This morning Rev. Joy Moore gave an address to the Detroit Annual Conference in which she talked about our call not to wait for the world, but to be God's witnesses for the world so that all my know God's love.  She asked the question about current Christian celebrities and wondered about how they witness to the center of the Christian story.    She asked us how we witness to "Who Jesus Is" and but the following thoughts before us:

• The modifiers before "Christian" have become more important than Jesus for many in the world.  Really the modifier IS Jesus and what he modifies is our view of how the world should be.
• "Christian" might be a different identity than "Christ-follower.""  Which one truly talks of a person who actively lives a life of witness, not just as a cultural consumer of Christian goods and services.
• Generations of today have a spirituality which may be devoid of the central character of the Christian faith - Jesus, his life,teaching, death, and resurrection - while claiming the monicar "Evangelical Christian."
• We should be in such living sympathy with God that as we proclaim and share this Word, bear witness, that then God can move through us in the lives of those we interact with.
• Wesleyan Salvation - Not just deliverance from hell or going to heaven but a present recovery of the divine nature, renewal of our souls and lives in the true image of God - justice mercy and truth.
• Tell the world we are all "dirt bags" (in the story of ha'adam - the being made of earth).  Tell the world that they are not "orphans" because we stand as created beings, God's first creation.
• BTW - When God made a man, it was the only time God ever said "Oops," because Eve came quickly after.
• God is Great AND Good.

So when have you known this living God?  When have you witnessed to this realtiy to your neighbors and allowed God to work through you - regardless of how fast or slow the world is going to change on its own.  In reality, the world changed 2,000 years ago on a Friday afternoon and a Sunday morning.

 Carl