Paul and the Slave Girl: What about me?

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.   ~Albert Schweitzer

Sharing the sermon I preached on Sunday, May 8, 2016 which was the 7th Sunday of Easter.   Our resurrection practice for the week is Compassion and we viewed our last Resurrection video from The Work of The People, "This is not the end," which featured Dwight Peterson, PHD, a terminally ill theologian.

Theologian on hospice, Dwight Peterson says, “It’s a painful world … but no matter how painful it is, God is always with me.”  He says, “Christianity doesn’t ignore the pain of the world, it goes through it and provides hope beyond it.  This world is not the end.”    

God loved the world so much,

that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life!

“This world is not the end.”  This is Good News, isn’t it? 

In his book Velvet Elvis, Rob Bell says, “If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody.”  He goes on to say that, “It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display.”  

For me, the intersection of Dwight Peterson’s story and these radical acts of “compassion” that Rob Bell talks about and then moving into our scripture passage from Acts this morning … the commonality I find to connect the three of these is “pain.”

How many of us have not felt the searing pain of loss in our lives … loss of persons we love, loss of homes to natural disaster such and flooding or fire, loss of jobs and livelihood, loss of marriage due to divorce … etc.    During our healing process, questions emerge.  Why God Why?  Looking for reasons that we are suffering … we blame ourselves, we blame God, we blame others, it’s natural and normal and as Dwight Peterson says, “Part of being a Christian is giving our whole selves to God.”  In our pain we can experience the comfort of God for God is the one who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.2 Corinthians 1:4

Through our pain and our suffering, seeds of compassion are planted which take root in our soul and invite us to reach out in radical acts of hospitality and welcoming the unseen … the stranger, even the stranger within.   Our pain and suffering enable us over time to suffer “with” others as they suffer, which is the theological meaning of compassion.  It’s not feeling sorry for them, it’s not offering platitudes and empty promises.   It is the ability to see them, to really “see” them, to see their humanity, to see their suffering, and to be moved by it and to enter into it, this is the resurrection practice of compassion that results in radical acts of service to others … 

And with that I want to walk into a small portion of the scripture passage this morning … just 3 verses.  I’m reading from NET, the New English Translation:

^{Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.   She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”  She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once.}

Let’s look at the Arc of Story within which this passage rests … Here is a link to read Acts 16 on Biblegateway.  After you take the link, you can choose your version if you prefer a different take.  Here is a synopsis:

• Paul meets Lydia.  She and her household were saved and baptized
• Encounter with Slave girl, Paul calls spirit out of her
• Owners were angry, deceitfully had Paul and Silas stripped, beaten and arrested 
• As the jailer slept they sang hymns/jailer slept through an earthquake that set them free … 
• When he awoke and saw the cell doors open he knew he would be killed if they were gone so he was about to kill himself 
• Paul said, “don’t kill yourself, we are here.”  
• They went to his house, his whole family was saved and baptized.

Within this large arc in which Lydia and her household were saved and baptized at the beginning and the Jailer and his household were saved and baptized at the end, you have the small but powerful and painful story of a young slave-girl who wasn’t saved and wasn’t baptized.  Paul, who so carefully shared the good news with Lydia and the Jailer and their families, didn’t “see” this young slave girl.  He didn’t even speak to her; he spoke to the spirit within her in what felt like an off-handed afterthought based upon his annoyance, much like we would swat a fly.   

Her owners objectified her and treated her as a commodity, as less than a human being but did Paul treat her any better?    Paul was not moved to compassion for this suffering young girl.  

We may be tempted to conclude that as a result of the exorcism Paul performed, the slave girl is free.  But free for what?  

Subject to the absolute power of their owners, slaves were dispensable in a slave society and female slaves doubly so.   While we will never know what happened to this slave girl, I think it is safe to say that when her angry owners were finished with Paul and Silas, they returned to her.   

Why would they not?  She was their property and she was now useless for making money the way she was before.  I can only wonder at how she made money for them after she was stripped of the spirit that inhabited her.   

When I read these few verses and enter into the narrative, I can her the young slave girl crying out in her pain, “What about me?”

As I sit with her in the silence of my thoughts, I wonder, “Who are the nameless ones we don’t ‘see’ in our midst?”

When I first began listening to clients at the West Houston Assistance Ministry as their Tuesday Chaplain, I once spent an afternoon listening to a young woman.  She told a very confusing story that I didn’t understand.  We cried together and we prayed together but I felt our time was very unresolved.   Knowing today some of the things I didn’t know them, I believe she was a victim of human trafficking.  Did you know that Houston is a major hub for human trafficking, which is modern day slavery?   

Dwight Peterson says, “It’s a painful world … but no matter how painful it is, God is always with us.  Christianity doesn’t ignore the pain of the world, it goes through it and provides hope beyond it.”  How can we “be” hope?

Can we open up our hearts large enough to practice radical compassion, to follow the way of Jesus and “be” hope for our neighbors, expecting nothing in return?

Jesus the Healer: Moved with Compassion

Our human compassion binds us the one to the other - not in pity or patronizingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.  ~Nelson Mandela

Welcome dear friend, to a series on the healing stories of Jesus. The root of the word healing in New Testament Greek, sozo, is the same as that of salvation and wholeness.  (UM Book of Worship) 

I invite you to enter into a time of Lectio Divina, deep prayer with scripture, as we explore one of the healing stories of Jesus.  Gather your journal if you have one, your bible and something to write with or simply use your computer, I've provided everything you need.

The word compassion means "to suffer with."  Jesus was a man who suffered with many people along the path in his journey.  He was a man who noticed people, who listened to their cries for mercy, and who responded.  In our passage for this week, the men sitting on the side of the road cried out for mercy but Jesus asked the men specifically what they wanted from him.  When they told him they wanted their eyes to be opened, he cured them immediately of their blindness because he felt their suffering and in that moment he suffered with them.  They responded by following him along the way.   Sometimes in ministry, I find myself feeling sorry for people but that is not compassion because it moves my mind but not my heart.  I am sometimes able to disconnect myself from their suffering.  I find this happens mostly when I am too busy to truly pay attention, to truly notice, to listen not just to the stories but to the deepest need.  Our culture, and many of our politicians think we need to work longer hours, to be more productive, to give and give and give more of ourselves to our work.  But ... I think they are wrong.  I think we need to pause, to notice, to listen, and to respond to the suffering of those around us.  I want to follow Jesus, the man moved by compassion.  Do you want to follow Jesus?    

Take a moment to begin with a Breath Prayer.

Breathing in ... Healing Compassionate Jesus 

Breathing out ... Fill me with compassion for others

Repeat your breath prayer until you feel relaxed and centered

Pray for illumination of the text, use this one or pray what emerges from within you:   Healing Compassionate Jesus, I want to be moved by compassion for others as you were.  I want to be a compassionate and healing presence in the world as you were.  Open my eyes to the suffering of others and help me to suffer with them.  Help me to make a difference. Amen.

1.  Lectio/Read:   Matthew 20:29-34 (NET)

As you read, perhaps there is a word or phrase that will draw you to it.  Pay attention to the men sitting by the side of the road, and to Jesus.  Who in the story is God drawing your attention to, what word or phrase is calling you?  Simply sit with your person, your word or phrase and let yourself be moved with compassion as you read.

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed them. Two blind men were sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” The crowd scolded them to get them to be quiet. But they shouted even more loudly, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons, Folio from Walters manuscript W.592, Jesus heals two blind men.

 

2. Meditatio/Meditation 

Read the text a second time.  You may find that the same word has energy for you, but you may also find that another word has become more alive with meaning.  Pay attention to the energy this word has for you and consider how it illuminates your life right now.  Is there someone who needs your compassion right now?  If so, take your word or phrase and write freely for that person or situation, in your journal or on your computer.  Perhaps God will show you how you need to pray for that person or what you can do for them.  If that person is you, pay special attention to how God is speaking to your situation.  Don't think about what you are writing as you let God lead you deeper.

3. Oratio/Pray  

Read the text a third time.  Then read your own writing if you wrote anything.  Are there any connections you can make between what you read and the writing that flowed from your reading?  How do you respond to how God is calling you?   How does this passage call upon you to suffer with others?   What do you want to say to God about what you are hearing?  Take a moment to write again in your journal or on your computer as a prayer in response to what you have heard.  

4. Contemplatio/Contemplation  

Take a moment to pause.  Allow your breath prayer to emerge again.  You can use the same one from the beginning or perhaps a new one will emerge for you.  As you continue to pray, let the words fade away into silence. Spend time simply "be"ing with God. 

Breathing in ... Merciful Jesus, Compassionate Healer

Breathing out ... Immerse me with compassion as I suffer with others

Repeat your breath prayer until it fades into silence ... 

Allow your experience of praying with this healing story of Jesus to come to a close when you are ready to move on.  Let the Spirit lead you and guide you into the presence of God as you engage your life as a loving and healing presence to others. 

Close with a prayer to send yourself into the world, use this one or pray what emerges from within you:  Merciful Jesus, Compassionate Healer, lead me and guide me as I follow you.  Help me as I discern where I can suffer with others and reach out with your healing love and grace.  Amen.

The Bread of Life, Week 1

The next 5 weeks we focus on Jesus, who says to us, “I am the Bread of Life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”  (John 6:35)  

Let us begin to explore what that means for each one of us as we come to Christ … again and again, forever and ever ... with all of our hunger and all of our thirst ...

Over the next few weeks we find ourselves walking with the writer of the fourth and last biblical Gospel to be written.  We find hints of historical context as we read through the heightened conflict with Jewish religious officials that reflects a later time period that that of Jesus’ ministry.  John is a more theological (who is God?) writer than the other Gospel writers and could even be considered more Christological (who is Christ?) than theological.  We read the writing of one who has journeyed with Yahweh God for many years and one who seeks to draw us deeper into the mystical presence of God in Christ.  John uses a lot of metaphorical language to drive his writing.  We ask what Jesus means when he says, “I am the Bread of Life.”   And when we hear Jesus say these words, we cry out with the great crowds of people following Jesus, “Give us this Bread!”    

I invite you to spend a few moments to prepare your heart to receive the Word of God as you prayerfully consider the Scripture passage for today.   Breathe deeply and envision Jesus, the bread of life, listening to you, loving you right where you are and “feeding” your soul.  Settle into a sense of abundance within yourself with a simple breath prayer.  Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables) 

          Breathe in … Bread of Life (pause)

                               Breath out … feed my soul (pause)

and when you are ready to move deeper into the text ...  

Pray: Jesus, you are the bread of my life.  You satisfy my soul when I join you in serving and sharing with others.  Let me always rest in you.  Amen … Amen … Amen

Lectio Divina, or the sacred and prayerful reading of the text, is best practiced with 10 verses, give or take a verse or 2.  Although the Lectionary Reading this week encompasses John 6:1-21 and includes 2 stories which are deeply tied to one another, we will shorten the lection and pray with verses 1-15 as follows … Jesus feeds the five thousand.

Step 1: Lectio … Reading

Read John 6:1-15 silently to yourself twice, slowly and reverently.

Listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.  

Gently focus on that word or phrase.

Repeat it several times and allow it to be sifted through your heart and mind all the way to your soul.

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.  A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.’ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ‘There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?’ Jesus said, ‘Make the people sit down.’ Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’    When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Step 2: Meditatio … Receiving

Continue to focus on your word or phrase.

Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings it evokes.

What images emerge in your imagination?

What memories come to your mind?

Ask God to continue to speak to you through this word.

Listen for God’s reply as you move through your day

Step 3: Oratio … Responding

Consider any desires that have been awakened by your prayer.   

Perhaps you have found an area of your life that needs attention.   

Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers and desires

Step 4: Contempatio … Resting

Allow yourself to rest in the silence.  Allow your mind to settle into the silence.  
When you feel the time to move on ...

Pray … Bread of Life, feed my soul … Amen

Cindy’s Sermonic Meditation … I am really delighted to share this particular passage of Scripture with you for several reasons … First of all, it gives me an opportunity to share my ministry with you. You know, I love the United Methodist Church but it is an institution … which means its structure can be really confusing! In the United Methodist Church, there are 2 orders of ordained clergy. I am a Deacon, appointed primarily beyond the local congregation to develop a ministry of spiritual formation that connects the church and the world to one another. I am appointed only secondarily in a local congregation to assist in worship and other areas as I’m asked. An Elder and Deacon are both ordained to Word, preaching/teaching and living the Word of God and to Service, serving the needs of the others in whatever way we are gifted. Elders are further ordained to Order and Sacrament which means they are responsible to order and administrate the life of the Church which includes consecrating the communion elements for distribution in the body of Christ and baptizing persons to initiate their life in the Church Universal and the local congregation. A stole is a sign of the ordained. The Elder wears a stole around the neck … a symbol of being “yoked to God and the Church.” I wear my stole to the side … that is a symbol of the towel that Jesus wrapped around his body as he washed the feet of the disciples. I, as a Deacon, am further ordained to Compassion and Justice which means I am responsible to “suffer with” the people in the church universal AND in the world (compassion) and to “make things right” for the people in the church universal AND in the world (justice). I confess that I find the work of compassion much easier than the work of justice … and THAT is how I want to walk into the Scripture. The second reason I’m delighted to share this passage of Scripture is that I get to talk about compassion and justice.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus is engaged in a powerful “curing/healing” ministry of compassion and because of this, he is being followed by crowds of people. Of course, the crowds don’t really care who Jesus is, they just want Jesus to cure their illnesses and heal their lives. Perhaps they can see no further than their own physical needs and worldly desires. Living on the margins, perhaps they cannot even see their need for justice. They just want out!

At the same time, Jesus is also engaged in a powerful ministry of justice as he confronts unjust and inflexible interpretations of the Law. Because of this, he is followed and threatened by the religious people residing in power. So, on the other hand, the people in power want him to stop curing people because he is drawing power and glory away from them and their way of ordering people’s religious lives. At the same time, they were courting the Roman government in order to secure their power and Jesus was causing trouble for them. Perhaps they are looking no further than their own materialistic greed and their lust for power.

People haven’t changed much have they? I can find myself on either side of this dilemma on any given day. Because we are human beings, we suffer from the human condition and from living out certain circumstances. As a woman, I believe that I suffer from gender discrimination and at times in my life I have found myself residing on the margins of life. On the other hand, as a white person, I believe that I benefit from the power that comes with white privilege.

So, here we are, dropping in on Jesus after he has cured a man on the Sabbath, engaged in a confrontation with Jewish officials, traveled from Jerusalem across the Galilee Sea and gone up a mountain with the disciples for a little peace and quiet. And how long does that last? Not long! “A large crowd kept following [Jesus] because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick”. The crowd arrived, Jesus looked up and he saw the physical need of the people. With compassion, he turns to the disciples and gives them both a challenge and an opportunity. Jesus says, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ He challenges them with an impossible task!

Let’s stop here for a moment and have a time for pondering …

What are the real physical needs that people in your neighborhood have? What do you see? What causes your sense of compassion to rise up within you? So … how are you going to meet that need? Is that an impossible task? So … when the disciples are faced with an impossible task, what was their first reaction? They thought about the monetary cost … it will cost too much. And then … there was a lone disciple who recognizes the generous spirit of a little boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish. That boy probably offered all he had.

Jesus holds out his hands, takes the gift, gives thanks for it, and then gives and gives and gives until all are satisfied and still there are broken pieces and fragments. Jesus says ‘Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.’ And here is where things begin to shift for me in this passage ... and for the people too! “When the people saw the sign…” The Greek word semeion {say-mi'-on} which is translated “signs” can also be translated “miracles.” In John's Gospel, a “sign” is used to signify who Jesus is. In this miraculous feeding, the people see the sign and it signifies to them that Jesus is "the prophet who is to come into the world." And still, they want more. They want to make him king so that they can continue to be provided for. And what does Jesus do now? He disappears! For Jesus is not simply a prophet or even a king in the human realm. Jesus is “the Bread of Life.”

I hope you’ll come back next week when we study Jesus, the Bread of Life, in the context of the Sacrament of Holy Communion … until then, I invite you to ponder this question:

How is Jesus the Bread of your Life?

Sermon preached at Ashford UMC on Sunday, July 29, 2012