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Observant: Acts 17:16-24

Acts 17:16-24

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and also in the marketplaceevery day with those who happened to be there. Also some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers debated with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign divinities.” (This was because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) So they took him and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands.

How is it that we share our faith?

What do you see Paul doing here?

"Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are..." He's got them listening just like that!

Now, it is easy to compliment others for manipulative purposes. And maybe that's what Paul's doing here.

But I don't think so.

I think Paul noticing the group he is talking to.

He is observant.

And he is open-hearted.

Do we take the time to notice the people around us that we want to share our faith stories with?

Do we observe their lives and the ways in which they are already part of God's story without knowing it?

There are many around us just like the Athenians who are longing for something more: people who need connection and love and a story that is meaningful to their lives.

So before we tell them our stories, perhaps we need first to notice them and their lives and see what connections already exist.

Lord, help me to see the stories in my neighbors' lives and show them where your story and theirs already connect! Amen

Baptism: Acts 16:25-34

Acts 16:25-34

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

For his trouble in freeing the slave girl from her spirit of divination, Paul, along with Silas, got a little jail time. And as Peter before him, also was miraculously freed.

Unlike Peter, Paul and Silas, despite being freed, stay put and as a result, faith is stirred in the jailer and an entire household is baptized.

An entire household.

You catch that?

Baptism is something that the New Testament has lots to say about. 

Only, one of the things we don't really get about baptism is a lot of the dogma we have attached to it over the years. What we know from Acts and from the epistles is that it is an act of faith and it is an act of God.

We aren't told it is exclusive for adults.

We aren't told it either is or is not for children and infants.

We can infer here that children are welcome (especially if we consider Jesus own words in Matthew about letting the children come to him).

In short, we can and have inferred a lot.

But what we see here is a powerful example of what baptism IS, rather than the rules about it. It is an event that saves and it is an event that is cause for joy.

It is about belief yes, but here we see that the belief of the jailer causes his entire household to be brought into the faith.

So in essence, what we learn mostly about baptism in the New Testament is God's faithfulness and God's openness and inclusion in bringing us into the kin-dom of God.

Lord, thank you for your faithfulness and the gift of baptism which brings us into your family. Amen.

Freedom: Acts 16:16-18

Acts 16:16-18

One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

What part do you think annoyed Paul?

That the slave girl was following him?

That she kept crying out to him?

That her fortune-telling financially advantaged her owners?

However you want to define evil spirits, whether as demons or mental illness or self-aggrandizement, this is a case of possession. We all I think get possessed from time to time. Possessed of things that we lean into more than we lean into God. 

Yet even in her possessed state, this possessed girl spoke the truth, of a sorts anyway. Slaves of the Most-High God. In there, the truth of God's identity comes out. In our vernacular we might not be fond of the term "slaves," yet for this slave girl, that word held lots of meaning.

Maybe it was that truth that set her free. Paul freed her from this possession out of annoyance. Yet free her he did.

Of course, in freeing her, she lost her value to her employers (or owners). Freedom does come at a cost.

I've frequently heard the phrase "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't." Freedom is scary it seems to say. Staying with something difficult, hard, emotional trying, addicting, violent, often seems like the less scary road to go on.

What if by being free we have to change?

What if by being free we lose friends?

What if by being free we lose our family?

What if by being free we lose our job?

What if by being free we lose money?

But what if by being free, we get to finally live!

Lord, set me free from the prison of being too comfortable to see the life you have laid out before me. Amen.

Hospitality: Acts 16:11-15

Acts 16:11-15

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.

Lydia is an outsider.

She's not just an outsider to the Jews, she's an outsider to the people of her city, Philippi. She's just the kind of outsider who is attracted to this good news that Paul is spreading.

We don't know much about her, but can imagine that given that she deals in purple cloth, she has income. And the fact that she has an home to offer up for hospitality says something as well. She calls it "my" home. Not my husband's home.

That makes her an outsider to her culture as well.

And she opens that home to Paul and his traveling companions.

This reminds me of Jesus sending out the 12 and then the 70 into homes to receive hospitality and to spread the good news. In both cases, the church - Jesus' followers - are going out into the world to receive rather than expecting the world to come to them.

What are places in the world where you are being called to experience hospitality from "outsiders" and spread God's good news?

Lord, set me on a path to spread your good news and enter into relationship with those I might least expect. Amen.

Stumbling Block: Acts 16:1-6

Acts 16:1-5

Paul went on also to Derbe and to Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer; but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him; and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

This brief little aside has always been striking for me.

We just went through a whole big to-do with the new church about making sure that new Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. Paul has been instrumental in bringing that about.

Yet what is the first thing he does as he calls a new disciple to work with him on the journey?

Have him circumcised.

Aside from trying to imagine Timothy's willingness to undergo this procedure as an adult, it's something to wonder about given the entire conversation that took place in the church.

Yet look at Paul's reasoning. He has Timothy circumcised because of the Jews in the area. For the Jewish population, having Timothy not circumcised is going to be a stumbling block. People aren't going to listen to the good news if they can't get past it.

It makes me wonder what stumbling blocks the church has for those in our communities who have not yet found the meaningful presence of a community of faith in their life.

What is it that we do or say that might be preventing the good news from getting out to the world around us?

Lord, help me not to get in the way of your good news getting to the world! Amen

Conflict: Acts 15:36-41

Acts 15:36-41

After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

So almost as quickly as a decision was made that would bring life and growth to the church, division and conflict took root among the very leaders who led the movement to change.

With the decision to allow Gentiles to come into the community without circumcision, the apostles sent out new leaders throughout the church in the region to spread the good news.

And now as the journey takes them out, Paul and Barnabas - whose leadership to this point has been a partnership for positive life in the fledgling church, have a disagreement so strong that they part company.

Our tendency as people of faith to separate ourselves into factions (or denominations or even religions) has been happening for a long time. For Christians, it's been happening since Paul and Barnabas.

Just possibly, this should help remove any notion of dualism for us in our communities of faith. Right, wrong. Good, bad...as far as our decision making goes. Two close leaders, who had agreed and helped each other so much, disagreed on something else to the point of needing to separate from each other.

Even the strongest of leaders have feet of clay.

Don't always get it right.

Don't always like each other.

Don't always support each other.

But hopefully, always forgive each other.

Acts does not make it clear, but later epistles of Paul's seem to indicate that Paul and Barnabas (and Mark) eventually made peace.

Which is the point, isn't it?

It isn't that we argue and disagree and have fights. We know we WILL do that.

But what do we do then? Where do we go?

Do we forgive? 

Lord have mercy on me when I cling to my being correct, or right, or certain, over relationship with your people. Amen

Letting Go: Acts 15:6-11

Acts 15:6-11

The apostles and the elders met together to consider (whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised). After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

This is only a portion of a longer discussion on how the apostles and elders met to decide whether new converts who were not Jewish needed to follow the Mosaic law of circumcision.

Paul and Barnabas had led the charge against the notion, and brought it before the full council meeting. 

Yeah, so council meetings have been happening since the beginning! 

But look who it is who makes the pronouncement against this law! Peter's come a long way, hasn't he?

Paul is rather like the new associate pastor who comes in fresh out of Seminary with some wild and crazy ideas. And Peter is like the senior Pastor (or maybe council President!) who is trying to lead a whole big group of people though confusing waters, while also trying to maintain tradition and some sense of equanimity. 

Yet Peter has learned that things can't just stay the same. Laws, even laws that are a thousand years old and straight from God's own mouth, can lose relevance.

How many things are our congregations holding on to that aren't relevant anymore? Peter says this by comparing law to a yoke around our neck. 

Are there things we are doing, rules we have in place, that are keeping us from opening God's kingdom wider?

Peter was the keeper of the new church's tradition and yet he (and the Apostle James) came around to see that new ways of doing things, as exhibited by Paul, had to happen for growth and life in the church to happen.

The church is meant for life. It is meant for growth and healing and faith.

What do we need to let go of for that to happen?

Lord, open my eyes to new ways of serving and loving you and your church. Amen.

Guilt: Acts 14:19-23

Acts 14:19-23

But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. The next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, then on to Iconium and Antioch. There they strengthened the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue in the faith, saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.” And after they had appointed elders for them in each church, with prayer and fasting they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had come to believe.

Paul is kind of like the energizer bunny. Or maybe it's a Timex watch: you know, "takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

There is nothing in my daily life as a Christian that I have to face that even compares.

It's tempting to read these passages with guilt sometimes. Guilt that I have a pretty cushy life in terms of how I share my faith.

Guilt that I am not persecuted when other Christians are.

It's normal to feel that guilt sometimes.

But guilt, I've found, can sometimes be debilitating.

It can settle in and make me feel helpless.

Today I read the news of yet another black man in America who was killed by a police officer. This time in Minnesota. A state I normally associate with "nice" people.

And everywhere on Facebook, messages about the #blacklivesmatter movement are popping up.

And when I think of the fact that every day, black Americans begin again, knowing that their lives are just not as protected as their white neighbors, I am reminded of Paul.

They fight and live on because they have no choice. Paul had no choice but to proclaim the gospel when the Risen Christ called him.

Those in the #blacklivesmatter movement have no choice but to go on as well.

Do I have a choice? 

Guilt can get the better of me. Or it can spur me to action to love my neighbors as myself.

Paul is healed after the disciples surround him. 

Do you know of a neighbor who needs your love to surround them?

Lord, open my eyes to the plight of my neighbors. Spur me on to fight the good fight. Amen.

Accolades: Acts 14:8-18

Acts 14:8-18

In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet.” And the man sprang up and began to walk. When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city,brought oxen and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, “Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.” Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

Who is it easier to trust? Yourself or an unseen being that we call God?

A human who seemingly works miracles, or the great ground of all being that causes the human to work miracles?

I grew up in Texas - the heart of televangelist land. I remember always being struck by the accolades thrown at them for their teachings and "miracles."

How different Paul and Barnabas are here. They take no credit for themselves.

They deflect accolades and call for their own greatness.

They point simply to the one true God.

I have to admit that in my actions, I can't always claim to do that.

We live in a polarizing time, and in a polarizing time it is maybe even more tempting to take any praise or credit when we can get it. I see so many negative words thrown around in social media and on television news, that when a word of praise comes my way, I often want to cling to it.

Yet Paul and Barnabas show another way - during their own polarizing time. A way that points not to their own gifts and power, but to a power beyond them.

And ironically, in pointing beyond themselves, they do nothing to diminish their own gifts or calling.

Their own connection to the divine.

Their own connection to truth and life.

Lord let me point to you always! Amen

Stirring the pot: Acts 14:1-2

Acts 14:1-2

The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Paul and Barnabas weren't toeing the company line.

Happens sometimes in a community of faith, whether large or small.

There's a certain way to be. Certain way to believe.

There's orthodoxy. There's heterodoxy.

And when someone comes along and say something you don't agree with...well, that can stir the pot.

Churches are made up of people who don't agree on everything. Don't agree how to lead. How to worship. How to read scripture. How to believe. How to pray. How to plan for the future. How to view the past. Who gets to join. Who should come. Who should go.

And oftentimes, these issues don't lead to huge division.

But sometimes they do.

The Jews who poisoned the Gentile minds against Paul and Barnabas were people of faith. And many of them of good faith, as in they truly felt they were correct in what they we doing and what they believed.

They couldn't see the larger picture - the larger view - that Paul and Barnabas offered. Why they couldn't see it is between them and God.

Sometimes our attachment to our views and beliefs becomes so entrenched that we also can't see a larger view that God is offering. 

And admittedly, sometimes the view being offered may not be of God.

But before we stir the pot, a place to begin with is wonder and trust that God will help us discern and love, even in the midst of our certainty.

The opposite of faith after all, isn't doubt.

It's certainty.

If we are certain of something, there's little room for faith to grow.

Lord, save me from my certainty and help me to have faith in your dream for the world. Amen.