Oh The Places You Won't Go

Acts 16:6-15

They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district* of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she 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.

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This weekend kicks off not only the start of summer for so many, but it also serves as the unofficial beginning of graduation season. In the office this week, I asked the question: what gift should you get a graduate? I told them about a friend's mom who would give monogrammed towels as her graduate gift. +Mark and Amanda informed me that I should not pick up that tradition.

Money was the consensus, just get a card with some cash. I don’t disagree, but I am warning you graduates now, I can almost guarantee that someone will give out a copy of the Dr. Suess classic, “Oh The Places You’ll Go”. And it is a fitting tribute for the occasion:“ Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the person who'll decide where to go.”

It is a remarkable feeling, no? To be on the precipice of what comes next and then to set off on the journey. It is so exciting, perhaps a little frightening, if not for you, then for your parents or grandparents and other loved ones.

Timothy likely felt this same way when he began his journey with Paul and Silas. In our text, the “they” we hear is in reference to those three Paul, Silas, and Timothy, maybe more. Timothy just joined the group. In the passage immediately before this, Paul and Silas stop in Lystra, where they hear about this young disciple named Timothy.

Among believers in Lystra, Timothy is well spoken of. So Paul asks Timothy to join him on this mission. Timothy probably thought “oh the place I’ll go”. And go they did, from town to town, the churches were growing, everything was great!

That is until they came to Phrygia. Paul and crew want to go to Asia. They think, “that’s where God is calling us to proclaim the Gospel. So that must be the right place for us.” So they went to turn left and head to Asia, but the Holy Spirit forbade them to go. That’s strange… why would the Holy Spirit not let me go? And what does that even mean?

Did a giant wind push against them every time they tried to turn left? Did their compass only point them east? However it happened, they couldn't go into Asia. So the crew thinks well what do you do when you can’t turn left… you go right! And so they try to turn right and go to Bithynia, but the Holy Spirit doesn’t allow that either.

With no other options left, they go to Troas.

If you are Timothy, you’ve got to wonder what went wrong? Everything was so good? We were going to all these places, the church was growing, we had a great plan! But just when everything seemed great, suddenly it wasn't anymore.

Graduates, this will undoubtedly happen to you. Surely everyone gathered has had a time like that: when everything seemed to be going great, you thought you were doing what God wanted you to do, but suddenly your plans changed (or they were changed for you), and the roads you wanted to take became blocked.

Maybe the major you’d hope for didn’t work out. Or you didn’t get that job you thought you always wanted or were let go of the job you loved. Maybe that relationship you never thought would end came to a close. Or an unexpected trip to the doctor makes you put everything on hold. Despite your best efforts you ended up in a place you never wanted to be. We’ve all been there.

As Dr Suess says: “I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you. You can get all hung up, in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch. You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump. And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

Yet, it is at those places you never wanted to be, in the times you least expect, that something will happen or someone will come and help and get you unslumped.

For Timothy and crew their unslumping came from a vision that Paul had while in Troas: a man saying “Come to Macedonia and help us.” The three of them got up and immediately headed to Macedonia, “convinced that God had called them to proclaim the good news there”.

They set sail from Troas, landed in Samothrace, and then came ashore at Neapolis. Neapolis is this wonderful little seaside town, the kind of place you want to land in, and maybe put down some roots; enjoy the sandy beaches and nice weather. I could imagine Timothy saying to Paul and Silas, “we don’t really need to follow that vision, that dream, that call, right?”

But Paul and his companions don’t stop and stay there. It’s nice, but they know it’s not where they are supposed to be.

You’ll have your own Neapolis too, places and opportunities that seem really nice, the city or job or relationship you could see yourself in. And the temptation to stay will be strong, yet you’ll know it’s not right. Heed the voice, the vision, the calling God has placed on you. There will be a reason you move on, even if it is not clear in the moment.

Finally Paul, Timothy, and Silas land in Philippi, even though that was not the original goal. Remember Paul wanted to spread the Gospel and grow the church in Asia. But listen to how this part of Paul’s mission ends.

On the sabbath they all go to the river, hoping to find people praying. They join a group of women and among them is Lydia, likely a wealthy business woman with great influence.

She listened eagerly to Paul, had herself and her whole family baptized, and then opened her home to Paul and Timothy and Silas.

Lydia is from Thyatria, which is in Asia, the very place Paul hoped to spread the gospel in the first place. Through all the travels, the wrong turns, and the change of plans, Paul does in fact fulfill his mission of growing the church in Asia, just not where and how he expected too.

Despite our best efforts, God’s calling and leading come through mistaken directions and failed attempts, which can certainly be frustrating and make discernment difficult.

We’d like to think “we are the one’s who decide where to go”. As Dr/ Seuss puts it. But that’s where he’s wrong. As Paul, Timothy and Silas attest, it is an illusion to think it’s all up to us. God is in charge of the journey you're on. At times, it won’t look the way you want or lead to the places you’d hoped. But thankfully Jesus promises us an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, that helps us in discernment and guides us to where we need to go, what we need to do, and who we should meet along the way.

For Paul and Timothy, the journey nor the destination were likely what the team imagined.

The wandering, the rejection, the vision in a dream, and the people they met. They did not expect a woman, that wasnt what the vision showed. Yet, in the end God’s will was done, not their own, which is what we all pray for.

Graduates/young people, it’s okay if your journey in life looks like this. Parents/grandparents, it’s okay if your young person’s journey looks like this. God is still at work in the mess of it all.

The reality for not just graduates but for all of us is our own journeys will be less like us deciding the places we go, and more like the wanderings of Paul and the rest: ending up in places we didn’t expect, receiving direction in ways we didn't anticipate, and meeting people we never predicted, but trusting that God is still leading.

“Plans are made. Plans come apart.” Says Kate Bowler, “New delights or tragedies pop up in their place. And nothing human or divine will map out this life, this life that has been more painful than I could have imagined. More beautiful than I could have imagined.”

Amen.

Holy Curiosity

Acts 8:26-40

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards 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.

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We are all losers, at least that’s what it feels like for most of us. Before you pie me, let me explain! Back in February, Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization that conducts public opinion polls on everything from politics to religion, science and more, released updated findings on how folks feel like their side in politics is doing.

And according to that multiyear study, less than a quarter of Americans feel like their side is winning on issues that matter to them. Which means that the rest of us, the vast majority of us, feel like we are losing. No wonder public dialogue, political discourse, or even talking with a neighbor or coworker feels so embittered and tense. Most of us feel like we are fighting a losing battle. In reality though what we are all losing to is tribalism.

Tribalism is the instinct to gather and connect with people who are similar in all sorts of ways: beliefs, interests, experiences, and more. Our tribe tells us who we are, what we’re supposed to do, and what we believe. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing. Having a community that helps give us identity, that surrounds us and supports us is very important.

But tribalism becomes treacherous when it tells us who we should fear. We can so closely identify with our tribe that anyone who is different becomes a threat.

It is dangerous then when a tribe says, “Watch out for them. They aren’t like us. They are trying to take things from you, they only want to hurt you. They are the cause of your problems, of our problems. Be very afraid of them. Be afraid of the democrats. Be afraid of the republicans.

Be afraid of people who are transgender or who do drag. Be afraid of progressives or fundamentalist. Be very afraid.”

Sharon Brous, a rabbi in Los Angeles, writes that “One of the great casualties of tribalism is curiosity. And when we are no longer curious, when we don’t try to imagine or understand what another person is thinking or feeling or where her pain comes from, our hearts begin to narrow.

We become less compassionate and more entrenched in our own worldviews.” Perhaps we all feel like we are losing because tribalism has swallowed up our sense of curiosity and narrowed our hearts.

Which is why we need the story of Philip and the Eunuch now more than ever. For some context: Philip is a newly appointed leader in the growing Jesus movement. Religious leaders felt threatened by this and especially with a disciple named Stephen. Under the authority of a man named Saul, they stoned Stephen. And the church then was severely persecuted, scattering disciples all over the place. I imagine at this point it would have been so easy for the church to become tribal; telling each other who to watch out for and who to be afraid of, “be afraid of anyone who is not like us”. But that’s not the case for Philip.

Philip first goes to Samaria, the despised, distant cousin of the Jews, preaching and healing the sick, and to everyone’s surprise, droves of Samaritans believed and were baptized. This Jesus movement was moving beyond its Jewish, Jerusalem community and into a diverse, global body. The opposite of tribalism. And that’s where our story picks up.

An angel of the Lord tells Philip to go to an unusual place; not to a city, or to someone’s home, but to a road. A road is not a destination though, especially one that’s in the wilderness. But Philip, ever obedient, goes to this deserted highway. What for, exactly, he doesn’t know…

Until he hears the clopping of hooves pulling a chariot. Were told the passenger inside is an Ethiopian Eunuch.

Talk about a person who was not like Philip. In the time of the early church, the term Ethiopian referred broadly to people with black skin. In other ancient near eastern literature, Ethiopian meant someone who was from the farthest ends of the earth.

Not to mention that this person's gender was quite questionable. As castrated males, eunuchs didn’t fit into the gender norms of the Roman world. They weren’t considered men because they couldn’t produce children. But they weren’t seen as women either. And because they didn’t fit neatly into the binary, they were often an object of scorn.

Yet this Eunuch is at the same time powerful. He’s literate and wealthy enough to have a chariot at his disposal and a scroll of Isaiah. Nonetheless, he could not be more different from Philip. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t care about differences. The Spirit tells Philip to go to the chariot. I imagine Philip running to catch up with the chariot. Breathing heavily and gripping the window, he yells his question at the passenger. What would you do if someone did that to you while driving on 52? My guess is you wouldn’t invite them in your car!

But what ensues here is an interaction marked by holy curiosity. Both ask questions and invite more conversation: Do you understand what you're reading, asks Philip? No, I need a guide, says the Eunuch. Neither pretends to know more than they do. Both are incredibly vulnerable considering what has just happened to each of them.

Philip just had a fellow disciple killed for preaching about Jesus and here he is telling a complete stranger all about him? And the Eunuch had just gone to Jerusalem for worship, but because he was a Eunuch he wasn’t allowed in the temple to worship. It would be like coming here, being denied entrance into the sanctuary, and watching worship from the welcome space.

You’d think after that kind of rejection, the Eunuch would be done with organized religion. Yet, he asks Philip to tell him about this passage in Isaiah.

The result is two of the unlikeliest of people, in an unlikely location, being joined together as siblings in Christ through the water of baptism. [Rejoicing and changed as they walk away from this encounter]

That’s exactly what the Holy Spirit does. As Willie James Jennings puts it: the Holy Spirit rarely if ever sends us where we want to go or to whom we would want to go. Indeed the Spirit seems to always be pressing us to go to those to whom we would in fact strongly prefer never to share space, or a meal, and definitely not life together. Yet it is precisely this prodding to be boundary-crossing and border-transgressing that marks the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Who is your tribe telling you to fear? Who are you afraid of because you’ve been told they are the source of your problems or the problems in the world? Whoever they are, they are likely people very different from you, as different as Philip from the Eunuch.

And yet, the gospel tells us that through the Holy Spirit, a relationship is possible; doing life together with empathy and understanding is possible, working together to further the kingdom of God is possible. So perhaps what we need most in this time of deep divide among tribes is a holy curiosity: asking questions that invite more conversation, not acting like we know more than we do, and a vulnerability to go to the person and places we never thought we would.

What would your life look like if you, if we practiced obedience to the Spirit’s leading? Where would you go? Whom would you meet and engage with? What would our life together as Cross of Grace look like if we did the same? Where would we be led? Who is waiting for us there?

Life in the Spirit means we do not fear those different from ourselves. We engage with holy curiosity. And we walk away rejoicing; changed. When we do this, no one loses, everyone wins.

Such is the kingdom of God.

Amen