FAITH in ACTS-ion: The World Turned Upside Down
Acts 16.16-34
Rev. Dr. Charles H. Berthoud
Covenant Presbyterian Church, Madison WI
7th Sunday of Easter, May 12, 2013
Today we have another story from the book of Acts:
the account of Paul and Silas in jail.
It’s actually one of the lectionary readings for today, the 7th Sunday of Easter.
Just prior to this story we learn about Lydia,
the dealer of purple cloth, who hears the gospel
Acts 16 is a parable form of Galatians 3.28
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female
We are understandably concerned about the fate of the slave girl
the account tells us little
The focus is on Paul and Silas, who end up in jail
In the second half of the story, there is a dramatic rescue
Jailer feels he has failed at his job and is ready to take his own life
He asks “what must I do to be saved?”
Might mean in a religious sense
Might mean a physical sense
After Paul’s wounds are washed by the jailer,
the jailer is washed with the waters of baptism.
Paul invites him into a new way of believing, and a new way of living
Listen for God's word....
Let us pray….
Have you ever been to prison?
I spent two years of my life at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg,
Pennsylvania. Bucknell, a fine university, is one of two major institutions in
town. The other is the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.
Set in the rolling hills of central Pennsylvania farmland, it’s a beautiful
place--on the outside. On the inside, this high security facility houses hardened
C. Berthoud, CPC
5/12/13, page 2
and dangerous criminals, including some Al-Qaeda supporters and at various
times people such as Jimmy Hoffa, John Gotti, Alger Hiss, and Bayard Rustin.
During my time at Bucknell, I was involved in prison ministry groups and
we offered chapel services with a select group of inmates. I remember
wondering about what those men had done prior to prison, and about what life
was like for them in prison.
Over the years as a pastor, I’ve visited several church people in various
jails and prisons and juvenile detention facilities. Even from good and
respectable church families. After many visits and conversations with people in
prison or out of prison, I still can only imagine what it would be like to be
locked up.
According to Sojourners Community, in 2010, there were about 1.6
million people incarcerated in the USA, by some standards the highest rate in
the world. The issues of criminal justice are complex—too complex for easy
answers or for a sermon on Mother’s Day!—but we as people of faith can’t
ignore issues of injustice, corruption, funding priorities, and public safety.
And we can’t ignore the reality of human lives: both the criminals and
their victims. It was Jesus himself who told an inspiring story about having
compassion on a victim of crime who was beaten and left in a ditch on the road
to Jericho, and Jesus himself who urged compassion for prisoners, saying, “I was
in prison and you visited me.”
While there certainly are hardened criminals who by no means get
rehabilitated in prison, time spent locked away can be a source of clarity and
inspiration for some.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote letters from prison, inspiring others in the
German resistance. His courageous defiance of Hitler, his clarity about who is
God, and his classic work, The Cost of Discipleship, teaches us about the danger
of cheap grace, and about living the Christian life with meaning, purpose, and
conviction.
Another person who was inspired in prison is Martin Luther King Jr.
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Fifty year ago last month, MLK wrote his famous letter from the
Birmingham jail, challenging white moderates, calling for racial justice, and
recognizing that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Both King and Bonhoeffer give us examples of people in prison who find
clarity and conviction in their imprisonment.
Although I’ve found plenty of good and respectable church families with
some connection to a convict or a crime, most of us have not been incarcerated,.
We treasure our freedom here in the USA, as we should. And yet within our
freedom, we can get constrained.
Methodist pastor Will Willimon writes:
We Americans have built a society which has given an unprecented measure of
freedom to its citizens. I am given maximum space to aggressively pursue what I
want—as long as I do not bump into you while you are getting yours. SWhat we call
culture is a vast super market of desire where citizens are treated as little more than
self-interested consumers. I have freedom of choice, but now what do I do with my
freedom? We are free but also terribly lonely, terribly driven. The nine-to-five job,
monthly mortgage payments, over-programmed children, dog-eat-dog conrtests for
grades at the university—this is our freedom. (Acts: Interpretation, by Will Willimon,
p. 136)
It may not be as bad as being in prison, but too many of us feel some sort
of constraint in our jobs, our finances, our relationships, our health situation,
our perspective on the future. Too many of us our trapped by circumstances
beyond our control, and too many of us are struggling with addictions over
which we have some control.
I think we can learn something from Paul and his companion Silas about
dealing with such challenges.
Remember, Paul is the one whose life changed dramatically after his
encounter with Jesus. And Paul was a leader in “the Way”….the movement of
early Christians who were “turning the world upside down” according to Acts
17. So maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Paul had an unusual reaction to
prison, turning the experience of despair “upside down.”
C. Berthoud, CPC
5/12/13, page 4
Instead of whining, instead of getting bitter and negative because things
aren’t perfect, instead of giving up, instead of falling into hopelessness and
despair…. Paul and Silas do three things. They sing, they pray, and they stick
together. And in doing these three things, they are more concerned about the
well-being of others than themselves.
Their faith is strong enough to see past the challenge of the present, into a
new future. They are strong enough in their faith that they care for other
people. They have learned the good news of the gospel, the news that God loves
us no matter what, and that God is with us, even in the valley of the shadow of
death.
So I look out at us on Sunday morning, we look good, especially today on
Mother's Day. But there are some people here today, perhaps many people, who
are trapped, broken, and hurting, people who are grieving and carrying heavy
burdens….
So we need to pray for each other, we need to sing for each other, and we
need to stick together, as we live into this vision of a world turned upside down,
with forgiveness, with grace, with hope, with love, and with second chances.
Sometimes I talk to people and they say things like “I don’t need to go to
church to experience God.” And that’s true…. But we do need church for a place
of encouragement, support, and accountability. You're not just here to feed your
soul and to recharge your personal spiritual batteries. You're also here to
worship God, to experience God, AND you're here to encourage others, by your
presence, your prayers, and even your singing. You might not think you’re
singing makes a difference but it does….
So we sing together, we pray together, and we stick together on the
journey ahead. Thanks be to God. Amen.