Daily Devotion – April 28, 2021 – Pastor Brian Hansen

Acts 8:26-40 

26Then 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.) 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32Now 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. 33In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” 34The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36As 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?” 38He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39When 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. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 

This story from the books of Acts is a story about those who are on the outside.  This is a story for those who have heard over and over again that they are not acceptable to God because of who they are. It’s a story of who’s inside and who’s outside, who God loves and who God doesn’t.

I have to admit that I have been fortunate enough over my life time to never have experienced what so many have experienced in relation to Church.  Church has always been a place where I’ve felt accepted, wanted and welcome.  However, I know those for whom the Church has been the very opposite.  Unfortunately for far to many, Church has been a place where they have experienced rejection, condemnation and exclusion.

This story from Acts touches on the reality of that estrangement.  In this story we hear that Philip (a leader in the Church at Jerusalem) is sent by God to the south and he encounters a person from a different land who’s cultural and sexual identity excluded him from entering the temple.  This man the text tells us, had gone to Jerusalem to worship God but based upon the religious practices in place in this system of faith we might perhaps assume that he was likely turned away.  When Philip meets this man, he is reading a scroll from the prophet Isaiah and attempting to make sense of it.  Philip crosses a boundary and enters his chariot and begins interpreting the scroll for him and then another boundary get broken as Philip baptizes him in a river along the way.

In a world that has many boundaries we see this reading from the life of the early Church begin the process of tearing down walls and opening the doors of inclusion to those on the outside.  The doors of God’s welcoming presence are opened to those who have experienced rejection, ostriziation and predjuce.  As we see in this reading and the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, God is at work in our world breaking down the walls of division.  What’s even more important for us to hear and to see is that God is calling and sending those who are already on the inside to do the work of extending welcome to all who have been told they are outsiders.

Philip and each of us are invited to receive this commissioning as bearers of hospitality and inclusion to all who have been and continue to be excluded from communities of faith in Christ.

Let us pray:  Gracious God who breaks down the walls of separation and prejudice, lead us by your Holy Spirit to extend hospitality and welcome to those who have experienced hurt and pain as a result of our compilciteness in systems that exclude others.  Guide us to seek forgiveness from those we have harmed and lead us to be changed by your open arms of inclusion for we ask in Jesus name.  AMEN