‘God had called us to preach the gospel to them.’ (Acts 16.10)
Context
As Paul and his companions were travellers, a couple of stories about travelling.
- TripAdvisor has become so ubiquitous, it has now been used by potential Islamist terrorists to plan a journey from Turkey into Syria undercover of ‘an innocent camping holiday’.
- Thomas Cook have had to reassure customers who are concerned that they may not get to their holiday destination – or perhaps not get home – after the travel firms share price dropped to 10p.
It is transfer window time in the English Premier and Football Leagues. There are a number of verbal and visual clichés associated with this time.
- Harry Redknapp has often been interviewed with his arm out of the window of his car at the training ground of whichever club he is managing at the time.
- The transfer window is almost always said to ‘slam shut’ at the end of the period.
- Another cliché is the ‘come and get me plea’ that is ‘issued’ by a player who is said to be keen on joining a specific club, despite having signed a lucrative contract with his present club just the previous year.
- Of course, if a player is sufficiently well-paid, he may choose to stay where he is on the basis that no one else would be sufficiently foolhardy to pay the inflated wages he receives for not playing at his present club.
And in other news:
- British Steel is close to going into administration and continues to appeal for financial help from the UK government.
- Having been sacked by Rugby Australia after expressing his views on social media about the fate of sinners, Israel Folau remains in the news. Folau’s case is likely to be appealed in the Australian courts, but it has raised some issues regarding the limits of free speech. There is something of an irony in that Folau has been sanctioned for condemning people to a place that a significant number of those who have judged him, believe to be imaginary.
- Michael Heseltine – one of the grand old men of the Conservative Party – has had the whip removed from him for telling people that they should vote for the Lib Dems in the European Elections rather than the Conservative Party.
- The inquest into the terrorist attack at London Bridge just under two years ago has revealed a number of acts of heroism. Ignacio Echeverría ran towards the attackers and tried to protect Marie Bondeville from being stabbed. Ms Bondeville survived, but Mr Echeverria died from injuries he received. An off-duty doctor was one of those who had been locked into a bar for their own protection. However, Jonathan Moses insisted he be let out in order to help those who had been injured.
Reflection
This week’s reading from Acts 16 can be divided into two parts. Paul received a vision from God of man calling to him and his companions across the sea to ‘come over and help’. Having crossed over to Macedonia, Paul met Lydia, a Gentile woman, a God-fearer, whom he baptised along with all her household.
‘Should I stay or should I go’ was a song by The Clash. However, that wasn’t a decision that Paul had to make because God’s Spirit had closed off Paul’s intended destinations in ‘Asia’ – what we now know as central Turkey – and guided them towards Troas on the Aegean coast. It was at Troas that Paul had a vision of a man from across the sea in Macedonia calling out, ‘come and help’.
Help can come in various ways – from a skateboarding 39 year-old banker, an off duty doctor, a football team with money to burn or an aging rock star.
Yannick Carrasco is still waiting for his ‘come and get me plea’ to be answered, but a player who has scored 7 times in 9 appearances in the Chinese Super League is likely to find that someone will ‘rescue’ him from his ‘servitude’. In all these other cases, it seems that the people who helped didn’t think twice. They responded to a call for help through a sense of the urgency of the cry and their empathising with those who called out.
Crossing over can cause a person problems. Michael Heseltine has probably lived enough years that the Conservative Party’s sanction of him won’t worry him. However, making a stand, as Israel Folau has found, sometimes comes with a cost.
The South Sea Islanders are known as ‘God-fearing’ people. Today that expression is usually understood to mean someone who is ‘religious’. In the 1st century a God-fearer was someone who was a Gentile, but who was involved in some way in synagogue worship. There is the example in the Gospels of an unnamed Roman centurion who gave money to the synagogue and earlier in Acts we read of Cornelius who was ‘a devout man who feared God [and] gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God.’ (Acts 10.2). Lord Heseltine has reached out to those not of his Party and suffered consequences – albeit minor. Rugby players have suffered booing after they have offered support to Israel Folau. Peter and Paul suffered criticism from Jews and Jewish Christians for associating with Gentiles.
Prayer
May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations. Psalm 67.1-2
Our God, we pray for Christians who are unsure of which way to go in their following in the footsteps of Jesus. When the way forward seems closed off to them, give them clear sight to see your way ahead.
Our God, we pray for those who have taken a wrong turn in their life. May they know forgiveness and restoration and see an opportunity to begin again in following Jesus.
Our God, we pray for those who respond to a cry for help. We thank you for their courage.
Our God, we pray for those who cry out for help and see no one running towards them. Give them strength to carry on.
Our God, we thank you for fellow travellers: those who have not committed themselves to you, but who are sympathetic to the Gospel. We pray that we may be like salt and light to them.
Amen.
Questions
- How do you understand the expression ‘God-fearer’ in our time? Is it the same as ‘God-botherer’?
- God spoke to Paul through a vision of a man from Macedonia calling to come and help. Have you experienced God speak to you in a dream – a vision at night – and if so how did you respond?
All-age activity
- The title of this Postscript references a pop song from the mid-1960s. Meanwhile, this video is an example of a coming together of old and new. In what ways can the Gospel message be made more up to date and in what way should we leave it alone?
Young people
- Lydia, the woman who became a Christian, was ‘a dealer in purple cloth’ (Acts 16.14). As such she was someone who travelled and would likely have been a person of influence. She would have been in a good position to share the Gospel. What sort of people in our day would be best at sharing the Gospel? (Hint: It might be whoever is reading this!)
Simon Carver is a Baptist Minister in St Albans and takes a particular interest in film, sport and US politics.
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