The Holy Spirit Stirs us up: pentecost a

The first reading is Acts 2:1-21.

The second reading is 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13.

The holy gospel according to John (20:19-23)

¹⁹When it was evening on that day,

      the first day of the week,

            and the doors of the house where the disciples had met

                  were locked for fear of the religious authorities,

      Jesus came and stood among them and said,

            “Pokoj vám!”

            “La paz sea con ustedes.”

            “Frieden sei mit euch.”        

            “Peace be with you.” 

            [“Peace be with you.” in ASL]

         ²⁰After Jesus said this,

            he showed them his hands and his side.

                  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

      ²¹Jesus said to them again,

            “Pokoj vám!”

            “La paz sea con ustedes.”

            “Frieden sei mit euch.”         

            “Peace be with you.”

            [“Peace be with you.” in ASL]

                  As the Father has sent me,

                        so I send you.”

      ²²When he had said this,

            Jesus breathed on them and said to them,

                  “Receive the Holy Spirit.

                        ²³If you forgive the sins of any,

                              they are forgiven them;

                        if you retain the sins of any,

                              they are retained.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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I love birthdays!  They are the one day of the year that a person—unless they’re a twin—gets to be the focus.  For that one day, everybody celebrates this person’s life, the ways they’re meaningful to them, and hopes for their life to come.

I also love the ways that different cultures celebrate birthdays.  Some cultures have unique parts of every birthday celebration.  Growing up, we always sang happy birthday—holding the last note purposefully off-key for as long as we could—the birthday person made a wish, and then attempted to blow out all of the candles on the cake in one breath.

While I was in Slovakia with the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program, I learned of a tradition that had been lost in my family since my dad’s ancestors came over from Central Europe.  It is a tradition that I have carried with me since my time in Slovakia to varying degrees.  In Slovakia and other Central European countries, it is customary to bless the birthday person.

While I usually leave the shot of palinka or slivovica out of my blessings, with close friends and family, I make a point of blessing them and the new year of life that they are beginning.  I try to be realistic and hopeful in my blessings, so that someone who gave birth or is pregnant might be blessed with new experiences, and also sleep, or that someone who has been at the forefront in work towards a moral and just state budget is blessed with and in the struggle and also with triumph.  Each blessing becomes its own unique celebration.

In some cultures, certain birthdays are particularly important.  In Mexico, quinceañeras, or 15^th birthdays, are a particularly big deal.  As I was reflecting on and reading about Pentecost, which we typically consider the birthday of the church, I was reminded of Korean traditions around first birthdays.  In Korean culture, the first birthday is a big deal.  I’m sure D told many of you about her granddaughter’s first birthday, so I will just mention the thing that most stuck with me, especially as Rev. Theresa Cho wrote about her family’s celebrations in an article in the Christian Century.[i]

One main part of the first birthday dol or doljanchi, “a ceremony in which the child is blessed with a prosperous future,” is a table set out with a variety of different objects.  The objects represent types of prosperity.  The child is then placed before the objects and whichever object the child chooses represents the destiny that child claims.

What captivated me in Rev. Cho’s explanations of the objects was the openness to interpretation: the golf ball her first child chose could be a symbol for athleticism or for being a quick thinker.  When her other child chose grapes instead of any of the items laid out, it could signify a healthy appetite or the self-assuredness to determine their own destiny—to take the less obvious path.

As we celebrate the birthday of the universal church and particularly this year’s momentous 500^th Reformation anniversary and the accidental birth of Protestantism, we too have destinies laid out for us.  And these destinies are the ones that have been laid out for millennia.

In Acts, Peter points back to the prophet Joel, saying, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your children shall prophesy, and your youth shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves of all genders, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”  This destiny is laid out for us and though we may not know what it will look like or what Joel and Peter mean, it is a destiny of new hope, change, and new life.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul sets before us some of the gifts of the Spirit: the utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

None of us possess all of these.  Many of us possess at least one of these, and some of us possess other gifts that aren’t listed here.  But as we sit with them spread out before us, not knowing quite what they will mean or how the Holy Spirit will use us or our destinies, one thing is certain: the Holy Spirit is at work.  She has come as tongues of fire and rushing wind, she has come in languages we do and do not understand, she has come in water, wine and bread, and she brings with her upheaval of the systems that harm us and all of creation and she brings new life to everyone.

Sometimes the work of the Holy Spirit makes us uncomfortable, sometimes defensive, and sometimes confused.  But these are good things!  They are blessings, because it is in struggling and being uncomfortable that we learn from each other and about ourselves.  The Holy Spirit rarely calls people to what is comfortable, but she does bless us with what is meaningful, which is ultimately life-giving.

The gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit on this birthday of the church and each day are gifts of diversity and difference—new ways of being and connecting.  The Holy Spirit changes us and gives us new ways to proclaim with Jesus, “Pokoj vám.” “La paz sea con ustedes.” “Frieden sei mit euch.” “Peace be with you.” [Peace be with you in ASL].

Amen.

---

[i] https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-04/may-24-day-pentecost

the Indwelling Heavenly Mother makes us living stones: easter 5a

The first reading is Acts 7:55-60.

The second reading is 1 Peter 2:2-10.

Today's gospel reminds us that the Bible was written in a particular patriarchal context.

Without language as free or all-encompassing of gender as God's own self is, the writers of the bible chose language for God that frequently tended toward the masculine. So, today of all days, I invite you into the gospel with openness and curiosity about God our Heavenly Mother.

The holy gospel according to John (14:1-14)

Jesus said:

¹“Do not let your hearts be troubled.

      Believe in God,

            believe also in me.

²In my Mother’s house there are many dwelling places.

      If it were not so,

            would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

            ³And if I go and prepare a place for you,

                  I will come again and will take you to myself,

                        so that where I am,

                              there you may be also.

                              ⁴And you know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵Thomas said to Jesus,

      “Lord, we do not know where you are going.

            How can we know the way?”

⁶Jesus said to Thomas,

      “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

            No one comes to the Mother except through me.

                  ⁷If you know me,

                        you will know my Mother also.

                              From now on you do know and have seen my Mother.”

⁸Philip said to Jesus,

      “Lord, show us the Mother,

            and we will be satisfied.”

⁹Jesus said to Philip,

      “Have I been with you all this time, Philip,

            and you still do not know me?

            Whoever has seen me has seen the Mother.

                  How can you say, ‘Show us the Mother’?

                        ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Mother

                              and the Mother is in me?

                        The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own;

                              but it is the Mother who dwells in me who does these works.

            ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Mother and the Mother is in me;

                  but if you do not,

                        then believe me because of the works themselves.

¹²Very truly, I tell you,

      the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do

            and, in fact, will do greater works than these,

                  because I am going to the Mother.

                        ¹³I will do whatever you ask in my name,

                              so that the Mother may be glorified in the Child.

                              ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything,

                                    I will do it.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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[For the children's sermon, I read the story of Stone Soup]

When I was in middle school, my least favorite unit in science class—a class I generally enjoyed—was geology: the study of stones.  We learned about igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks; how they were created and how to tell the difference between them.  I did not appreciate my teacher’s wisdom or enthusiasm about the rocks.  I do know that we did not learn about any rocks that were alive—fossils that were imprints of formerly living creatures, sure.  But living stones?  Definitely not.

And yet, this week, I found myself diving deep into the study of rocks—biblically at least.  As I read Acts and then 1 Peter, I wasn’t sure what exactly a “living stone” might be, since we never studied it.  The good news is that while the Bible doesn’t go into any detail about the various types of stones out there in the world, stones do come up in a variety of other ways.

These different “stone” appearances pop up in several contexts throughout the New Testament.

As we might anticipate, stones are connected to buildings.  In the gospels, the disciples admire the stones and magnificent decorations of the Temple—remodeled by Herod to “give honor to God”—and, even more so, to give honor to Herod, as the ruler, a recent convert to Judaism, who constructed it.  This reaction by the disciples is exactly the reaction Herod was going for. 

Jesus, however, has another perspective.  His response to the disciples’ awe in the 24^th chapter of Matthew is, “You see all these, do you not?  Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2)

These Temple stones, used to hold a building, to impose power and intimidation on those who visit, are counter to Jesus’ mission in the world.  The glory Jesus seeks is a different kind of glory, one not found in any building, but instead found in other “stones.”

The Stone Jesus does lift up, is one of the stones lifted up in 1 Peter as well, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.”  This quote from Psalm 118 points us toward the rejection Jesus will face. 

The religious and political institutions that have been constructed,

      symbolized in the grandiosity of the Temple,

            have built injustice into the foundation and the walls, yet these structures built up with injustice will crumble, they will be torn down.  Jesus, the Stone that didn’t fit their plan, the One that they rejected, will become the key to a renewed way of being in the world—a way of being whose foundation is justice, whose foundation is radical love for each person and the entirety of creation.

This is our foundation, our cornerstone, and our first clue as to what it means to be living stones—living stones that align with this Chief Cornerstone.  The stones we encounter at both Jesus’ and Lazarus’ tombs further this shift from stones that hold in death, destruction, and heartache, like the stones of the Temple, to stones that reveal resurrection and abundant life of the kind that seek justice and love.  The stones of the tomb begin as stones of death, yet God transforms them into living stones, opening to the resurrection.

These living stones are also the stones from which Jesus says God is able “to raise up children to Abraham” and it is these stones that Jesus says would shout out even if he were to silence the crowds gathering on Palm Sunday.  These stones, faithful to Jesus, raising their voices for a different, more just way of being in the world are living stones, called into being by our God who has abundant hopes and dreams for her creation.

1 Peter calls us, as followers of Christ, to be living stones.  To be justice-seeking, loving stones, participants in a world turned on its head.  This call contrasts starkly with the stones used in our story from Acts.  The stones that show up there are stones of destruction and violence—stones used to kill Stephen.  These stones continue their evil work in our world today.  They kill as bullets fired throughout the world and as fists harming intimate partners.

The choice is not always as clear as today’s readings.  We do not always see death or resurrected life as the consequences of our choices.  We cannot always see the soup that will come from a stone placed in boiling water.

This is where our gospel account calls us in.  Jesus is talking to his disciples at the Last Supper, preparing them for the stones of death and the tomb, and calling them and us into a deeper dwelling with the God who loves them and who dwells in Jesus and in each of us.

This indwelling presence of our God who is the Heavenly Mother, the Holy Parent, transforms us into living stones, as 1 Peter proclaims, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called you out of darkness into the marvelous light of God.  ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

This indwelling Holy Mother is also a source for this holiday.  Julia Ward Howe, the poet who wrote the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” wrote, in 1870, the Mother’s Peace DayProclamation, beginning what has become the Mother’s Day we celebrate now.  So, living stones, listen to the call of our Heavenly Mother in Julia Ward Howe’s words:

Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or of tears! Say firmly: “We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.

“Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says, “Disarm, disarm! The sword is not the balance of justice.” Blood does not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plow and the anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each learning after [their] own time, the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.

That is the root of Mothers’ Day, the heart of our Heavenly Mother for every person and all of Creation.  May the indwelling Mother, God of us all, make us into living stones, that we may embody nurture and concern for each person as workers of justice and seekers of peace here in our own community and in the world.

Thanks be to God.

The Holy Spirit comes to us: Pentecost!

The first reading is Genesis 11:1-9.

A reading from Acts (2:1-21)

When the day of Pentecost arrived,

       The apostles all met in one room.

       Suddenly they heard what sounded like a violent, rushing wind from heaven;

              the noise filled the entire house in which they were sitting.

       Something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire;

              these separated and came to rest on the head of each one.

       They were all filled with the Holy Spirit

              and began to speak in other languages as she enabled them.

Now there were devout people living in Jerusalem

       from every nation under heaven

       and at this sound they all assembled.

              But they were bewildered to hear their native languages being spoken.

                     They were amazed and astonished:

                            “Surely all of these people speaking are Galileans!

                            How does it happen that each of us hears these words

                                   in our native tongue?

                            We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites,

                                   people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia,

                                   Pontus and Asia,

                                   Phyrgia and Pamphlyia,

                                   Egypt and the parts of Lybia around Cyrene,

                            as well as visitors from Rome –

                                   both Jewish-born and converts to Judaism –

                                   Cretans and Arabs, too;

                            we hear them preaching,

                                   each in our own language,

                                          about the marvels of God!”

All were amazed and disturbed.

       They asked each other,

              “What does this mean?”

       But others said mockingly,

              “They have drunk too much new wine.”

Then Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd:

       “People of Judea, and all you who live in Jerusalem!

              Listen to what I have to say!

                     These people are not drunk as you think –

                            it’s only nine o’clock in the morning!

                     No, it’s what Joel the prophet spoke of –

‘In the days to come –

       it is our God who speaks –

              I will pour out my Spirit on all of humankind.

                     Your children will prophesy,

                     your young people will see visions,

                     and your elders will dream dreams.

              Even on the most insignificant of my people,

                     upon all of them,

                            I will pour out my Spirit in those days

                            and they will prophesy.

              And I will display wonders in the heavens above

              and signs on the earth below:

                     blood, fire and billowing smoke.

              The sun will be turned into darkness

              and the moon will become blood

                     before the coming of the great and sublime day of our God. 

              Pero todos los que invoquen el nombre del Señor, alcanzarán la salvación.

              Alors tout le monde que les appels sur le nom du Seigneur seront épargnés.

              A vtedy každý, kto bude vzývať meno Pánovo, bude zachránený.

              And all who call upon the name of our God will be saved.’”

Word of God, word of life.

-----

Happy Pentecost!!  Pentecost is one of my favorite days of the whole entire year!  I love Pentecost because on it we celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit and she’s my favorite.

Pentecost gathers our story of faith, bringing the various parts of the story together and capturing what it means to be the church together—the body of Christ in the world.

From the beginnings when God creates the whole cosmos, the Spirit brooding over the waters, until today.  God continues to create as the universe expands and we all continue to live and grow.  Again and again God creates humanity in our full diversity, in the image of God.  God promises to love us, even as, throughout the ages, we have done our best to take God’s place.

As we read today in Genesis, humanity has a penchant for trying to take over for God.  As they gather in the area that will become known as Babel, the group of humans attempt to build a city and a tower to heaven, where God was understood to reside.  The humans, bless their hearts, justify their actions, saying, “and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”  They want to be in control of it all.  They don’t want to risk God’s intervention, wrecking their plans for power and prestige.

Ironically it is precisely this desire for control and power that leads to God scattering them and confusing their languages—a blessing for those of us who enjoy learning new languages J

So we are scattered.  And we develop different languages, cultures, and customs.  We find different ways to praise our God and to live our lives.  Our different languages are informed by our cultures, the many words for snow or sand, depending on where we live, words for wintertime coziness and experiences unique to various cultures.  And in turn our different languages inform our cultures as we continue to come up with new words and definitions, new ways of speaking to and about others, even God.

And throughout it all, God continues to come to us, sending prophets and leaders, calling us back to God’s ways of love, bringing us out of captivity into freedom, and celebrating those new chances at life with us.

And ultimately God comes to us by taking on our very flesh.  God chooses to come to us, born to a poor homeless couple, spending the first part of life undocumented, living as a refugee in Egypt, and returning to Palestine to live under Roman rule and occupation.  In the midst of it all, God in Jesus continues to love us, seeking the lost, oppressed, and outcast.  He goes to “those people” the rest of us would rather avoid.

For all of the love and compassion Jesus shows, the response from the powers of this world, humanity’s own response, is to choose death over the life God freely offers us in Jesus.  We choose the violence of the cross and Jesus takes on the cross, dying to destroy death and then rising, bringing to life the ultimate covenant of love, bringing new hope and everlasting life to begin anew every day.

And then even as Jesus ascends to heaven, God’s love is so great that God promises us the Holy Spirit.  Our Advocate will come to be with us.  The Holy Spirit is promised and she delivers!

At Pentecost, the beginning of the first harvests, the apostles gather in Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit comes CRASHING in!  The roar of a violent wind in everyone’s ears, flames like fire appearing before everyone’s eyes.  If this is not a recipe for full sensory overload, then I don’t know what is.

The Holy Spirit comes with the chaos that reigned when she moved over the waters at the beginning of creating.  As the room fills with chaos and confusion from heaven, the gathered apostles add to the confusion, confessing faith and proclaiming the love of God.  Heaven breaks into the earthly gathering of followers of Christ.

At Pentecost, God’s presence in the Holy Spirit is experienced with chaos and uncertainty.  People are bewildered, amazed and astonished, amazed and disturbed, snarky, and prophetic.  Out of this chaos, in many songs and languages is sung the love of God made manifest through the Holy Spirit. 

And even as it all settles back down, the Holy Spirit remains.

Jesus has ascended and yet the Holy Spirit remains to breathe among us, to move as we move and grow as we grow.  And so the Holy Spirit continues to move even into today, calling us with the prophets to lives of justice and peace.   

Four years ago, the Holy Spirit moved among us, calling these two congregations into one worshiping community.  The Holy Spirit calls us and claims us as one community of faith.  This month we also mark the 60^th anniversary of women’s ordination in the Presbyterian Church.   

As we have prayed on street corners and with folded pieces of paper, the Holy Spirit has continued to breathe among us, calling us into deeper relationships, boldly guiding us into the future, even remaining with us in our uncertainty.

The Holy Spirit moves with us in our discomfort.  When we don’t understand.  Cuando alguien habla un idioma diferente.  When we disagree and even when we are afraid.  One of the key ways that I discern that the Holy Spirit might be at work is if I’m nervous, afraid, or a little anxious, especially if mixed in with those feelings there’s an inexplicable hint of excitement or pull toward something. 

That’s how the Holy Spirit works, coming in with chaos and confusion, calling us and moving with us into new life and new ways of being the church together for the sake of the whole world.

Thanks be to God.

the holy spirit breaks in: easter 7c

A reading from Acts (16:15-40).

¹⁵When Lydia 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.

¹⁶One 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.

       ¹⁷While 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.”

       ¹⁸She 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.

       ¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone,

              they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace

                     before the authorities.

              ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said,

                     “These men are disturbing our city;

                            they are Jewish

                            ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us

                                   as Romans to adopt or observe.”

              ²²The crowd joined in attacking them,

                     and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing

                     and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

                     ²³After they had given them a severe flogging,

                            they threw them into prison

                            and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.

                                   ²⁴Following these instructions,

                                          he put them in the innermost cell

                                          and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,

       and the prisoners were listening to them.

       ²⁶Suddenly 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.

       ²⁷When 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.

              ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice,

                     “Do not harm yourself,

                            for we are all here.”

              ²⁹The jailer called for lights,

                     and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.

                     ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said,

                            “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

                     ³¹They answered,

                            “Believe on the Lord Jesus,

                                   and you will be saved,

                                          you and your household.”

                     ³²Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord to him

                            and to all who were in his house.

                     ³³At the same hour of the night he took them

                            and washed their wounds;

                                   then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.

                            ³⁴He 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.

³⁵When morning came,

       the magistrates sent the police, saying,

              “Let those men go.”

       ³⁶And the jailer reported the message to Paul, saying,

              “The magistrates sent word to let you go;

                     therefore come out now and go in peace.”

       ³⁷But Paul replied,

              “They have beaten us in public,

                     uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens,

              and have thrown us into prison;

              and now are they going to discharge us in secret?

                     Certainly not!

                            Let them come and take us out themselves.”

       ³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates,

              and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens;

                     ³⁹so they came and apologized to them.

                     And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

                     ⁴⁰After leaving the prison they went to Lydia’s home;

                            and when they had seen

                            and encouraged the brothers and sisters there,

                                   they departed.

Word of God, word of life.

I also allude to Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21.

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In today’s reading from Acts, we pick up where last week’s reading left off.  Lydia, the first convert to Christianity in Europe, has responded out of her newfound faith, with: hospitality.  She welcomes Paul, Silas, and the others into her home.  With this offer of hospitality, the group sticks around and as they continue to pray in the area, a girl who is a slave sees them.

This girl, who, as a slave, has not known freedom and agency is both blessed and cursed by a spirit of divination.  Because of this spirit, she makes money for those who own her and is therefore deemed useful.  This, at least, means she is likely to have enough food and shelter to survive—to scrape by.  It is probably not enough to really live off of, to save, to enjoy, to really care for herself, but it is also more than nothing.  After all, her owners need her alive in order to make money off of her.

Then, as she proclaims the truth of Paul and Silas’ mission, day after day, Paul gets annoyed.  Perhaps Paul is annoyed because he thinks her reputation in fortune-telling will discredit the actual truth of what she is saying about them, which will then discredit them and their mission.  Or maybe the annoyance comes because as she names their situation as “slaves of the Most High God,” she is forcing Paul to consider her and her plight as a child slave to people who only want her for the fortune-telling profit she can make them.  She is forcing Paul to really see her.

Whatever Paul’s reason may be remains a mystery to us.  All we know is that he reaches the limit, and “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.” 

The spirit of divination, the blessing and curse for this child, is gone.  She is left alone with herself for perhaps the first time in her whole young life.  She is left to figure out anew who she is and what her place will now be in the world.  She is no longer the moneymaker for her owners that she once was.  What does the future hold for her without the security of that spirit?  Will she face freedom or an even more dire situation than before?  As a child, does she even know how to care for herself?

For the owners’ part, they get mad—and quickly.  They had been making money off of this girl and we learn that “when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.”  The little girl was useless to them, so they went after Paul and Silas, dragging them before the authorities.

The charges they bring, however, don’t even mention the girl who will no longer make them money, whose future is uncertain.  As frequently happens, economic and cultural accusations get mixed up and swapped.  An economic complaint becomes a cultural one.  The owners decide that Paul and Silas’ jewishness is to blame. 

Their difference is threatening the status quo.  Their culture is too different, their religion too dangerous, and they will harm the established Roman culture.  These owners face a new economic challenge without the easy money of slave labor, and instead of questioning the economic system that lets some make money at the expense and poverty of others, they blame cultural differences. 

As the story continues, the girl, whose identity as a fortune-teller is lost, is herself now lost, leaving us with questions and wonderings about her own future and fortune.

The focus zeros in on Paul and Silas, who are Jewish and therefore “less than” the Romans, making it an easy decision to beat them and throw them into jail.  If they are not considered full citizens, they are also not considered full humans, and so abuse is deemed ok.

The story so far is unsurprising.  Cultural and economic abuse and exploitation are not new to us today.  Violence against unarmed men and child slavery are still realities throughout this country and the world.  Yet this story is not over.   

As Paul and Silas sit shackled in jail, they praise God.  In her reflections, our early mother in the faith whom we commemorate today, Julian of Norwich shared that no matter how dire the situation, “all shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”  In this spirit of confidence and trust in God, “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

Then an earthquake literally rocks the foundation as chains and locks are broken open.  The captives are set free!            …            And yet, they remain.

The jailer, whose terror runs deeper than the earthquake, to failure at his job and the prospect of economic devastation, loses himself to despair.  In the midst of the utter despair, the jailer draws his sword to kill himself and the grace of God breaks in, as Paul shouts out, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”  All hope is not yet gone.  Paul and Silas and the other prisoners could have easily escaped to freedom, but out of compassion for even this one who is keeping them bound (and maybe out of a little shock), they remain.

It is in this profoundly countercultural move of love and care for the one who is oppressing them                        that the jailer comes to new faith, asking “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”  Because for Paul and Silas, as followers of Jesus, their liberation is not complete without the liberation that has been holding even this jailer in bondage.  

 The jailer, who is enforcing the rules and directives given to him, serves to keep the people “in line,” especially those Jewish outsiders, stirring up trouble, disrespecting the Roman customs and culture.  The jailer serves the occupying Romans, caught up in the system of oppression, whether or not he even realizes it.

And that is where God breaks in.

Beginning with Lydia and sharing their faith in words and in actions, Paul and Silas and the growing community of believers in Macedonia know            that to follow Christ is to love others. 

It is to risk remaining captive for the sake of the one who would take his own life. 

It is to choose love over self-preservation, safety, or security. 

It is to challenge economic systems that rely on the enslavement and exploitation of adults and children. 

It is to speak out and even use their own power, as they did in the end, as full citizens, to challenge and change the unjust culture and practices. 

And, as Lydia and the jailer demonstrate,

      it is to open their home in hospitality, providing shelter and food for those in need, protecting the vulnerable, even at the risk of their own place in society.

And it is in those moments where the Holy Spirit works so powerfully, proclaiming Paul and Silas as “slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation” and staying the jailer’s sword with the command “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

That is how the Holy Spirit comes—in the midst of even crisis and despair            with words of hope and assurance.  Promising God’s love from “the first [to] the last, the beginning [to] the end.” 

Because God is living and Christ is risen!   Christ is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!