Bearing Witness

What does it mean to bear witness?

When I left the Sacred Way Group this morning at Saint Mark’s, I felt a rush of energy that I have not felt in a long time.

What occurred to me is that the act of publicly recollecting my meditation experience at Grace Cathedral in 1986 was very powerful: almost as powerful or perhaps as powerful—I cannot really distinguish—as the original experience itself.

Am I affected by ancient prohibitions, like the Jewish precept that one should not say the name of God, Yahweh, aloud? I hesitate before writing what I want to write, which is that the voice I heard in 1986 and which I bore witnesss to today said: “Be ye not afraid, for I have overcome the world.” (And as I was about to type “Be ye not afraid,” I heard very clearly another voice stating: “Know that I am the Lord, thy God, and that thou shalt have no other Gods before me.”)

Everyone is different.

While I was engaging in centering prayer, I felt the struggle to “center.” I kept on repeating the one word that I had chosen as my centering word. As I drove home, stopping at Peet’s for coffee, I felt that rush of energy—but really much more a rush of receptivity—and the relief that comes from God being on our side—and more importantly—as I believe Jim Walsh puts it—our being on God’s side.

For the Lord he is good, and his mercy endureth forever.