Another sermon that I have enjoyed preaching. I really do like preaching the great stories from the Bible.
At the Chapel service, I elaborated a bit more than the text below, in part because I had a short sermon due to the Columbarium dedication in the Sanctuary service.
I note in the sermon a really important point fpr churches ponder how to reach millenials -- the sacred and sacramental have a great appeal millennials because they bring a spiritual sense to things, but as a church we have to figure out how to uses these gifts of the church in ways that impact people's lives.
“Ethiopian Eunuch” August 14, 2016; FPC, Troy; Acts 8: 26-40; Acts 8: 9-13
(Acts 8:26-40) Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth." The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. (NRSV)
move 1: Great story with lots of different themes that jump out at us.
a. Church extending itself.
1. Remember, that immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection, most of the followers were Jews who believed in Jesus as the Son of God and in his resurrection.
2. The early church is trying to decide if it will expand to include Gentiles and others in the world, or if will remain a small group of Jewish-Christians.
3. Ethiopian eunuch is an outsider on several counts.
4. as an Ethiopian.
5. As a eunuch he would have been kept from entering the Temple (http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2445; Coleman Baker, Program Manager, Soul Repair Center, Brite Divinity School, Fort Worth, Texas
6. Outsider who gets invited in, thereby welcoming the Ethiopian and also expanding who the church understands itself to be.
b. Importance of Scripture.
1. The Ethiopian actually has a scroll of Scripture.
2. Remarkable. Rather unusual.
3. No pew Bible to read; or Bible the church gives; no Kindle or iPhone or iPad.
4. Most of it oral.
5. But he has a scroll. Probably points out his connections to power or wealth.
6. We could get a lot of good insights about Scripture.
c. holy Spirit and Phillip.
1. Philip is instructed by an angel to go to the road the runs from Jerusalem to the southwest toward Gaza, an important city on the Mediterranean coast.
2. A wilderness road – sermon by itself on the Holy Spirit.
3. Philip snatched away by the Holy Spirit – really confusing sermon!
In keeping with minor characters, I want to focus on the Ethiopian's connection with Philip.
Move 2: Ethiopian seeks and Philip responds.
a. Ethiopian is working it.
1. reading Scripture.
2. does not understand it.
3. Willing to let Philip help. “How can I understand unless someone guides me?”
4. Stop right there and notice that he is willing to ask for someone else's insights.
5. He is willing to ask for help.
6. Instant community.
7. If someone asks you for help, you become engaged and interested. Actually drive someone to where they are going.
b. How willing are you to ask for help along our faith journey.
1. Means admitting that you do not have it all figured out.
2. Acknowledging that someone else might know something that matters.
3. some ways, it's a matter of vulnerability.
b. Philip responds.
1. Sort of a ridiculous scene.
2. Peter running along. Not sure if chariot is stopped. Saw a cartoon with Philip running alongside a chariot talking as he ran.
3. Philip offers --” “Do you understand?”
4. he extends himself and engages.
5. As individuals and as a church, how ready to we stand to extend ourselves?
Move 2: Ethiopian wants to be baptized
a. Not sure how he knows about baptism.
1. maybe he has heard stories about Jesus baptizing or the early church baptizing.
2. Looking for something more than just answers to questions about what he is reading.
3. wants to connect to God.
4. Simon the magician – can do magic, but wants more.
5. Millenials – studies show they are not that interested in the institutional church, but they desire to be a part of something sacred.
6. Not just millenials, people of all ages, people like us, we, know that desire to be connected to something beyond ourselves, to be connected to God.
a. Baptism at St. David's.
1. I spent one January doing hospital chaplaincy at St. David's hospital in Austin, TX.
2. Lots of powerful moments.
3. we were on-call on 24 hr. period a week, back when you had a beeper not a cell phone.; middle of the night beeper gets the adrenalin going
4. One day when I was on-call, my beeper went off and summoned me to the birthing unit.
5.young couple, baby had died in the womb; had to be induced; there would soon be a not-yet formed baby; would I do a baptism?
6. Not a minister, so I can't do baptism; theologically, can you even to do a baptism on a dead, unformed baby; where was community; way over my head, so I suggested that I was not really able to do that.
Head nurse suggested that I really was able to do it, and that these young parents needed a baptism.
So I faked my way through a baptism – the words aren't to hard really; no questions for parents or community; a prayer, of course; nurse had to hold this tiny almost baby as I poured the water and said the word; baby baptized as parents cling to each other and cried.
I never told anyone on my presbytery committee!
6. We are called to meet people in the reality of their lives and invite them into the mystery of the holy.
7. Philip did that.
Move 3: Finally, The gift we have comes down to Jesus.
a. The Ethiopian was reading from the book of Isaiah, a passage associated with the suffering servant passages in Isaiah 53, and recognizes his need for help understanding the passage.
1. Isaiah may have envisioned God would do something one day, but I doubt he had Jesus in mind when he prophesied those words.
2. but Philip connects the prophecy to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
b. That is the gift we have received and the gift we have to share. Amen.
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