Desperately Seeking God Acts 8

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Desperately Seeking God Acts 8: 26-40 th 14 in the sermon series “The Acts of the Apostles: Back to Basics” January 25 2015 First Federated Church, Peoria, Illinois The Rev. Dr. Forrest Krummel My smart phone that I hold in the palm of my hand has more “computing power” than the computers used to put Neil Armstrong on the moon and brought him back safely. We live in a different world. Handwritten letters have largely been replaced by emails, and emails have been largely replaced by text messaging. Landline phones are going the way of the telephone booth. If you have a landline telephone, you no longer rent it from “Ma Bell” but own your phone. Vinyl records are a throwback. Eight track players are only in Phil Luciano’s garage (and many of you may not know who Phil Luciano is!1). Cassette tapes have also gone the way of the dinosaur. CDs are being replaced by various internet downloads. All of this is not to lament the “good old days” because, frankly, the good old days, whenever they were but usually 50 years before today, weren’t really so good. We’ve just forgotten a lot of stuff. The bottom line is this, we live in a different world, change is all around us and change is coming at us an increasing exponential speed! And, we cannot turn back the clock no matter how hard we pray, wish or try. We also live in a post-Christian culture. Vestiges to this became to creep into my conscious in the mid-1970s when I returned to Peoria to sell insurance and variable annuities for a company called The Equitable Life Assurance out of New York City. My agency manager told me on my first day of work that I needed to join First Presbyterian Church because I would make “good business connections.” He didn’t say anything about the spiritually nourishing worship or challenging preaching. Church membership was about business connections. He could have just as easily told me to join any of the old “Main-Line First” churches of Peoria;, First United Methodist, First Baptist, First Federated or some other “First.” You joined a church or served on a board, at least in his mind, because it was “good for business. And then, several years later two things happened around the same time that gave me my second hint that a new age was dawning. In the late 1980s my family lived in a small east central Iowa town. It had two very nice parks, one in the center of town at the literal “town square” and the other on the west edge of town. This second park had a small pond and several athletic fields. One day I accompanied a daughter and one of her friends to the western park. They were fond of knock-knock jokes and I had a favorite one that I used and still use to this day, especially with my grandchildren. The joke goes like this (get your hands wet): Knock-knock. Who’s there? John. John who? John the Baptist! (as you flick water from your fingertips). Well, my daughter did this knock knock joke with one of her friends as they drank from a water fountain. Her friend looked at her bewildered and asked, “Who’s John the Baptist?” Shortly after I had a female pastoral colleague who was looking for a confirmation gift, a necklace for a young person. She went to a jewelry store and asked if they had cross necklaces. The clerk, a younger person, quite excitedly replied, “Oh, yes! We have these plane ones over here in gold or silver, and we have these over here with a little man on them!” The clerk had no idea who “the little man” was, much less why he was on a cross. A recent study said that 72% of Americans are “unchurched.” The figure may be a little lower in central Illinois but not by much, if at all. This 72% does not count the “under-churched”, those who say that they would go to church but that their schedules do not allow it. Of the 40% who are “churched”, 1

Phil Luciano is a long-standing columnist for the Peoria Journal Star newspaper and wrote a story about his vintage 8 track player: http://www.pjstar.com/article/20110527/News/305279836

studies show that only 30% attend worship three or four Sundays a month, another 20% attend once a month, 30% attend on Christmas and Easter and 20 attend less than once a year. That means that on any given weekend no more than 12% of Americans attend a worship service. That’s neither good nor bad, it just is. At the same time, there is an increasing number of Americans who say that they are “spiritual” but not “religious.” This is especially true of those under the age of 40. There are a variety of reasons for this. Some have been turned off by organized religion because they have seen how Christians treat each other, let alone outsiders. Some never attended worship as children, when we most often develop lifelong habits. Their parents either didn’t go to church or they were sent to a” parallel church program” while their parents remained in worship. Others just never developed the habit. And yet, despite all of this, study after study has shown that those who are actively involved in a nurturing and nourishing worship community are happier and cope with life hardships better than those who are not connected. Some call this time in our history not the “post-Christian” era but the “pre-Christian” era in that we are in a situation not unfamiliar to the first century Church, the church described in The Acts of the Apostles. Our lesson from Acts is about a follower of Jesus and a man “desperately seeking God.” How do we reach out to those who are desperately seeking God? Our lesson from The Acts of the Apostles gives us a very simple guide. Today’s lesson is about man named Philip and an Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8: 26-40 An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert road. 27 And he rose and went. And behold, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister of the Can′dace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture which he was reading was this: “As a sheep led to the slaughter or a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so he opens not his mouth. 33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken up from the earth.” 34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, pray, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this scripture he told him the good news of Jesus. 36 And as they went along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What is to prevent my being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught up Philip; and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip was found at Azo′tus, and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesare′a. There are four insights contained in those verses. I have organized them into the acrostic “LAM(b)S2 to help us remember them.

2

There is no “B”.

L Listen. “An angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (v. 26) We have to “listen” to God. After the Old Testament prophet Elijah defeated the prophets of the Canaanite god Baal and Queen Jezebel swore his death, Elijah ran to the mountains to hide. Convinced that he was all by himself and throwing a grand pity party, the Word of the Lord came to him. “Go to the mouth of the cave,” the voice said to Elijah. At the mouth of the cave Elijah beheld a hurricane force wind, a scorching fire and an earthquake but God was not in any of these things. Then Elijah heard “a still small voice”. God was in the still small voice. It that assured Elijah that he was not alone, that he should leave the shelter of the cave where he was hiding and continue to do the work of a prophet. At Jesus’ baptism the gospel of Matthew says that the voice of God was heard by those assembled. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” (17:5) “To listen” means “to do.” In other words, “do as he says.” So many times we think that we are listening to God when in reality we are asking God to bless our plans. We need to ask God where the Almighty is at work in the world, and listen to how we can join the effort. In other words, where we can plug into building the Kingdom. As one prayer so simply and eloquently said it, “Put me in the path of what you are doing in this world. Show me where You are working.”3 So the first thing is to listen. So this raises a question or two. How does one know if the “still small voice” is divine or demonic? You need to test it. Does it have a Scriptural basis? In other words, is it consistent with what Scripture teaches? Does it build up or tear down? Secondly, you need to ask this question in the context of a community. Jesus promised that wherever two or three were gathered in his name, he would be in the midst of them. This is one of the reasons why it is so important to be in worship, to attend Sunday school or to be a part of a small group where you can pray for one another and support one another, help one another to discern the inklings of the spirit. Personal devotions are great but group bible study and discussions are essential to keep us grounded and centered. The second element is to Act. Hearing is demonstrated by acting. As any parent can attest, and a few husbands and wives, too, listening alone does no good if it is not followed by action. (Philip) went and along the way he saw an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a minister in the court of the queen who was in charge of all of her treasure. He had been in Jerusalem and was returning home, reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go to him.” So Philip ran to him.” There is so much going on here. Philip did not return to Jerusalem with the other disciples. Instead, listening to God he went to Gaza along a “desert”—another word for dangerous road; remember, in the parable of “The Good Samaritan” that he was going along a similar road when we was attacked by muggers—highway and came upon Ethiopian who was way outside of Philip’s comfort zone, primarily for two reasons; he was an Ethiopian—a foreigner—and an eunuch, which meant that he could never worship in the Temple. He was permanent outsider. There are times when we can act out our discipleship as an individual. Paying it forward, for example. Visiting someone or sending a positive note. But there are more times when we need to act in partnership with other followers of Jesus. It was not by accident that Jesus sent his disciples out two by two or in groups of seven. When we are in community we can encourage one another. When one feels weak, there is someone to help us feel strong. In the wisdom of Ecclesiastes, 9 Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. 10 If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him. 11 If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself 12 Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.4 3 4

Heard at an Easum and Bandy workshop sometime in the late 1990s 4: 9-12

M is for “meet.” Philip did not ask the eunuch to stop and give him a ride. He ran to the eunuch. Several years ago I received a revolutionary insight, revolutionary at least to me. Jesus didn’t set up shop in Jerusalem at the corner of Main and Pilate and say to people, “If you want to know about God, come see me on the Sabbath between the hours of 9 and 11.” No, he went to where the people were. He ate with sinners and tax collectors, he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. The first words of his “Great Commission” is “Go”. Make disciples but first “Go” to where they are. Meeting people means that you meet them where they are spiritually and emotionally. Philip saw that the eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah. The passage that he was reading was particularly ironic because it talked about the “humiliation” of the “sheep led to slaughter.” As a eunuch he was continually humiliated because of a condition over which he had no control. He was the perpetual “Other”, excluded from the spiritual life that he felt drawn to. His status as “the Other” did not scare Philip any more than the sinners, tax collectors, women, leper, unclean and Samaritans scared Jesus. He reached out to them and Jesus’ disciples are to “do likewise.” S stands for “Shared.” Philip shared with him the privilege and the burden of “discipleship.” He told him about Jesus, stood with at baptism, started with him in his own faith journey and he encouraged him. We, too, are called to this ministry. Listening to the Spirit, Philip was whisked away to a place call Azo’tus. And the eunuch, well, the eunuch went on his way rejoicing, telling others of God’s amazing love in Jesus the Christ. Go and do likewise. Amen.