Cloud of Witnesses

A Bible in a beautiful pink handmade Bible cover has been sitting in my office since my Grandma passed away several years ago. My aunt and I were cleaning Grandma’s nursing home room after Grandma’s funeral when she came across the Bible in a drawer. She looked at me and said, “You’d like this wouldn’t you?” No words were spoken or needed to be spoken in that moment. Auntie C simply handed it to me. I treasure that Bible so much! It represents one of the many in my “cloud of witnesses.”

Just the other day as I was packing up my office, this dear Bible was carefully packed away in the box for this next move.

Also my Uncle on my dad’s side showed me a very well worn well loved Bible that made its way from Germany to the United States. The Bible is my great great great grandmothers. And Uncle T wants me to have it. It is very brittle and delicate but it too reminds me of my “cloud of witnesses.”

There are so many who make up my “cloud of witnesses”; who have nurtured me in faith and values. They have made me into the woman of Faith that I am today!

It is so important for us all to share what we have been taught by our “cloud of witnesses.” In my current call, my job has been to help equip homes to pass on faith and values. We encourage the Vibrant Faith Ministries 4 Keys for Christian Living: Caring Conversation, Rituals/Traditions, Devotion/Prayer/Worship and Service. We’ve watched divorced homes sit together for Confirmation class. We’ve seen how important it is to help equip homes to pass on faith and values. Each home is surrounded by their own “cloud of witnesses.” Today’s youth need parents, grandparents, aunts/uncles, etc to be a part of their “cloud of witnesses.”

Seeing the “cloud of witnesses” isn’t always easy in our fast paced world. It isn’t easy in a world of broken homes. So how can we help equip homes to pass on faith and values? How can we help make sure that youth and all generations are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses?

2 thoughts on “Cloud of Witnesses

  1. Tara, I think of the people that have passed on the faith to our children. Because we do not live near family, our congregation provided us with friends that became family. Prayers around the tables of friends homes, kids staying overnight away from home during a snowstorm and doing Sunday worship in their home, attending each other's family funerals when far away, sharing faith with each other during holidays spent together . . . and attending each other's events. The Cloud of Witnesses are witness to each other's lives.

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