Dear Friends,

Christ is risen!

This coming Sunday, May 17, you’re in for a treat! NRPC folk who lead and participate with our Direction Commission will be offering their testimony as the sermon of the day (while I’m on vacay. Thank you, Direction friends!)

These friends will be sharing something about their passion for and commitment to the sorts of work that the Direction Commission oversees: keeping our collective focus on answering Our Calling, inspiring us to grow ever more grateful and generous, inviting the community into our fellowship and helping us all become more engaged disciples, and ensuring that our ministry is accomplishing the peacemaking that Jesus calls us to. In other words, Direction keeps eyes on the big picture of NRPC’s life and ministry and works to keep us aiming in the right, ahm, direction. I’m glad these disciples are taking the risky step of sharing their testimony.

Crazy coincidence (or is it?) is that this week’s passage from James Howell’s 40 Treasured Verses* comes from Daniel, chapter 3. Now, at first blush you might wonder how Daniel could have anything at all to do with testimony from the Direction Commission. (Trust me, I wondered the same thing, so I’m gonna say you’re in good company in your wondering.) Turns out, though, it is a perfect match.

Testimony ain’t easy. It is vulnerable work. In order to share something you’re passionate about, you’ve got to let down your guard and share what you’ve witnessed. If you’ve ever given testimony in a trial, I expect you know what I mean. Only, I expect there’s a different kind of pressure in that situation, ‘cuz it’s usually about sharing what you witnessed somebody else doing or saying. When I imagine myself into that situation, my anxiety comes from a) wanting to get it right because b) my testimony could have a high-stakes impact on somebody’s life.

Move that testimony to a worship setting, though. It’s a totally different pressure. You’re sharing some aspect of your faith, details of your relationship with the One-Who-Is-Three, something about the way you’ve witnessed God at work. To give testimony, you have to put your own life out there for any and all to see. Yikes.

Daniel's buddies, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, turned, not just their words, but their lives into testimony. The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, had demanded them to prove their absolute allegiance by bowing in worship to the 10-stories-tall golden statue he’d built. The friends refused, even when the consequences meant they’d be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. Yikes, indeed. They quite literally stood their ground, saying, “Be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.” Risky business, testimony, huh?

Risk often promises reward, though. My prayer will be that your lives are enriched by the risks that our Direction folks take when they share their testimony. I hope you’ll listen for God’s call in your life as you hear how God has placed a call on the lives of the Direction Commission.

So, I won’t see you Sunday (vacay!), but I do look forward to seeing you sometime soon.

Peace,

Lisa

* If you’re wondering what I mean about 40 Treasured Verses, it’s a book of, well, forty treasured verses as compiled by James Howell. Those 40 verses are shaping 40 Sundays’ worth of our worship and preaching in 2026. It’s a kinda random way to assign scripture lessons, but it’s been pretty wild to see how often they’re connecting to the day or season in our congregation’s life.

Finally, if the title shot doesn’t look so risky to you, take a look at the bigger picture!

Photo: Michael Shannon on Unsplash.