Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Belong, Behave, Believe: Follow the Verbs

In middle school, like many of us, I felt like an outsider. It seemed as if I had a lot of friends, but that was because I jumped around from clique to clique, trying to seem like I was popular. In actuality, I really had so sense of belonging while I was at school. During lunch, I remember sometimes sitting by myself pretending to be in lunch detention. I would rather sit alone than sit with no sense of belonging with the other kids in the cliques.

In Acts 8: 26-40, there is a fascinating encounter between Phillip and an Ethiopian eunuch. It is utterly amazing to me how these two specific people have this encounter. This is the third time that Phillip make an appearance in the book of Acts. He was one of the Greek followers of Jesus in chapter 6 who was chosen to take over the distribution of food from the Hebrew disciples as they traveled to spread the gospel. Phillip is a product of the expansion of the gospel! He was not Jewish, but Greek, but he followed Jesus (post-resurrection) and proclaimed the gospel. Just beautiful inclusivity of the gospel by the multiplication of disciples of Jesus.



So Phillip travels away from the religious hub of Jerusalem and finds himself in this interaction with the Ethiopian eunuch. By all intents and purposes, this person that Phillip finds would have been considered an outcast; he would have been extremely ineligible to worship God in Jerusalem with the Jews. This dark-skinned, non-Jew, unable to be circumcised  person would have had no place, had it been for Jesus, and Phillip carrying on his mission of proclaiming the good news.

This eunuch is reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. He is seeking God! I can't help but think of all those who perceive that they would not be welcome in our churches, because the face of Christianity is not so pretty right now. In an age where Christians are perceived as 1) anti-gay 2)judgmental and 3)hypocritical , it's no wonder our local churches are dying. The church is perceived as a place that is exclusive and manipulative, not a place where you may find belonging and community.

To recover our image as a place where we welcome the stranger and offer a loving community to all seeking it, we can learn from this passage in Acts, by following the verbs:

Go- not to church, but away from church (like Phillip traveling away from Jerusalem) to share the gospel wherever we are

Join- God tells Phillip to join the eunuch at his chariot. Before we expect anyone to join us at church, God invites us to join our neighbors and experience life with them

Listen and Ask- Phillip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah, and then asked him "do you understand what you are reading?" I know I fall into the trap of thinking that I have to do "all the work" when I share my faith. That's not the case: God was already there, preparing the eunuch to engage Phillip in this conversation. God is ahead of us, working to show the good news to others, inviting us to have the courage to meet God there.

After Phillp asks this question, the eunuch starts asking his questions. They engage in a rich conversation! Phillip is willing to give this eunuch a sense of belonging by first joining and asking the question. When this happens, they explore together their beliefs, and it leads to the eunuch's baptism. Such a beautiful encounter...

*Proclamation:

We've a story to tell to the nations,
that shall turn their hearts to the right,
a story of truth and mercy,
a story of peace and light,
a story of peace and light.

For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
and the dawning to noonday bright;
and Christ's great kingdom shall come on earth,
the kingdom of love and light.

*We've a Story to Tell to the Nations, The United Methodist Hymnal, 569

In Christ,

Jack

*My thanks to Paul Rock, who shares reflections on texts for preaching during the season of Easter in "A Preacher's Guide to Lectionary Sermon Series."

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