So Great a Cloud of Witnesses
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart.” - Hebrews 12:1-3
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”
This Notes of Hope focuses on one of those witnesses who can encourage us in our walk of faith. She followed Jesus as we are attempting to do so, too. She walked in Jesus’ footsteps.
My feet have sensed and felt holy ground. It always stops me in my tracks; it takes me aback! Once it was at the camp, Lee Valley Ranch, with Dick & Cynthia Borrud (pictured above) where I directed the 5 Alive Camps in the Black Hills of South Dakota that I felt that “holy feeling” on my first visit there. My feet told me I needed to follow the path of Jesus in that place, and I returned for 15 summers due to that experience.
Once again it happened at Messiah Lutheran Church back around 2004 when I came to a church workers’ gathering. I stood in the sanctuary knowing something sacred was happening, I was feeling that “holy feeling” in my feet. I called Pastor Bill and Pastor Doug, the pastors at that time, the next day and told them I felt called there. It took until 2011 for me to finally become a part of Messiah, but perseverance paid off!
We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Some are departed and some are sitting or walking next to us. Take note of them and get to know them.
God and those witnesses call us to follow Jesus’ footsteps reaching out to others with the love of God. We need to be still We need to listen for that call. We need to take up the race set before us, running with perseverance as the Bible urges.
We are truly surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.
One of those witnesses that we commemorate this week is Harriet Tubman, on March 10.
If she did not run the race with perseverance, I don’t know who did. She endured shame, hostility, weariness and never lost heart. In her struggle against the sin she saw in slavery, she rescued over 300 people, risking her life for each one of them. When she was tasked with being a scout and herbal medic in the Civil War by the US Navy, she rescued almost 1500 slaves. She felt called by God and “Said to the Lord, ‘I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.’” What a woman. What a faith. What a witness. She could have simply gotten herself to freedom and quit!
At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, they have her Bible and her Gospel songbook. One interesting thing is that she could not read but loved those books and always had them with her. She clung to them and clung to God. A great witness for us to cling to our hymnbook and Bible as well. May ours be as worn out as Harriet’s at the end of our days.
Harriet Tubman died in poverty at one of the old folks’ homes she started for others, yet she always trusted in God. She said: “God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.” Free indeed!
Her last words were “I go to prepare a place for you.” Sounds a bit like Jesus’ words in John 14: 2. For someone who could not read, she knew the Bible better than most.
Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. Let us follow Jesus there along with the great cloud of witnesses including Harriet Tubman.
