(prayer)
Last weekend I was blessed
to attend the spring gathering of Yellowhead Presbytery - hosted by the
congregation of Salisbury United Church in Sherwood Park. That included attending the Sunday worship
service.
Coincidentally, the
scripture passage that was focused on was the one that immediately precedes the
one we heard here this morning. I don't
know if Salisbury posts sermons online, but if they do, check it out. It was a good one.
//
It was always my intention
(for my message today) to explain the context of how and why Silas and Paul
ended up in prison.
[I
did warn Salisbury's minister last week that I might feel compeled to liberally plagiarize her sermon for this
week. Even so, I will still try to
sprinkle in a few of my own insights as well.]
//
//
Paul and Silas were sharing
their experience with the gospel of Christ Jesus in the city of Philippi. Philippi was the main city of the region of
Macedonia.
More so, it was a Roman
colony.
Paul and Silas, by the way,
held Roman citizenship.
//
Silas and Paul learned that
there was a place of prayer (by a
nearby river) where group of women met regularly.
The Christian leaders
joined the worshippers there one Saturday and shared their story of Jesus with
those gathered at the place of prayer.
Among the Philippian
worshippers was a wealthy garment dealer named Lydia. And, she really took to what Paul and Silas
were saying.
So much so, that Lydia and
the people of her household were all baptized.
She hosted Silas and Paul
in her home. It became their base for their time in Philippi.
//
The story goes that, as
Paul and his companion went about their days moving between Lydia's home and
the place of prayer, they often encountered a street preacher of sorts.
When this slave-girl (who was said to have a gift of divination -
fortune telling) saw the evangelists, she started yelling for everyone to hear:
"These men are slaves of the most
high god. They can tell you about a way
of salvation."
In the worldview of the
time, the slave-girl's ability was seen to have been the result some form of
spiritual possession. The belief was...
that an autonomous spirit inhabited
her mind and body and enabled her to express special insights.
She was so good at it that
people would pay to hear what she had
to say. Of course, she didn't get any of
the cash; she was a slave and forced to use her gift to fill her owners'
pocket.
Presumably, Silas and Paul
would gladly have accepted the affirmation spoken by the slaver-girl and her
spirit of divination.
They were
servants/slaves of the most high god.
And they did proclaim a path to salvation.
But, day after day, as this
happened every...single...time she
saw them, Paul grew more and more annoyed.
Finally one day, Paul
didn’t want to take it anymore and he said: "Spirit! In the name of Jesus Christ, I order
you to come out of her!"
And, it did.
The slave-girl lost her
ability to tell fortunes.
//
At this point (as was said
in Sherwood Park last week), let us be careful not to read too much into what
the book of Acts says.
The girl was a slave.
Her owners happily extorted
her abilities as a source of income for them. Acts 16:16 says that she "brought her owners a great deal of money by
fortune-telling."
//
We might be tempted to say
that - by doing what he did - Paul freed
the girl from the oppressive yoke of her slave owners.
However, the text is clear
that Paul's motivation was not
the woman's need for liberation from
slavery but his own liberation from feeling annoyed.
Paul did what he did for
his own selfish reason - not for her benefit.
In fact, he may have made
her life worse. ??
Now, if Paul had exercised
the spirit... and then secured her freedom from her owners... and then invited
her to become (like him) a slave of the most high god, we could tell a
different story.
But, we have to assume that
Paul shut the woman up, then he simply went on his way, satisfied... happy that
the annoyance was at an end.
I think that the fairest
reading of the text of Acts is to assume that Paul gave no thought or worry about
what the slave-girl's new future would be.
As he walked away, Paul
carried no worry away from the city square... at least, until the police
arrived at Lydia's door and took Paul and Silas into custody.
//
Unbeknownst to the
Christian leaders, after they left the city square, the slaver-girl's owners
were so upset that their business was
ruined, that they lodged a formal complaint with the local magistrates.
//
As we heard this morning,
the accusation went like this: "These
jewish men are disturbing our city; they are advocating customs that are not
lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe."
In essence, they were
saying: These foreigners are trying to
change our way of life!
In other words... They don't belong here.
//
As a result of the
complaint, Silas and Paul were publicly beaten... and thrown into jail.
//
The Sherwood Park sermon
last week suggested (and I am inclined to agree)
that maybe Paul deserved a little
time in prison for his selfish and callous behaviour toward the slave-girl -
although that was not the reason he was arrested.
[Kind of like when OJ was
sent to jail for trying to stealing some of his, previously sold off, old memorabilia. Officially, he's not in jail for double
homicide, but maybe there is some unofficial justice going on. Same thing with Paul.]
Officially, Paul is in jail
for ruining a slave owner's livelihood,
but maybe his selfishness deserves to be looked up too.
Nobody deserves to be
beaten, but a night or two in the slammer might just be good for Paul.
Deflate his ego a bit.
//
//
//
Liberating the girl from
her spirit of slavery might not have occurred to Paul, but what happened
next... was all about intentional liberation.
//
//
As we heard, in the middle
of the night (while Silas and Paul were still awake - singing and praying), an
earthquake weakened the jail walls.
The tectonic shaking broke
apart the places where the prisoners shackles were attached to the walls.
Jail break!!!
At least that's what the
jailer assumed when he saw the damage.
He did not relish how it
would look for the prisoners to escape on his watch.
Assuming that he knew more
about his likely fate than we do, he decided that a quick suicide would be the
wisest choice.
Do not harm yourself.
We are ALL here!
"All" here.
We know that there were
more than the two Christian prisoners in the jail. The passage says that the other prisoners
were listening to Paul and Silas' prayers when the earthquake occured.
So, it was not only Paul
and Silas who stayed. For some reason
(that the text doesn't describe), all of the prisoners (in the jail that night)
chose not to take the unexpected
opportunity for freedom.
//
What we do see in the text
is that the jailer identifies Paul and Silas as the ones who appeared
responsible for averting the career- (and life-) -ending jail break.
//
It is fair for us to assume
that the jailer was fully versed on why
Paul and Silas were in jail.
I imagine that this jailer
maybe even had heard the slaver-girl's proclamations, that: "These men are slaves of the most high
god. They can tell you about a way of
salvation."
I say this because, when he
realizes that there had not been a jailbreak, the jailer asks the Christians to
explain about this way of salvation:
"Sirs, what must I do
to be saved?"
//
Silas and Paul spoke about
their belief that Jesus is Lord and invited the jailer to join them in that
faith.
The jailer was so moved by
this new spirituality, that he washed Silas' and Paul's wounds (something he
hadn't bothered to do earlier)... and brought them in the adjoining jailer's
residence - to talk with his whole family over dinner.
Before Paul and Silas were
returned to their cells, the whole family believed and where baptized.
//
The next day, the
magistrates (having learned that Silas and Paul were - in fact - Roman citizens
themselves) personally came and apologized for what had happened and released
them.
//
//
There is an obvious
liberation theme to this passage.
//
The slave-girl was
liberated from being forced to be living her days as an exploited
fortune-teller.
Although, we don't know if
that liberation had a positive or negative outcome, in the end. I suspect it did not turn out well for her.
//
Silas and Paul, literally
had their binding chains broken when
the prison's foundations were shaken. An
open path away from the jail was revealed.
They were free to choose whether to stay or not.
//
Seeing the open jail doors,
the jailer felt that he was tied to an inescapable painful and punishing
future.
So certain, was he, that he
would not escape beating and imprisonment (himself) for allowing the prisoners
to escape, that falling on his own sword was seen to be his best option.
He did not relish the idea
of being on the other side of the bars with people who would likely not welcome
him with open arms.
Imagine if a modern prison
guard was suddenly locked up with the inmates she/he had been overseeing. It might get pretty dicey.
Jailhouse justice?
//
//
Yes, there is an obvious, literal liberation theme to Acts,
chapter 16.
But the deeper message
focuses on a spiritual liberation.
//
Most clearly, we see that
within the actions and attitude of the jailer.
He, likely, had grown numb
to the humanity of the prisoners he dealt with day in and day out. We have to imagine that he was involved in
beatings and the abuse of prisoners. He
did not care about their health - he let wounds get infected. It was probably not an uncommon experience
for prisoners to die while in his custody.
There was a strong wall
around his heart - that did not allow him to see the spirit of God alive in the
people he worked with every day.
That wall kept out any
possibility that any inmate would ever care about him or his life.
That wall around the
jailer's heart came a-tumblin' down when Paul shouted, "we're all
here!"
An experience of True Grace
surprised the jailer. And it left him
changed... from the inside out
//
A first sign of his liberated heart,
was that the jailer suddenly saw his prisoners as people worthy of his care and
concern.
He saw their suffering.
He could not ignore their wounds.
And - with that barrier removed -
conversations... and mutual understanding could begin.
//
//
We have all witnessed (and many of you
have participated) the desire to help the people affected by the Ft. McMurray
fire.
Some of you here today might have
escaped the fire yourself. I suspect
that everyone of us today knows someone directly affected by the evacuation.
Times like this remind us of our
kinship to each other.
We are the supporters, and
the supported.
//
Times like this remind us that our
globe is really quite a small place and we are closer to the lives of others
than we might be conscious of most days.
//
This is deeper than empathy.
I think it is more than picturing how we might feel if we found ourselves in a
similar situation.
//
Being emotionally liberated is to no
longer see a separation between myself and others. I am no greater or lessor, no more or less worthy
than anyone else.
And for people of faith, emotional
liberation is a spiritual experience.
As Simon Peter realized when he saw the
spirit of God active among an unexpected community of new believers in Acts
10 Truly,
God shows no partiality!
To free our hearts from attitudes like
that held by the slave owner's (the outsiders are ruining my life) is to
inject ourselves with some of the lifeblood of God.
Let the Spirit of Life and Love flow
through us.
And... the walls between us come
crashing down. With no wall separating
us, there is no longer insiders and outsiders... kind of like what Paul wrote
to the Galations (3:28): there is no
longer male nor female, slave nor free, jew nor gentile.
//
//
One of the common modern ways we often
hear an expression of identifying ourselves in solidarity with others began (in
a wide way) after the tragic school shootings at Colorado's Columbine High
School in 1999.
There were signs and t-shirts with the
phrase.... "I am Columbine".
Even those not directly affected were
in solidarity with those who were.
We have seen this phrased used after
other life changing and tragic events:
·
I
am NY.
·
Je
suis Charlie.
·
I
am Syria.
A similar hashtag is to claim strength
in a time of loss:
#BostonStrong
#AlbertaStrong
//
//
When our hearts, minds and spirits are
opened, we long to know the deepest empathy.
One that does not separate us into the groups of us and them... but to
see us as One.
//
Our shared promises in the baptism(s)
this morning are another example of this.
//
We are part of one human family.
We share one earth, one interconnected
eco-system.
We are... each other.
We are liberated emotionally - our
hearts become unbound - when we truly start to believe this.
//
When Paul saw that he was the jailer; when the jailer saw that he was Silas - the walls between them became as fragile as the
actual prison walls after the earthquake.
//
end //
Empathy - in it's purest form - is not
simply allowing ourselves to imagine what it would feel like to be someone
else. It is to actually want to improve
what can be improved, so that we can all know greater safety, lasting peace,
and honest comfort.
As people of faith, it is essential
that we do not stop our prayers of
supportive spiritually. It is equally
essential that we do not stop at
thoughts and prayers, but, also, to act to change the world for the better...
...and this starts one liberated-heart
at a time.
//
Let us pray;
Holy Spirit, keep us open to those who
unnerve us. Keep us faithful in the
mission work that emerges from unexpected opportunities.
As we tend to others, we tend to you,
O God. Amen.
#580VU “Faith of Our Fathers”
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