Oh no! Now Paul has had a vision! (Remember last week when Peter had a vision—and everything changes?) What an energetic and open group of people that must have been accompanying Paul, the way Acts 16 is narrated — “When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.”
And so they set sail from Troas, to Samothrace, to Neapolis and from there to Philippi. That’s their missionary journey. How’s yours looking this week? You know you’re all Christ’s missionaries, right?!
From where will you set sail this week, and where will your visions lead you this coming days, weeks, months? How would you record your missionary journeys? God’s calling some of us downtown, across the river or the tracks, maybe over borders, and maybe over to visit a friend’s house (or maybe someone who’s definitely not your favorite person) to offer comfort and support…
“During the night, ____ had a vision: there stood a man on the corner of Braddock and Backlick, pleading with her and saying, come over to the city and help us. And when she had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over into downtown, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to the people there. We set sail from Bethlehem’s parking lot, and took a straight course to the steps of the U.S. Senate building, which is the leading city in the district. The following day we went to visit an aging friend who was lonely and from there we continued on…” Something like that?
Sound crazy, all this talk of visions? A little irrational? Maybe so. One of the saints of the last congregation I served: Betty C.. Easter finest, we had brass instruments that that Sunday, and everything was intended to be glorious, to blow the roof off. That’s when I first changed the seats to be in the round a way of surprising, shocking everyone. It was a shock, I thought, and great symbolism in the Christian community gathering in a circle, equidistant from one another, looking at each other…
Betty, as she appeared to me after the service was unimpressed and un-phased really by any of the shock and awe of Easter fabulous-ness. She just says to me quietly after the service, pointing over to this overgrown plot of land, “Pastor, I had a vision: Why don’t we have a garden over there and grow food for hungry people?”
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Before long, we had “set sail” from a clump of dirt and weeds, took a straight course to organizing, and in several months we had crossed over to 12 small plots where fruits and vegetables and herbs grew, 6 fruit trees, 8 families, a girl scout troupe, a preschool class, our Sunday School class, and members of our community, not even affiliated with our worship on Sunday (gasp!) all planting and growing food out in that deserted spot that Betty had re-imagined. We set sail from a clump of dirt and weeds, and now there’s a garden, a community garden...
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Our reading from Revelation this morning says “the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Imagine the healing of the nations, friends in Christ. It’s gotta start with a vision, with imagination. If you could paint or draw or write a song about or act that that out—the healing of the nations—how would you do that? For some, maybe they see the healing of the nations—in their Holy-Spirit-inspired minds’s eye—as a community garden.
Where will our visions from God take us?
We set sail from here...wherever “here” is for you. Sometimes it’s not a pretty place, and we’re game for an adventure. Other times, it’s very comfortable and beautiful and yet God calls us out of that comfort zone (that tireless Easter image).
And look what happens to Paul and his companions! In this story today, they are taken in! They are taken care of! Despite the insane risks they take, one vision and they’re off! But they meet this woman of considerable means named Lydia. Who offers them safety in a strange land, hospitality and welcome. Who knew?
Have you met any Lydias lately? They are angels among us. When we risk the missionary journey — whether we’re traveling downtown to help out at a soup kitchen or across the world or across the living room—when we take the risk and make the missionary journey, sometimes we’re met by Lydias — amazing people out there, ready to welcome us in, perhaps even ready to be baptized along the waters’ edge! [pause]
And when we risk the missionary journey, oftentimes there is trouble too — resistance, threat, loss, pain, sorrow.
But this is always where God calls us and needs us to go. To set sail from clumps of dirt and weeds.
The Rev. Dr. Ben Stewart, preaching prof at LSTC reminds us that we are “earth creatures”, dry clumps of dirt and weeds, but God takes us, and sets us to sail by breathing life into us. And off we go, into this life, filled with God’s spirit/breath/wind (all the same word in Hebrew (ruach). And look where we go!
Where will God’s spirit/wind/breath blow you this week?
Maybe you’ll meet a Lydia, and maybe you won’t. But no matter what, friends in Christ, know that you will ultimately be taken in, cared for. For you are a child of God.
Hear Jesus‘ words again from the Gospel of John: [slow] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Peace I give to you.”
We set sail, because when God gives us that holy CPR, we can’t help but live with gusto, live with spirit, live with vision, live like the new Jerusalem has dropped right on top of Fairfax, Virginia. When God gives us CPR, when God blows into us spirit/wind/breath, we can’t help but live like the Tree of Life is growing right there in our front yards. (If you have a tree or a plant in your front yard, give thanks for it, and let it be a reminder for you of the beautiful passage from Revelation.) Right there in our own house, apartment, townhouse, trailer or cabin are images of the healing of the nations. Your home, your dwelling place is a place of God’s healing! That’s what God breathing life into you and me does for us, it turns everything around, it raises the dead, it hydrates the dry ground, it causes fruit to grow...for healing sake. That’s what happens when God’s vision sets us to sail.
God, through Christ, sets you to sail this day in love and forgiveness, in peace and joy.
So off we go!
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Memorial Day Sunday Prayer
We praise you, eternal God, for the devoted sacrifice of your servants who have laid down their lives that we might live. Into your holy keeping we commend them and humbly pray that we, like they, may give generously and never count the cost, asking no reward except the knowledge of your abiding love.
Almighty and everlasting God, whose providence guides your people in diligent service, bless the officers and enlisted women and men of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard as they perform the duties of their calling. Give them not only true love of country but also love of you and an understanding of your love for all people; so that, relying upon your guidance, they may courageously defend our nation from every foe, promote justice, honor, and unity among our people, and be a means of fostering mutual respect and understanding among all peoples of the world; through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord.
Amen.
(adapted from ELW Prayer Book for the Armed Services)
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