Get a Move On
Acts 8:26-39
There is so much action in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian. Everyone is moving--the Ethiopian is racing home in his chariot; Philip is shooting hither and thither; and even as they meet, they all remain on the run.
I guess the fundamental lesson for the church here is--STAY FIT--you're gonna be moving, y'all!
Seriously--there is a vital lesson for us who serve the fellowship of Jesus in this story. Faith is movement. To be with Jesus is to be led. To be led is to be constantly on the move. We cannot afford to sit still.
The story opens with the Spirit sending Philip out to meet the Ethiopian. Within the church, we need to be awake, aware, and accepting of God's call when it comes, as it comes, and how it comes. God is a God of action. YHWH is a verb! John's theology of God as love is an active relationship. Therefore, we cannot and should not be surprised that such a God calls people to move. The life of faith is not sitting in a pew. The life of faith is realizing to enter a church is to immediately open oneself to a call--you will be sent somewhere to be with someone.
The Ethiopian himself is a lesson in God's inclusion. He is a man of faith, riding along reading his scriptures, having been to the Temple. But realize how the religious community treated him. He was foreign--he could only enter so far into the Temple grounds. He was a eunuch--a broken human being by religious standards, further excluded from participation in the community. So, even though his church threw up wall after wall in front of him, prohibiting him full participation in the faith life of the church, he still attends, and he still believes.He is able to see God despite the religious divisions, diversions, and declamations thrown at him.
We live in a place where religion is met with skepticism, particularly and especially the church of Jesus. We proclaim love, yet are known mostly for how we delimit and inhibit the full expression of God's love, throwing up walls of moralism between ourselves and the world. Voices rise in the name of Jesus condemning those like the Ethiopian who do not fit a narrow view of who is good and righteous. Yet, the truth is that a good many of those who have thrown up their hands in utter frustration with the church still cling to the hope that God is there as God is described in God's own Word--the welcoming parent, full of grace, mercy, and compassion for any and all whom God made in God's love.
So, Philip runs alongside the Ethiopian's chariot, calling out his question about what the Ethiopian is reading. Never mind that Philip must have been mightily huffing and puffing as he gasped out his question--just focus on the question--Do you understand what you are reading?
We need to keep that question before us. Note the essence of the question--it is an invitation--it invites further conversation. Second, it makes no assumptions that Philip knows more than the Ethiopian--this will be an exploration together. Third, nowhere does Philip add a list of prerequisites for the Ethiopian to meet before he will talk with him--no moral codes, no membership dues, no nothing--just an open welcome to talk. And note how the Ethiopian responds--How can I if no one explains it to me? I love his honesty! He, too, is open and ready. Philip's openness leads to open dialog.
The Isaiah text they read is telling. Here is the prophetic definition of the Christ. He will be the embodiment of self-emptying, other-centered love. He will spare nothing to enter the existence of every other human being. He will not be full until he is empties himself and everyone else is full. This is Christ--compassion that knows no limits. That--and that only--can be the aim of the church.
The Ethiopian suddenly comes to full enlightenment--no matter what religion says, God loves him fully, completely, as a beloved child. Look, here is water--what is to keep me from being baptized? This question is actually an exam for Philip--are you any different from my previous experience of the religious? Is your welcome also conditional? Realize that question hits us every single day--are we who we say we are? are we the people of love, grace, and communion we claim to be? are we people of radical compassion and welcome?
Philip does not answer with words--he jumps out of the chariot, taking the Ethiopian into the pond.
Love whoever is before you. Love them. Love them. Love them.
Then--BAM!--God sends Philip to the next place--the church moves again! Never fixed, never stalled--always going with God.
The Ethiopian, though, knows joy--real, actual joy--the hoped for promises are real--THEY ARE KEPT in God!
And so, off he goes as well--taking his new found joy back to Ethiopia.
I doubt he sat still for very long there, either.
There is so much action in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian. Everyone is moving--the Ethiopian is racing home in his chariot; Philip is shooting hither and thither; and even as they meet, they all remain on the run.
I guess the fundamental lesson for the church here is--STAY FIT--you're gonna be moving, y'all!
Seriously--there is a vital lesson for us who serve the fellowship of Jesus in this story. Faith is movement. To be with Jesus is to be led. To be led is to be constantly on the move. We cannot afford to sit still.
The story opens with the Spirit sending Philip out to meet the Ethiopian. Within the church, we need to be awake, aware, and accepting of God's call when it comes, as it comes, and how it comes. God is a God of action. YHWH is a verb! John's theology of God as love is an active relationship. Therefore, we cannot and should not be surprised that such a God calls people to move. The life of faith is not sitting in a pew. The life of faith is realizing to enter a church is to immediately open oneself to a call--you will be sent somewhere to be with someone.
The Ethiopian himself is a lesson in God's inclusion. He is a man of faith, riding along reading his scriptures, having been to the Temple. But realize how the religious community treated him. He was foreign--he could only enter so far into the Temple grounds. He was a eunuch--a broken human being by religious standards, further excluded from participation in the community. So, even though his church threw up wall after wall in front of him, prohibiting him full participation in the faith life of the church, he still attends, and he still believes.He is able to see God despite the religious divisions, diversions, and declamations thrown at him.
We live in a place where religion is met with skepticism, particularly and especially the church of Jesus. We proclaim love, yet are known mostly for how we delimit and inhibit the full expression of God's love, throwing up walls of moralism between ourselves and the world. Voices rise in the name of Jesus condemning those like the Ethiopian who do not fit a narrow view of who is good and righteous. Yet, the truth is that a good many of those who have thrown up their hands in utter frustration with the church still cling to the hope that God is there as God is described in God's own Word--the welcoming parent, full of grace, mercy, and compassion for any and all whom God made in God's love.
So, Philip runs alongside the Ethiopian's chariot, calling out his question about what the Ethiopian is reading. Never mind that Philip must have been mightily huffing and puffing as he gasped out his question--just focus on the question--Do you understand what you are reading?
We need to keep that question before us. Note the essence of the question--it is an invitation--it invites further conversation. Second, it makes no assumptions that Philip knows more than the Ethiopian--this will be an exploration together. Third, nowhere does Philip add a list of prerequisites for the Ethiopian to meet before he will talk with him--no moral codes, no membership dues, no nothing--just an open welcome to talk. And note how the Ethiopian responds--How can I if no one explains it to me? I love his honesty! He, too, is open and ready. Philip's openness leads to open dialog.
The Isaiah text they read is telling. Here is the prophetic definition of the Christ. He will be the embodiment of self-emptying, other-centered love. He will spare nothing to enter the existence of every other human being. He will not be full until he is empties himself and everyone else is full. This is Christ--compassion that knows no limits. That--and that only--can be the aim of the church.
The Ethiopian suddenly comes to full enlightenment--no matter what religion says, God loves him fully, completely, as a beloved child. Look, here is water--what is to keep me from being baptized? This question is actually an exam for Philip--are you any different from my previous experience of the religious? Is your welcome also conditional? Realize that question hits us every single day--are we who we say we are? are we the people of love, grace, and communion we claim to be? are we people of radical compassion and welcome?
Philip does not answer with words--he jumps out of the chariot, taking the Ethiopian into the pond.
Love whoever is before you. Love them. Love them. Love them.
Then--BAM!--God sends Philip to the next place--the church moves again! Never fixed, never stalled--always going with God.
The Ethiopian, though, knows joy--real, actual joy--the hoped for promises are real--THEY ARE KEPT in God!
And so, off he goes as well--taking his new found joy back to Ethiopia.
I doubt he sat still for very long there, either.
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