Trans-formation of the Faithful. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring Eden United Church of Christ Hayward, California

Transcription

1 Trans-formation of the Faithful The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring Eden United Church of Christ Hayward, California Fifth Sunday of Easter Sunday, May 3, 2015 Acts 8:26-40 (NRSV) I don t know about you, but today s scripture reading is not one of those passages that we studied frequently in Sunday School when I was a child. It wasn t one of those passages like the Parable of the Seeds, the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son, or one of those excerpts from the life of Christ like the Christmas or Easter story that we learned backwards and forwards and had to act out in skits. No, I m pretty sure that we never studied the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch in Sunday School when I was a kid. This explains, in part, why when one of my seminary professors made reference to the story in class one day, I thought to myself, What is this guy talking about? I have never heard of this story. Is that in the Bible? Really? Where? Perhaps you had similar thoughts when you heard Dianne read the passage this morning. And regardless of any prior experience that you or I may have had with this text, we could easily miss the significance of it, because one needs to know quite a bit about the historical and cultural context in which this story is situated and the social location of the protagonist, in order to make much sense of it. So here goes. I m going to try to help us by providing some important background information about this passage. II According to Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, the angel of the Lord told Philip to leave Jerusalem and head to Gaza (the strip of land along the southwest coast of Israel) and to go to Gaza by way of the scenic route. The apostle did as the angel commanded. On the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip met an Ethiopian eunuch, who was part of the royal court. His job was to secure and manage the treasury for the queen mother. It seems that the eunuch had gone to Jerusalem on a faith pilgrimage and was now on his way home to Ethiopia in his chariot. 1 1 Acts 8:26-28

2 As Philip approached the chariot, he could hear the eunuch reading the scroll of Isaiah aloud in Greek. The angel further guided Philip to approach the chariot and ask the eunuch if he understood what he was reading. The eunuch replied, How can I understand, unless someone guides me? Then he invited Philip to join him for Bible study in the chariot, and explain the significance of Isaiah s text. 2 The passage of scripture that the eunuch was reading was from a part of the scroll of Isaiah that theologians commonly refer to as the Third Suffering Servant Song. The passage goes like 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. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth. 3 The eunuch, then turned to the apostle and asked, About whom, does the prophet Isaiah say this, about himself or about someone else? 4 Philip then explained that God s promises as first uttered by the prophet Isaiah were also a description of the suffering that the Messiah would undergo. But the Messiah would not only suffer himself, the Messiah would bring blessings to the marginalized, including the eunuchs, the captives, the poor, the sick, the lame, and the outcast, so that all who had been excluded would be free to fully participate in the social life and worship life of Israel. 5 Philip further explained that Jesus was the Messiah about whom Isaiah envisioned would fulfill the prophet s proclamation. As the two were riding down the road, they came upon some water. The eunuch asked Philip if he could be baptized. Philip said, yes. So the two went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, Luke explains, the Lord whisked Philip away. The eunuch never saw Philip again, but went on his way rejoicing. 6 The story then comes to a close with Luke explaining how Philip continued his missionary work, traveling up the Mediterranean coast from Azotus to Caesarea. 7 2 Acts: 8:29 3 The Ethiopian eunuch quotes Isaiah 53: Acts 8:34 5 Philip explains that the hope-filled inclusive message of Isaiah found in 56:4-5 is meant for him too. David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Theological Perspective on Acts 8:26-40, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p Acts 8: Acts 8:40 The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Trans-forming the Faithful, 5/3/2015, p. 2 of 5.

3 III The Acts of the Apostles from which today s story is taken is a brief history of the life of Jesus first followers who were inspired to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. Though the geographical spread of the gospel is significant in this book, geographical boundaries were not the only boundaries that were transformed for Christianity in the mid to late first century of the Common Era. Stories such as the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch also challenged and transformed the early Church s sense of national, economic, gender, and moral boundaries. An explanation of how that transformation occurred follows. In ancient times, it was customary in many cultures to castrate some young men and conscript them into a life of service for royalty. This was the case with the protagonist in today s story, who was charged with managing the queen mother s treasury. 8 Even though the eunuch was a servant in the royal household, well-educated and prosperous enough to own a scroll of Isaiah and to be able to read it in Greek, the unnamed eunuch in today s story (and others like him) were considered defective by Deuternomistic and Levitical standards, because they could not be fruitful and multiply. 9 So the Apostle Philip s message to the Ethiopian eunuch was good news and good pastoral ministry in the eyes of Jews and Christians, because Philip invoked the prophetic teachings of Isaiah which emphasized inclusivity, rather than reiterating the exclusive views that were grounded in Mosaic Law. 10 Philip s actions set a precedent in the early church for welcoming people whose identities were ambiguous, marginal, or outside the norms of convention from the dominant Jewish-Christian culture, and Jesus inner circle. Some additional examples, such as the Conversion of Peter and the Conversion of Cornelius, are described in Acts 10 and 11. Here we learn that some early apostles, like Peter, were not convinced that the gospel was intended to be shared beyond Judaism. This was so, because they initially saw Jesus as a reformer of Judaism, rather than as the founder of a new faith tradition. Peter s views were transformed by a vision that he received from the Holy Spirit, in which he was offered a banquet of unkosher food and was encouraged to eat it. Peter s vision was followed by an encounter that he had with a Gentile named Cornelius, an Italian centurion, and who sought inclusion in the Christian community. According to Luke, Peter was moved to welcome him Cornelius into the fold because of 8 David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2, Paul W. Walaskay, Exegetical Perspective on Acts 8:26-40, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2, Thomas G. Long, Pastoral Perspective on Acts 8:26-40) p David L. Bartlett & Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Common Lectionary, Year B, Vol. 2, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Theological Perspective on Acts 8:26-40, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) p The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Trans-forming the Faithful, 5/3/2015, p. 3 of 5.

4 his faithfulness, which was exemplified by his deep devotion to Christ and his generosity to the poor. So then we see that the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch a person whose religious identity was ambiguous and whose nationality was different from the first apostles and the Conversion of Peter and the Conversion of Cornelius, help us understand how the early apostle s sense of mission and inclusivity was transformed. IV Why does this story matter? you may ask. What difference does it make that an unnamed Ethiopian eunuch asked Philip to baptize him, and what difference does it make that Philip administered the sacrament? Well, frankly, it matters a lot. Had these transformations not occurred, the apostles faith may never have been transformed and these important social and ethical boundaries which were crossed might not have ever been traversed. And if these boundaries had never been crossed, we probably wouldn t be here today reading and reflecting on the stories of Jesus life and ministry or the mission of the apostles, much less read and hearing about them in English. Christianity would have very likely remained an obscure Jewish sect, and Christianity would very likely have died out by the second century. Instead of dying in obscurity, Christianity continued to be transformed into an international religion that crossed racial, cultural, economic, sexual, and gender boundaries. Philip s actions set a precedent in the early church for welcoming people whose identities were ambiguous, marginal, or outside the norms of convention compared with persons from the dominant culture. So then our United Church of Christ denomination s work on LGBT inclusion, for example, isn t such a new idea after all. It s grounded in an ancient biblical story about the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. This summer, July 1, 2015, our congregation will celebrate the 20 th anniversary of being an Open and Affirming Congregation. Our recognition as an ONA congregation (a gayfriendly and LGBT affirming congregation) was granted by the UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns back in This recognition followed a two-year study process that was led by a committee of our congregation that was chaired by Susan DuPree. One of the summer issues of Chimes will include a story about the ONA process that our congregation participated in, in the early 1990s, and the development of our ONA Statement, which was adopted by the congregation and recognized by the Coalition, and which is printed at the top of our worship bulletins every Sunday. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Trans-forming the Faithful, 5/3/2015, p. 4 of 5.

5 At the time that our congregation adopted our statement, the ONA program was so new to our denomination that most congregations weren t even thinking much about samesex marriage, and there weren t many resources available for learning about transgender identities, so our original statement did not include reference to these matters. Like other early ONA adopters, we have needed to explore these other matters step by step. In 2004, our church adopted an Open Door Marriage Policy for same-sex couples that mirrored the open-door marriage policy that had been in place for decades for opposite-sex couples. Now, as we approach our 20 th anniversary as an ONA Congregation, it seems fitting that we take another step, and not just take a vote, but more importantly, take time to do another piece of work around the meaning of being an ONA church, by making an effort to learn more about gender diversity and the spiritual journeys of transgender persons in our church and society. I realize that this type of effort is almost passé for some of us who have family members who are transgender or transsexual and who may have transitioned years ago, while others of us are puzzled and unsure about the use of terms and the definitions of even the most basic vocabulary words associated with transgender and transsexual person s experiences. For reliable basic information about transgender reality, particularly the theological and spiritual aspects of transgender persons of faith, we can go to the UCC Open and Affirming Coalition s website and read the UCC s General Synod Resolution Affirming the Participation and Ministry of Transgender People Within the United Church of Christ and Supporting Their Civil and Human Rights. We can also review the ecumenical study guide created by the Institute for Welcoming Resources called Trans-Action, which is a great resource for teen and adult study groups. In addition, we can watch the award-winning documentary film that was produced by the UCC called Call Me Malcolm. This film describes one person s spiritual transformation from being female to becoming male. V I realize that the thought of doing this type of work is old hat to some, and uncharted territory to others. Nevertheless, I trust that regardless of where we are on the gender continuum and the journey toward acceptance and affirmation of transgender people and gender justice work, I m confident that we have the capacity as individuals and as a congregation to learn, to stretch, and to grow in ways that are reminiscent of the old, old story of Jesus and his love, and that will give glory to God. Amen. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Trans-forming the Faithful, 5/3/2015, p. 5 of 5.