One Pastor's Reponse to Amendment One...via Acts
I read a startling statement this
week: “The dominant religious tradition
in our society is to worship the family.” Interesting, isn’t it? TV
preachers exhort us to embrace ”traditional family values”- whatever
they are- and whose tradition are we talking about anyway? and
campaign to defend the family from perceived threats. Churches
market themselves as being “family friendly,” and see “family ministries”
as not only being a sure fire growth strategy but as integral to the nature
and purposes of the Church.
However, the emphasis on families and family life can be quite alienating
for some people. If perfect happy families- one mother, one dad, and
children- are the ideal image of the Christian life, not everybody is able
to measure up.For some, the experience of family life has been one of
oppression and fear, or even outright brutality. For others it has just
been awkward and disappointing. For still others, it has turned out to
be an impossible dream…And for countless others, the shape of their
family just doesn’t fit the "perfect" mold.
We are not told what had happened when he got there,
But we are given enough detail to know that he would not have
been made welcome. We are told that he was from Ethiopia, he was
an African; therefore, a gentile, And there were ethnic barriers to
full participation in the worship that took place in the Jerusalem
Temple. Gentiles could only go into the outer court, so this man
could come only so close to the center of the religious action.
Mosaic law barred him from coming any closer.
But he was not only an African. This man was a eunuch; that is, his
genitalia had been completely removed, probably as a child in slavery.
This was a common practice in that day and time and, actually,
eunuchs were often the preferred candidates for various positions
of political authority, precisely because of their inability to father
a family. They were especially favored as the high officials of
female monarchs and this man we meet was a high official in
the court of Queen Candace of Ethiopia.
However, although being a eunuch may have had some political
advantages in Ethiopia, it certainly had no social or religious
advantages in Jerusalem, where producing offspring was an essential
part of Jewish culture and religion. A eunuch, being unable to father
children, was both pitied and despised, as well as being regarded
with deep suspicion for his abnormal sexuality. His social
acceptability had literally been “cut off”. And when it came to
religious participation, he was legally “cut off”.
The law of Moses in Deuteronomy was quite explicit on this: “No one
whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted
to the assembly of the LORD”
(Sorry for the explicit language, but it IS there in scripture…)
So, although he believed in Yahweh and loved the Hebrew
Scriptures, though he clearly desired to be part of the great
company of God’s people, he could not. The Scribal law had
effectively constructed a huge wall in front of people like him,
with a sign on the gate which said “Keep out, God does
not want you”…kind of like the placards carried by the
followers of a certain Kansas pastor some years ago
proclaiming, “GOD HATES GAYS”.
So what was he doing making a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem?
Wouldn’t he know that he would be refused entry? Well, probably. But
he would also be, in all likelihood, a man with a pretty strong desire
to find a place of belonging, a place of acceptance, a place where
he was not cut off on racial and sexual grounds. And perhaps he
had found reason to think that the God of Israel might accept him.
When we meet him, as Philip draws alongside his chariot, the Ethiopian
is reading the writings of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. And starting with
those words Philip explains the good news of God’s love and
acceptance made known in Jesus the Messiah, himself often an
outsider, an outcast among his own people. Can you imagine the
eunuch’s joy when Phillip shares this new interpretation of the
Jewish faith with him? Beginning with the Isaiah’s account of a
suffering servant, Phillip spoke of a God who vindicated the
servant’s just cause by raising him from the dead so that his
name and his cause, would live forever. In the preaching of
Phillip, the man hears about a different God, a God who
loves and welcomes everyone who believes, no matter
what their ethnic or religious heritage (or race or
sexual orientation or, indeed, the state of their
genitalia!)
circumcision, but through faith in Jesus and the rite of
baptism, in which we relinquish our future into the hands
of Christ, and are raised with new God-centered life...
And in the background of the story, Luke, the
theological innovator, is telling his hearers that
because God loves those outside the circle, so
should they. And so should we.
It is telling how the Ethiopian asks the question, isn’t it? “Is there
anything to prevent me?” He is so used to hearing the promises and
then being cut off from access to them, that it is as though he can’t
quite believe that the same thing isn’t about to happen again.
That’s what happens to outsiders, to those who are seen as
“less than” over time…discouragement…hopelessness…the
certain expectation of being excluded. But it doesn’t.
This time he is welcomed into the family of God's people.
This time he is not refused the rite by which a person
is adopted into the family…without restriction…
unconditionally...
And that is crucial to the point Luke is making- that those who are racially
or sexually or socio-economically different from us are not offered an
acceptance that is in any way conditional on their willingness to
behave like us. They are welcomed and accepted- PERIOD.
This new family is not founded on conformity to the established
family values, but on the new value of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
And for those of us who have been loyal followers of the
established family values, those who hav not found them-
selves on the wrong side of the racial or sexual or
behavioral norms, that is a challenge.
You see, we are being called, in no uncertain terms, to make sure we
don’t turn the new family of God into a mirror of the old exclusive
families of favored bloodlines and clear boundaries and exclusive
inheritance rights. However, like so many things in life, this is
easier said than done. If we have grown up with a particular
way of living life, of thinking about the meaning of our lives,
it can be very threatening to be exposed to other ways of
life, to other ways of thinking...to other ways of living
and being. We feel safeest among those who know us
and understand not only our language, but also our
basic assumptions about what is important and
acceptable and what is not…people like us.
And this means that when we find ourselves encountering people who
look and speak differently than we do, who clearly have quite another
set of values or another lifestyle, we become uncomfortable, or even
afraid. Why? Perhaps because the existence and perseverance of
these ‘other’ ways, these ‘other’ people, implicitly calls into
question our own ways, our own assumptions about life…
and as a consequence, our own foundations may feel less
steady.
Admittedly, asking people to open and welcome and accept those very
different from themselves is like asking them to break out of a cocoon,
or to leave the safety of their mother’s womb. Change, letting go of
what has been, is HARD, after all. Yet . . . this is precisely what
God calls us to do. God says “If you really know me, if you
really have my love down deep inside of you, then you'd
want these 'others' to share in that love. And you'd be
willing to open yourselves to the rich ways in which my
life is manifested in their strange and beautiful ways...”
not just accepting and welcoming but celebrating
the incredible uniqueness- and connectedness-
manifested among the children of God…
recognizing that there is not an “us” and “them”
but only a “we”.
This loving, caring, accepting God sends us out beyond the circle to
bear the fruit of love and justice in a world which has ceased to
believe that these are possible. And we can do this because we
carry the love of God with us, and the lovee of God is powerful.
It is the power of the resurrection, which is stronger even
than death.
And for those who come to this story from the other side, the “out side”,
cut off by dysfunctional families or broken marriages or homosexuality,
by disability or lack of opportunity or any other reason, this promise
resonates with even more hope, as with the Ethiopian eunuch,
and brings the realization that there is nothing separating
them/us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
totality of who they are, finding within ourselves the
desire and the energy and the love to go out from
our comfort-zones into more difficult territory.
And for those of us already living “outside” the usual, acceptable
societal boundaries, that promise of God means that we are connected…
abiding in…fully accepted by…the One who Loves without limits.
And today…every day…THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS!!!
Thanks be to God!!!! Amen
in our society is to worship the family.” Interesting, isn’t it? TV
preachers exhort us to embrace ”traditional family values”- whatever
they are- and whose tradition are we talking about anyway? and
campaign to defend the family from perceived threats. Churches
market themselves as being “family friendly,” and see “family ministries”
as not only being a sure fire growth strategy but as integral to the nature
and purposes of the Church.
However, the emphasis on families and family life can be quite alienating
for some people. If perfect happy families- one mother, one dad, and
children- are the ideal image of the Christian life, not everybody is able
to measure up.For some, the experience of family life has been one of
oppression and fear, or even outright brutality. For others it has just
been awkward and disappointing. For still others, it has turned out to
be an impossible dream…And for countless others, the shape of their
family just doesn’t fit the "perfect" mold.
In the story from Acts 8 we
encounter just such a person; someone
who was finding himself on the outside of the family-focused Jewish
religion. We are told he was a high ranking public official, a man of
considerable political accomplishment, a high official in the court
of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, and probably quite wealthy as a
result. But he was also a man with a hunger to find his place in
the life of God, and he had travelled a long way to make a
pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple to worship God.
who was finding himself on the outside of the family-focused Jewish
religion. We are told he was a high ranking public official, a man of
considerable political accomplishment, a high official in the court
of Queen Candace of Ethiopia, and probably quite wealthy as a
result. But he was also a man with a hunger to find his place in
the life of God, and he had travelled a long way to make a
pilgrimage to the Jerusalem Temple to worship God.
We are not told what had happened when he got there,
But we are given enough detail to know that he would not have
been made welcome. We are told that he was from Ethiopia, he was
an African; therefore, a gentile, And there were ethnic barriers to
full participation in the worship that took place in the Jerusalem
Temple. Gentiles could only go into the outer court, so this man
could come only so close to the center of the religious action.
Mosaic law barred him from coming any closer.
But he was not only an African. This man was a eunuch; that is, his
genitalia had been completely removed, probably as a child in slavery.
This was a common practice in that day and time and, actually,
eunuchs were often the preferred candidates for various positions
of political authority, precisely because of their inability to father
a family. They were especially favored as the high officials of
female monarchs and this man we meet was a high official in
the court of Queen Candace of Ethiopia.
However, although being a eunuch may have had some political
advantages in Ethiopia, it certainly had no social or religious
advantages in Jerusalem, where producing offspring was an essential
part of Jewish culture and religion. A eunuch, being unable to father
children, was both pitied and despised, as well as being regarded
with deep suspicion for his abnormal sexuality. His social
acceptability had literally been “cut off”. And when it came to
religious participation, he was legally “cut off”.
The law of Moses in Deuteronomy was quite explicit on this: “No one
whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted
to the assembly of the LORD”
(Sorry for the explicit language, but it IS there in scripture…)
So, although he believed in Yahweh and loved the Hebrew
Scriptures, though he clearly desired to be part of the great
company of God’s people, he could not. The Scribal law had
effectively constructed a huge wall in front of people like him,
with a sign on the gate which said “Keep out, God does
not want you”…kind of like the placards carried by the
followers of a certain Kansas pastor some years ago
proclaiming, “GOD HATES GAYS”.
So what was he doing making a religious pilgrimage to Jerusalem?
Wouldn’t he know that he would be refused entry? Well, probably. But
he would also be, in all likelihood, a man with a pretty strong desire
to find a place of belonging, a place of acceptance, a place where
he was not cut off on racial and sexual grounds. And perhaps he
had found reason to think that the God of Israel might accept him.
When we meet him, as Philip draws alongside his chariot, the Ethiopian
is reading the writings of the Hebrew prophet Isaiah. And starting with
those words Philip explains the good news of God’s love and
acceptance made known in Jesus the Messiah, himself often an
outsider, an outcast among his own people. Can you imagine the
eunuch’s joy when Phillip shares this new interpretation of the
Jewish faith with him? Beginning with the Isaiah’s account of a
suffering servant, Phillip spoke of a God who vindicated the
servant’s just cause by raising him from the dead so that his
name and his cause, would live forever. In the preaching of
Phillip, the man hears about a different God, a God who
loves and welcomes everyone who believes, no matter
what their ethnic or religious heritage (or race or
sexual orientation or, indeed, the state of their
genitalia!)
The story is remarkably brief here.
We are told that Philip explains the
good news, and then immediately we are told that the African eunuch
spots a waterhole by the side of the road and asks if there is
anything to prevent him being baptized right now. And there
wasn’t…so they stop the chariot and Philip baptizes him on the
spot, the eunuch becoming part of God's people, not throughgood news, and then immediately we are told that the African eunuch
spots a waterhole by the side of the road and asks if there is
anything to prevent him being baptized right now. And there
wasn’t…so they stop the chariot and Philip baptizes him on the
circumcision, but through faith in Jesus and the rite of
baptism, in which we relinquish our future into the hands
of Christ, and are raised with new God-centered life...
And in the background of the story, Luke, the
theological innovator, is telling his hearers that
because God loves those outside the circle, so
should they. And so should we.
It is telling how the Ethiopian asks the question, isn’t it? “Is there
anything to prevent me?” He is so used to hearing the promises and
then being cut off from access to them, that it is as though he can’t
quite believe that the same thing isn’t about to happen again.
That’s what happens to outsiders, to those who are seen as
“less than” over time…discouragement…hopelessness…the
certain expectation of being excluded. But it doesn’t.
This time he is welcomed into the family of God's people.
This time he is not refused the rite by which a person
is adopted into the family…without restriction…
unconditionally...
And that is crucial to the point Luke is making- that those who are racially
or sexually or socio-economically different from us are not offered an
acceptance that is in any way conditional on their willingness to
behave like us. They are welcomed and accepted- PERIOD.
This new family is not founded on conformity to the established
family values, but on the new value of UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
And for those of us who have been loyal followers of the
established family values, those who hav not found them-
selves on the wrong side of the racial or sexual or
behavioral norms, that is a challenge.
You see, we are being called, in no uncertain terms, to make sure we
don’t turn the new family of God into a mirror of the old exclusive
families of favored bloodlines and clear boundaries and exclusive
inheritance rights. However, like so many things in life, this is
easier said than done. If we have grown up with a particular
way of living life, of thinking about the meaning of our lives,
it can be very threatening to be exposed to other ways of
life, to other ways of thinking...to other ways of living
and being. We feel safeest among those who know us
and understand not only our language, but also our
basic assumptions about what is important and
acceptable and what is not…people like us.
And this means that when we find ourselves encountering people who
look and speak differently than we do, who clearly have quite another
set of values or another lifestyle, we become uncomfortable, or even
afraid. Why? Perhaps because the existence and perseverance of
these ‘other’ ways, these ‘other’ people, implicitly calls into
question our own ways, our own assumptions about life…
and as a consequence, our own foundations may feel less
steady.
Admittedly, asking people to open and welcome and accept those very
different from themselves is like asking them to break out of a cocoon,
or to leave the safety of their mother’s womb. Change, letting go of
what has been, is HARD, after all. Yet . . . this is precisely what
God calls us to do. God says “If you really know me, if you
really have my love down deep inside of you, then you'd
want these 'others' to share in that love. And you'd be
willing to open yourselves to the rich ways in which my
life is manifested in their strange and beautiful ways...”
not just accepting and welcoming but celebrating
the incredible uniqueness- and connectedness-
manifested among the children of God…
recognizing that there is not an “us” and “them”
but only a “we”.
This loving, caring, accepting God sends us out beyond the circle to
bear the fruit of love and justice in a world which has ceased to
believe that these are possible. And we can do this because we
carry the love of God with us, and the lovee of God is powerful.
It is the power of the resurrection, which is stronger even
than death.
And for those who come to this story from the other side, the “out side”,
cut off by dysfunctional families or broken marriages or homosexuality,
by disability or lack of opportunity or any other reason, this promise
resonates with even more hope, as with the Ethiopian eunuch,
and brings the realization that there is nothing separating
them/us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
So together let us examine our
lives. How much do we trust in the
abiding love of God- a love which promises to hold us in life, even in
the midst of alien territory? While it is absolutely true that God ask
us to do an impossible thing, God seems not to be as troubled
as we are by impossibilities. You see, God has promised that if
we stay connected, then we will be given the power we need
to do that impossible thing…to not only welcome and accept
the outsider, the OTHER, but to celebrate them in the abiding love of God- a love which promises to hold us in life, even in
the midst of alien territory? While it is absolutely true that God ask
us to do an impossible thing, God seems not to be as troubled
as we are by impossibilities. You see, God has promised that if
we stay connected, then we will be given the power we need
to do that impossible thing…to not only welcome and accept
totality of who they are, finding within ourselves the
desire and the energy and the love to go out from
our comfort-zones into more difficult territory.
And for those of us already living “outside” the usual, acceptable
societal boundaries, that promise of God means that we are connected…
abiding in…fully accepted by…the One who Loves without limits.
And today…every day…THAT IS THE GOOD NEWS!!!
Thanks be to God!!!! Amen
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