Being All There: Acts 8:26-39 - Fourth Sunday of Easter

In preparation for our mission trip, each of us was asked to complete a skills survey. Many of the skills were highly specific: chainsaw operator, cabinetry, window installer, electrician, plumbing, roofing, foundation work, HVAC, bricklaying and masonry, skid steer operator, backhoe operator, welding…

Unfortunately, they don’t teach these skills in seminary. The only skills I have are lawn maintenance, basic woodworking, along with two hands and two feet.

Even though we had some extremely talented volunteers in our group, the scale of destruction was overwhelming. Nevertheless, the most important thing we brought to the disaster zone, even more important than our skills and our tools, was ourselves. 

A painting on the wall of the gathering room at the camp where we stayed said it best: “Wherever you are, be all there.” Show up, be present, and God will handle the rest.

When you are attentive to your relationship with God, when you are committed to doing God’s work, God is going to take you places and use you to make an impact on people.

Consider today’s first reading from Acts: the apostle Philip was told by an angel to go southward on the wilderness road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. There, he encountered an Ethiopian, in charge of the queen’s treasury, who was on his way home after worshiping God in Jerusalem.

It may strike you as odd that an Ethiopian worshiped the God of Israel. And yet, Judaism’s roots run deep in this region of Africa. Ethiopians are said to descend from the lost tribe of Dan, one of the twelve sons of Israel. Amharic, the language of the Ethiopian language, is a Semitic language. To this day, there are vibrant communities of Jews and Christians living in modern-day Ethiopia and the surrounding regions.

The Spirit drew Philip to the Ethiopian’s chariot, and there he found him reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked if he understood what he was reading, and the Ethiopian said, “no.” Philip then explained that the words of Isaiah spoke about Jesus. In those few moments, everything that didn’t make sense to the Ethiopian suddenly made sense. Philip’s presence there with him became a revelation of Jesus Christ; one so powerful that he begged Philip to baptize him.

Normally, baptisms weren’t private affairs to be carried out in the spur of the moment, any more than they are today. But none of that mattered. Indeed, there was nothing that was to prevent the Ethiopian from being baptized.

The Bible doesn’t say, but I wonder if Philip’s baptism of the Ethiopian could be considered the birth of Christianity in Africa. His baptism is made all the more significant by the fact that there are more Christians in Africa and the global south than in North America and Europe!

When Elizabeth and I were in seminary, we had many classmates who were from Ethiopia, who came to this country as missionaries to Ethiopian Lutherans who emigrated to this country.

The Kingdom of God took hold in the Southern Hemisphere because one ordinary man was present with the Ethiopian and did what was in his power to do. It’s incredibly humbling to think that the Christian faith is flourishing in parts of the world where poverty and persecution run rampant, while at the same time, it is fading in parts of the world where there is wealth, security, and religious freedom. The world as we know it is being changed because one child of God showed up to another.

On the mission trip, we learned that the most important thing we could do, more important than the work itself, was showing up.

Amanda, Clint, Jamie, Jerrilynn and I went to the home of two grandparents who received a $1,900 backyard playset from the charity Samaritan’s Purse. But it sat in the box for three months because no one was available to build it, until we came. Unfortunately, shortly after we got started, we found that one-third of the supplies were missing. Thankfully, a local charity covered the costs for the missing boards and hardware.

After three trips to the lumber yard and four days spent cutting, sanding, and fitting the missing planks, we got the job done.

The other three teams also worked hard and did a fantastic job hanging drywall, insulation, clearing debris, painting, and roofing.

But the value of the work pales to the value of the relationships. The courage, the resilience, the selflessness, and the faith of the survivors will inspire me forever.

God uses people to heal. Money helps. Donations help. Work helps. But to accompany someone, be it for a week, a day, or a few moments, is what matters most. Resurrection isn’t a construction project. Resurrection is a function of relationships. God is there in the people who care.

One of the best things we did was to have those blue T-shirts made, because people noticed us. When we told them who we were, where we were from, and why we were there, they thanked us profusely. But we didn’t go there for recognition. We went to bear witness to an important truth: God is here.

It’s vital that you practice a disciplined faith and keep yourself grounded in your relationship with God, especially in these times when you are bombarded with distractions, temptations, and anxieties. But it is equally important that you are willing to be sent. The seeds of faith and resurrection are planted and watered here in church, but they bear fruit out there. You will not grow, and the Church will not grow, unless you are willing to go.

It’s not a question of “if” God will send you. It’s only a question of where and when and your willingness to go. Don’t be shy about sharing the love of Jesus Christ, and the resurrection life that lives within you. Wherever you find yourself, and whoever you find yourself with, be all there. Show up. Be present. And God will take care of the rest.

 

Acts 8:26-39 (NRSVue)

²⁶ Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹ He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³² Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
    and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
        so he does not open his mouth.
³³ In his humiliation justice was denied him.
    Who can describe his generation?
        For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶ As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” ³⁸ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.