Singing Your Freedom: Acts 16:16-34 - Seventh Sunday of Easter

¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” ¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
  ¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” ²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
  ²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God. (NRSV)

Wren singing by PapaPiper on Flickr. CC BY-ND 2.0.

I am a music-lover with a bad habit: If there’s good music playing, I’m more likely to pay attention to the music than to the people around me. I can’t help myself. The music grabs my attention, and the only way I can give you my attention is to escape the music.

This is probably why the first question I asked when studying today’s first lesson was, “I wonder what songs Paul and Silas sang in prison?”

Singing is the last thing you’d expect from Paul and Silas, considering the trouble they’re in. Their “crime”: casting out a spirit of divination from a slave girl whose fortune-telling generated a great deal of income for her owners. Livid that they can no longer exploit her for profit, her owners go before the authorities and accuse Paul and Silas of perverting the social order—which results in the apostles being stripped, beaten, scourged, and thrown in prison.

At this point, it would appear that all hope is lost. Paul and Silas didn’t know if their ministry was over—or if their lives were over. But they sang.

I can’t help but think of the African American spirituals sung by the slaves as they toiled in the cotton fields under the most inhumane conditions. “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen; nobody knows but Jesus…” Or, “There is a balm in Gilead, to heal the sin-sick soul.” Obviously, they didn’t sing these songs, because they didn’t exist yet.

It’s highly likely Paul and Silas would’ve sung Psalms: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall be in want.” “I lift my eyes up to the hills, from where does my help come from?” “Be still, and know that I am God.”

I wonder if their fellow prisoners were annoyed by their singing, and yelled at them to “shut up.” A Roman jail is no place for singing! But maybe, just maybe, they began to sing along.

When they sang, they were connected to God and each other. Jesus drew near to accompany them in their suffering and ease their pain. They were free in the Lord, even as their earthly chains remained.

The music is the Holy Spirit, so strong and so powerful that the prison crumbled in its presence. Then, to top that all off, Paul stops the jailer from committing suicide—and instead, he and his household are baptized.

So, what began in slavery and imprisonment leads to music and liberation.

I wish we knew what ultimately happened to this innocent, enslaved child. I’m disappointed that the narrative leaves her behind. We don’t know what happens to the jailer and his family after their baptism. Perhaps that’s not for us to know. God’s gift of freedom and liberation is not a once-and-done event. Every single day, you are enslaved. You are in bondage to something or someone. You need the Lord to set you free.

Do you ever stop and think how enslaved you really are?

Perhaps you don’t need to—because you’re bound to a violent and abusive person—like a parent, spouse, or boss. Or you’re suffering an illness or disability that’s got you bound to your home; bound to a walker or an oxygen tank.

Maybe you’re captive to drugs, alcohol, eating, gambling, shopping. Maybe you’re a chronic worrier; desperate to keep everything in your life under your control. Or you’re constantly checking social media, for fear of missing out on the cool things your friends are doing. You turn to the same things, over and over, believing that perpetual happiness is just around the corner.

One way to measure your captivity is by how often you say the word “busy.” Your aging parent or spouse is counting on you to take care of them. Your children need you to give them all you can so they can be successful in life. Everyone’s counting on you to get the job done. You’re in over your head with commitments and obligations but seemingly unable to say “no” to more.

Without God, your enslavement will devour your life and devour your soul. Worse yet, it will devour others as well—like the slave girl held captive by her owner’s heartless greed.

For as much attention as we pay to our individual freedom, do you ever stop and think that our communities, our institutions, our nation, and our church are enslaved as well? Are our values, ideals, and pursuits as righteous and pure as we believe them to be? Can your pursuit of personal freedom cost someone else theirs?

The good news in today’s passage is that God makes freedom where there is bondage; that souls can be free when earthly chains remain. God’s work is breaking those earthly chains that bind people in poverty, worthlessness, and fear. As Christ’s church, freedom is our business. When you come to church, you are entering your freedom in Christ. Worship happens. Voices ring out in song.

Your task is to claim it and proclaim it.

This begins by exercising your freedom to approach the throne of grace and beseech God for the freedom God longs to you:

I confess that I am in captive to _________________ and I cannot free myself. Forgive me. Heal me. Restore me. Bring me into life renewed, that I may sing out your praises to the world.

Also be in prayer for the people who long for freedom:

I confess that ____________________ is/are captive to ___________________ and cannot free themselves. Draw near to them. Show me how I can break their bonds and accompany them to freedom in you. Let all the earth rejoice in the salvation you bring.

Freedom can be a scary thing, when it means letting go of what you cling to for happiness, power, and control. You need to be released from anything and everything that is keeping God’s life and love from flourishing in you. It is Christ alone who makes you free. So claim it, proclaim it, and sing it!