Luke 24: 5

Mike Davies

Luke 24: 5 ".... Why do you seek the living among the dead?"

As has been a tradition for some years in our town, during the Week of Christian Unity, the churches have a week of morning devotions lead by different church leaders. Then on the Sunday that falls during the week we all switch churches. This is quite an interesting exercise as it brings us to a realisation how different our styles of worship actually are. I know this exercise is repeated in many towns and cities across the UK and what a wonderful sight it must be to find so many denominations and streams of churches with a minister who has little to do with their style of worship.

For our weekly devotions I actually found myself as the first of the leaders to take morning devotion in the historic St. James' Chapel in Okehampton. I am used to warm newer buildings rather than old historic chapels with stone walls and wooden pews. With such morning services you are never sure how many will attend. Due to it being held at 10.00am on a weekday morning it does tend to be mainly for those who are retired, part-time workers, or those who do not work. The first devotion in the week usually attracts a few other church leaders just trying to clarify the format of such services. Taking the first devotion of the week is always a challenge for who ever decides to lead it. The theme set for the week is about being witnesses for Jesus. The set verse for my devotion was the second part of Luke chapter 24 and verse 5 "..Why do you seek the living among the dead?" - I was unsure how to pitch it and ended up relying on two testimonies. One from a book called 'Touched by an E-mail' which told a story of a young man who was scruffy and had no shoes and how he attended a service for the first time and was befriended by an elderly member of the congregation. I then played a testimony which is often played on Cross Rhythms Radio regarding a lady who was in court during the Truth & Reconciliation hearings in South Africa following apartheid and how she chose to forgive a white security officer who had brutally and horrifically killed both her husband and her son.

When I finished the morning devotions it amazed me how many people were wiping tears from their eyes following two very powerful testimonies. It reminded me of the power behind a living and true testimony. Why do we as people so often look for something alive and exciting amongst things which are dead? We can try and search for life in our own lives trying to justify that there must be life and a future even when we know the situation is dead and without hope.

I often get various messages sent to me through email or through Facebook and now and again I receive a message the originator did not actually intend for me to receive. I have built some good relationships which would have apparently started by a misplaced email. This week I received such a message. One from a young girl who had fallen pregnant and wanted to know what her church pastor would say, especially on the basis that she was single. She had decided to basically stop going to church and had noticed that nobody had made contact with her in several months. The message she obviously meant to send in the first place was to another Mike and not to me. At first I did not know how to respond and simply confessed that she had messaged me in error. Through an exchange of emails I managed to link her up with some good friends of mine who live in the same town and actually attend the same church.

For me this speaks volumes but it also speaks of difficult challenges of everyday life. The church is not here to support murder or the birth of a child outside of marriage - but what happens when somebody does make a mistake are we here to judge or to love? The testimony of the young security officer who killed an innocent husband and son received forgiveness from a wife and mother and his life was changed forever because he had experienced the love of Christ in the heart of a wonderful lady. Then what about the young girl who gets pregnant through just wanting to be loved and accepted? I trust and pray that each one of us will have the courage to consider God's love and forgiveness first rather than making a rash judgement. Yes, we are here to stand by Godly and Biblical principles but first I believe we are here as witness of a Christ who brings love and compassion into a hurting and confused world. First, we should meet the needs and build the relationship then we can talk about the issues. For those who have ever watched the original series of Star Trek, Dr. McCoy used to say "There is life Jim, but not as we know it." - I trust today we will all find life and a life through Christ which is deeper and more fulfilling then we have known before.