Do you live aware of the huge cloud of witnesses that surrounds us in our life of faith? What difference does it make?

I’ve been pondering this recently, partly because I’ve known, or known of, several people who have suddenly and unexpectedly died, and partly because I’ve been reading a book in which the author, Matthew Levering, quotes often from faithful believers who lived in centuries past and whose words speak on. Of these believers, Levering says,

“In this book, they are an abundant chorus of living voices, friends and mentors in the communion of Christ’s church” (Why I am Roman Catholic, p. 7).

His words invite me deeper into the truth of Hebrews 12:1-2, verses which follow a lengthy list of brothers and sisters who lived faithful lives:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. (Heb 12:1-2a)

I know, of course, that Christ’s body to which we belong extends not only from Argentina to the Arctic and Japan to the USA but also from the beginning of time until we’re all gathered into Christ’s face-to-face presence at his return. I sometimes read authors from the recent and distant past. But I don’t think I live as fully as I might in the richness of knowing we are surrounded by a whole “cloud of witnesses” who have gone before us but are still, in some mysterious way, surrounding us, present with us as part of the same living body in which we share.

Cockerill’s comments on Hebrews 12:1 encourage me to hear the invitation to live this more deeply:

“The hearers know that they are intimately and inseparably joined to the faithful who have gone before. . . . Nor can the hearers confine these witnesses to the dead past. They are even now “surrounding us.” The pastor would have his hearers feel that they can reach out and touch these heroes who lived by faith.”1

Why Does It Matter? An Example

Last week I got the news that a dear woman who helped me learn to be a spiritual director and supervised my practice for a few years died unexpectedly. We hadn’t been in touch for months, but she was often in my prayers. She was a fellow spiritual director who lived alone with a specific calling to prayer, someone who knew personally the realities of chronic illness and the inner darkness that can accompany the outer darkness of Lower Mainland winters. Just knowing she was continuing to press closer to Jesus and with his help faithfully live her vocation gave me courage to live my own. Though miles apart, I felt close to her, connected to her in a way deeper than I would have expected given the scarcity of recent interactions.

Perhaps, though we were both still alive on this earth, even that was a small taste of what it feels like to live aware of the presence of the great cloud of witnesses—and of the encouragement that awareness can be in helping us live a faithful life.

Now she is face to face with the One she loved with her life. The One who loved her first with his.

I celebrate with her. And I miss her. I grieve that there won’t be another chance this side of eternity to speak with her. And I rejoice that she lives on, more whole and fully alive than she has ever been.

I wonder, too: Are there ways the awareness of her ongoing life will continue to encourage me, just as her life here on earth did? Are there ways I’m meant to foster that remembrance? Will Jesus continue to bring her to mind?

I don’t know. But maybe this blog post and my art journal page are a starting point. And maybe her words about suffering that I’ve previously shared apply here, too.

“Suffering reduces me to the truth that I can’t do this. Oh, right! I have a Saviour who was unfairly tortured, crucified, and rose again. Maybe I can talk to him and live this with him.’”

Maybe this question—like the rest of life—isn’t something for me to figure out, but an invitation to live close to Jesus and let him show me what I need to know along the way.

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P.S. Alongside the deaths of these weeks, there was also the huge surprise encouragement of learning that my book, Risking Rest, had been granted the Word Guild’s Best Nonfiction Book of the Year Award, which is Canada’s largest literary award for Canadians who are Christian. You can watch my response here.

The award was for me a reminder that we’re not only recipients of encouragement by the great cloud of witnesses, we’re also each becoming part of that cloud of witnesses whose lives and words testify to God’s faithfulness and encourage others on the journey. Oh, may Jesus continue to do in and through each of us what only he can do to make and keep us faithful witnesses!

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1 Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, New International Commentary on the New Testament. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2012), 602.
https://accordance.bible/link/read/NICNT-20#113100