Easter 6C
May 22, 2022
Good Shepherd, Wells, MN
Acts 16.9-15
Tod Bolsinger’s book, Canoeing the Mountain, uses the Lewis and Clark expedition as a metaphor for the situation facing the church in this current time. Like Lewis and Clare, we are heading into uncharted territory. Lewis and Clark set off to find the Northwest Passage, a way to the Pacific Ocean. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, they were well-funded, had excellent equipment and experienced personnel. All went well in their journey until they hit the mountains. They had no map that would show them the way through the mountains and all they had done to get ready had not prepared them for what they encountered. Under the unlikely guidance of a young Native American woman, Sacagawea, they ended up “canoeing the mountains.”
We continue our journey with the explorers of the early church, this time Paul and Silas, in Acts 16. We remember that these early pioneers were trying to figure out what it means to be church following Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in a brand new age where there were no maps. They were making it up as they went along but they weren’t alone as they did it: the Holy Spirit guides them in all things. Last week we mentioned that there are three major movements in Acts: from Peter to Paul, from Jew to Gentile, and from Jerusalem to Rome. Last week, we read about the inaugural mission to the Gentiles as the early church includes Gentiles in its mission. Today we see the first and third moves as the emphasis shifts from Peter to the leadership of Paul and the mission expands toward Rome.
The Apostle Paul and Silas, along with others, have been traveling through Asia Minor, which is now Turkey, starting churches and strengthening others, until they run into a brick wall, the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading, the Holy Spirit provides both a stick and a carrot, or if you prefer, closes one door and opens another. Paul and Silas are prevented from staying in Asia Minor and instead invited through a vision into Macedonia. This is the first foray into unexplored territory from Asia Minor into Europe, widening the mission of the early church. When they find their way to Philippi, a major Roman city in Greece, they try to get their bearings in this new place.
Paul typically goes to a synagogue when he enters a new city, but there is none in Philippi, so he tries something new: he goes to the river. Now, the river is a place where people sometimes gather to pray so he takes a chance. There he not only finds people praying, but discovers that they are all women, both Jewish and Gentile. Notice that he doesn’t ask where the men are so he can preach to them. Rather, in a move that belies Paul’s later misogynistic writings, he shares the Good News of Jesus with the women and at least one Gentile, Lydia, is converted. She and her household are baptized and offer hospitality to the missionary team. Side note: my seminary professor of New Testament, Dr. Gerhard Krodel, believes this is how the gospel spread in the early church, through women who gathered at the river.
Two weeks ago, in her report to the SEMN Synod Assembly, Bishop Regina Hassanally shared how she had been struggling with whether to get her 12-year-old son a cell phone. Her husband was mostly onboard, but she was not so much. She said she was reluctant to do so because she didn’t need a cell phone when she was growing up and didn’t think he needed one. Furthermore, as a mother, she was concerned about what her son would see on the Internet. But while she was scrubbing a toilet (!) it occurred to her that her job as a mother was not to prepare her son for the world that was when she was young or the world she wanted it to be. Rather, it was her job to prepare her son for the world that is.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, like so many others in our own time, is on its own journey into uncharted territory. It is tempting to want to be church for a world that no longer exists or a world that we want it to be. When Good Shepherd was formed in 1963, it was far easier to be church than it is today. You built it and people came. Good Shepherd did that and they did. But, that’s no longer true and it hasn’t been for some time. The world is changing and you are faced with having no maps of what is coming. However, the good news is that you have gone this way into uncharted territory before. You merged two congregations, First Lutheran and Our Saviors before it was trendy to do so. And those predecessor churches entered new territory when they decided whether to speak English or not. I know there have been a variety of other “mountains” you have “canoed” along the way.
The even better news is that you don’t need to be afraid, as Jesus reminds you in John 14. You are to not let your hearts be troubled because you are accompanied and guided by the Holy Spirit in this monumental work. This is the same Holy Spirit that brought order out of the waters of creation and led Paul and Silas into Europe. This is an exciting time for Good Shepherd, even if a bit scary, to see where God is leading you. Be strengthened by your history, sisters and brothers, where you have seen God’s faithfulness as you move forward into God’s future. Look for those like Lydia who are ready to receive God’s word of grace, mercy, and hope. Amen.
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