The Mantle of a Witness
Rev. Dr. Melinda Contreras-Byrd, Contributing Writer
As I age, I am more interested in the world and the meaning of life. I gather with friends I have known over the years, and there is laughter over childhood memories of the outrageous and even inappropriate behavior of grammar school classmates. Too many are no longer here.
I remember the times of joy when family gathered on holidays, sharing experiences, dreams, and outright foolishness. It is good to laugh. It is good to remember. I have found that this COVID Era has changed us in many ways. And as quiet as it is kept, many of us are grieving the loss of what we thought would always be: the corner stores for so long, our generational hangouts, and the community memories that unified our neighborhood.
We grieve the loss of the heads of our families who held us all together in times that tried our allegiance and love. In the grieving, we found unity. In the grieving, we discovered strength in unexpected places. In the grieving, we became independent, believing in ourselves, our people–our God. In this grieving, so many of us have finally found our voices, but sadly, we lost our God. Because we have never stayed long enough before the Lord to listen for the answers to our prayers, we are suffering from what I will call “an ambiguous weakening.”
This era has caused us to face what we have never faced–our false selves, our true selves, what holds the center spot in our lives, and what our life stands for. Weather that we have never experienced whirls about us, threatening our possessions, livelihood, and our very lives. We cannot control the flash hurricanes, the fierce ravenous forest fires, the dangerously powerful winds, or the devastating tornados.
We have been quarantined and made to shelter in place. We have donned masks each time
we ventured outside our homes. Television., radio, and computerized presentations of terror, injustice, bad news, anxiety-provoking tales, ongoing lies, and God’s people behaving badly have bombarded us.
And it is time to ask the life-saving question that is all too familiar to those of us who are the
“churched” people– “Is there a word from the Lord?”
The answer is yes. It is found in a story told over generations that sounds almost too unbelievable to believe. We are made fools for believing it. The story does not fit the criteria for being logical, probable, or truthful. Academics file it along with the myths. Nevertheless, its presence exists in the midst of science and modernity, alongside the stock market, the joys and sorrows of new life, and the death of the innocent. Still, it stands, the unseen presence in a well-organized world of people of different colors, languages, and ways of thinking.
They called it “the greatest story ever told.” It has held its place in humanity since the beginning of time.
If you believe it, it is time to answer the question.
In 2023 there is a story from the Creator of all things. If you believe the story, you have been selected to take the “mantle” to live according to the Word. If you believe the story, then no matter what you see, your story is still being written—you have a purpose and a story that never ends.
You have been given night vision, the spiritual authority to unleash, rename, shine a light, forgive, spread love, and dismantle the illegitimate powers of this world.
The word from the Lord, my sisters, and brothers, is this:
Assume the position, stretch out your hands, open your mouth, be revived, be restored, be empowered–”fight the powers that be.” You have been enlisted as a kingdom warrior who can change lives.
It is your time to stand.
We are here to tell this story. We are gifted to bear witness to the truth of the story and its work in our lives.
The world is waiting.
So many people have quietly given up hope. The world needs the word of hope that you hold, and “they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.’
Dare to Bear witness!
