower antenna, so that the living Jesus can communicate his love and welcome through us wherever we go.
That's the mission, friends. Keep your eyes open for light on the horizon. Have your torches ready.
Lord Jesus, let your Spirit speak among us so that we can be your witnesses in the world, too.
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