The Christ Hymn -- A Message for May 17, 2026

  This Sunday, we are once again reading from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippian Christians. 

Last week, we focused on Paul’s introductory sentences. He expressed his greetings and goodwill to the Philippian church He then described his present imprisonment as less of a punishment and more of an opportunity – apparently, the guards and officials who he met with were all becoming Christians because of Paul’s persuasive evangelism. He encouraged the Philippians to be brave in sharing their faith with others.

This morning, we turn to a portion of the same letter often called “The Christ Hymn.” 

Listen to the reading of Paul’s words as we turn to the Letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses one through thirteen:

The Scripture Lesson Philippians 2:1-13 

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 

then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 

not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

 

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,

that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray….

The Message The Christ Hymn

People have a tendency to disagree with each other. Even little children, despite having innocent and sweet dispositions, will sometimes engage in battles with each other – snatching toys from one another’s hands, biting, hitting, tattle-telling, and temper-tandrums….it starts early.

Because disagreements are so second nature to us, we have developed many processes to treat-people fairly and for people to feel like their opinions matter. Historians can describe ancient attempts at representative governments and democracies – initially, free, male citizens were granted a say in how their governments were ordered. Even our own country initially thought it could best be governed by free, male, White, landowning citizens…. the rest of us have gradually been granted a say in the decisions of our government, or at least who should represent us in our government. 

In churches, we have a variety of ways to organize ourselves.  Some churches are organized on an episcopal model; these churches are governed by bishops who oversee the churches and appoint the pastors. The bishops meet at councils to decide church policies and establish doctrine.

Other churches are organized on a presbyterian model; these churches are governed by a board of elected elders and the minister of the church. This board makes decisions on behalf of the church, and is accountable to a multi-church decision making body.

The third main type of church organization is the congregation model. Each church is self-governing and decisions are made by all of the members of the church. The churches may participate in a network of other churches, but that network has no hierarchical authority over local churches.

Our church, Trinity Christian UCC, seems to be a combination of both the presbyterian model and the congregational model – perhaps we take the best of both models and meld them together. We are congregational in that our congregation is self-governing – we all vote on our budget, we all vote to hire our ministers, we all vote on important matters for our church. We participate in a loose confederation of UCC churches, but no one can tell us how to run our local congregation or what doctrine our members must accept. On the other hand, our congregation also elects a board – our consistory – that conducts business on behalf of the congregation in-between our whale church meetings, which is a little presbyterian with a small p.

Some churches, like the Quakers, decide everything by consensus. They follow the most extreme version of the congregational organizational model  – they don’t vote, they just talk out issues until everyone agrees… 

In all of the church governance models, the Quakers may be the best at applying what Paul wrote about in the portion of the letter to the Philippians we read today – He wanted the people of the Philippian congregation to “ being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind..” and to “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. “

Paul wanted the people of the Philippian church to become one in spirit and one in mind….no more disagreements…loving in all ways…perfectly unified.

Paul encouraged the church to be like-minded because he was hearing reports that the people were bickering. So, perhaps in an order-correction, Paul wanted them to be loving and fully agreeable in all things….to be of one accord.

Paul was imploring the people of Philippi’s church to be idealistically “perfectly in agreement” about all things.

If only people (and churches) would work this way — perhaps then we would fully embody the Kingdom of God on earth.

Paul established unity as a goal, an ideal – a good ideal, but perhaps a tad optimistic – or a tad impossible. 

Group harmony and cohesion is something we all have to work on. In my years as a pastor, I have heard many tales of church failings – congregations who fight because they can’t agree on carpet color or what temperature the thermostat should be set at during worship…churches who erupt into disagreements about when the pre-service music should start or if we can remove an artificial plant that Aunt Mabel donated to sit atop the piano 40 years ago…. It can get ugly.

In 1627, during the 30 years war, Lutheran theologian

Rupertus Meldenius published a tract concerning the need for Christian unity. In it, he wrote this famous motto: “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials LIberty, In All Things Charity.” In all things charity…church folks must lead with “love” in our dealings with each other, accept differences about non-important things, and work together to be united in the most essential elements of our shared faith.

Why have Christians worried about how to live together well for almost 2000 years? Why does it matter if Bertha’s family leaves the church because they don’t like the flavor of the coffee during fellowship hour? We can do much more together than we can do alone. We are stronger as a body than we are as individuals. Jesus called a team of disciples to work along with him, not rugged individualistic lone rangers. 

The church has been called by God to be God’s witness to the world. This is more important now than ever before, because more and more people in our country and our community are ignorant about Christianity. People hear a lot of odd things about Christians – they know Christians in some states are demanding the 10 Commandments be placed on classroom walls – they know President Trump has said negative things about the Catholic Pope – they know Christians were boycotting Target – they hear these random headlines about Christianity but they may not know why these things have happened…and they may have no context to understand how diverse Christians are about their political views and social views.  

We want people to know that God loves them, we love them, and we are called to work together to repair our broken world. If we are busy duking it out over whether or not to have a television screen in our sanctuary, or what kind of anthem the choir should sing, or what brand of weed-eater the Property committee should buy – if we are busy worrying about trivial things, we won’t have time or energy to share the message of the Gospel – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

So, my friends, let us live out the message of Paul, and work to  be like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. And, let us do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. 

Let us be living examples of the Gospel-message, and love God and everyone we meet. Amen. 

Partnership in the Gospel -- A Message for May 10, 2026

  Over the past few weeks, our scriptural focus has been on St. Paul and his missionary journeys. Paul started out as a religious Jewish man who hated Christianity. But, Jesus intervened in Paul’s life and afterwards, he became one of the greatest evangelists and promoters of Christianity the world has ever known. 

Paul’s evangelistic efforts did not make him popular in all circles. He was repeatedly imprisoned for upsetting the religious authorities in the towns where he travelled. This morning, we will read the opening of Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi. He wrote this letter from prison.

In the years before Paul penned this letter, he travelled to Philippi and met people and inspired them to follow Jesus. Together, they started the church at Philippi. Paul’s letter was written to encourage them to continue practicing their shared faith – at the time, people were starting to become worried that they would end up imprisoned like Paul….or worse!

Listen now as I read the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, chapter one verses one through 18:

Scripture Philippians 1:1-18a

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you. 

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 

because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 

being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 

God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 

so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,  

filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 

As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 

And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 

The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 

The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 

But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…

Message Partnership in the Gospel

I recently read a book written by two Iranian Christian women, Marziyeh Amirzadeh and Maryam Rostampour. The two women wrote about their experiences before they left Iran and became refugees in the United States. Before they left their homeland, the women were imprisoned. In Iran, it is not illegal to be Christian…but it is illegal for people who are Muslim to convert to another religion. The two women were imprisoned and received death sentences as punishment because they were considered “converts” to Christianity….

While the women were in prison, they knew little of what was happening outside the prison….they didn’t know that Christians throughout the world, and groups like Amnesty International, were fighting for their release from prison. The two women thought they would probably be killed because of their faith.

So, they didn’t shut up about it. They thought they were going to die anyway, so they might as well tell the other prisoners, and the guards, and the judicial officials why they chose to believe in Jesus Christ….why they believed in our faith.

They told stories they had read in the Bible. They prayed with people and for people. They reassured other prisoners that God didn’t reject them despite unsavory past histories. They sang hymns and Christian songs. They worked to bring a word of hope to a dark and dreary place.

In the portion of Paul’s letter we read this morning, it sounds like Paul also worked to spread our faith even when he was in prison. He was surprisingly positive about his situation – He said:

Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 

As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 

And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

So, not only was Paul talking about his faith to his guards and the others he was imprisoned alongside, they were also becoming believers. And, people who were formerly afraid to proclaim the Good News, were “daring all the more” to share their Christian faith.

There is a quotation attributed to Winston Churchill that says: “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” I agree. The imprisoned Iranian women had a good attitude about their imprisonment – they saw it as an opportunity to share their faith. Paul’s words reflect that he had a positive attitude about his imprisonment – he took advantage of his situation to share his faith.

I hope that none of us find ourselves trapped in an actual prison. But, we all will experience times in our lives when we deal with limitations that we didn’t plan for or expect – illnesses, changed relationships, losing jobs, retirement, moving – all of us will experience times in our lives that we didn’t choose or expect or plan for….And, when these limitations or setbacks arise, it is important for us to work to discover the opportunities that they offer.

Paul was committed to evangelism – he told everyone about our faith. He rejoiced when “ …Christ is preached.” He didn’t let his imprisonment depress him or destroy his will or quiet him down. Paul’s encouraging words to the church at Philippi are still important to us almost 2000 years after they were penned. We may not have control over the things we experience – accidents happen, we age, our bodies don’t always work the way we expect – but, we have control over how we react to those unexpected things. If we work to see the silver-linings in the midst of the clouds that surround us, we are mentally and emotionally better off into the future.

Paul wanted all followers of Jesus to be inspired to share their faith – we shouldn’t let our fear of rejection stop us….we shouldn’t let peer pressure stop us…we shouldn’t let disappointment stop us….we shouldn’t even let persecution stop us. 

Our lives are changed for the better because we believe in our Savior Jesus Christ. Our lives are changed for the better because we know, and believe, God loves us and forgives us. Our lives are changed for the better because we are connected to the community of faithful believers, the church, and we are here to support each other through our lives’ ups and downs, times of joy and times of sorrow. 

Let us work to see each setback as an opportunity…and let us take every opportunity to share the Good News with others. 

Amen.

Paul's Sermon at Athens -- A Message for May 3, 2026

 

Friends, in the season between Easter and Pentecost, we are focusing on St. Paul’s conversion to Christianity and some of the stops of his missionary journeys. 

When Jesus interrupted Paul’s life and called upon Paul to become his follower, Jesus told Ananias that “This man (Paul)  is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.”

Soon after his conversion, Paul began to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He travelled throughout the Roman world on three major missionary journeys….many to places that were largely populated by Gentiles.

Today, we turn to Paul’s time in the city of Athens – the intellectual and spiritual capital of the ancient Greek civilization and one of the most prominent cities of the Roman Empire.

Listen now to the word of God as it is found in the Acts of the Apostles’ Chapter 17, verses sixteen through thirty-four:

Scripture Acts 17:16-31

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. 

So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. 

A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. 

Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 

You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” 

(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 

For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 

And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 

God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 

‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.

 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 

 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject.” 

At that, Paul left the Council. 

Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. 

Amen.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…..

Message Paul’s Sermon at Athens

 

In the first century, the city of Athens was an intellectual powerhouse – imagine Harvard and Oxford and Yale all in one city. Intellectuals everywhere – and people who loved discussing and debating big ideas. 

Athens is named after the Ancient Greek Goddess Athena – the goddess of wisdom, warfare and handicraft.  The Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens is dedicated to Athena. The city’s population was very religious – in addition to worshipping Athena, they also worshipped many of the Greek gods and goddesses and their Roman equivalents. The people believed the world belonged to the gods, and people are essentially trespassing on the gods' planet. They needed to leave offerings and gifts for the gods in appreciation for them allowing the people to dwell on the earth and live our lives. And, they believed if we don’t give gifts to the gods, they will punish the people.

The people of Athens wanted to cover all of their bases, so there were shrines set up for all of the gods they knew about and they left open the possibility there were other gods to discover….hence the shrine to the “unknown” god. The shrine was for gods they didn’t know, and also for when they weren’t sure which of the known gods they needed to leave an offering for – again, they wanted to cover all of their bases.

The governing council of Athens was called the Areopagus. The council was named after the Hill of Ares – the hill where they met which is on the side of the hill the Parthenon sits upon. Ares was the Greek god of war….you may have heard about Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill – Mars is the Roman equivalent of Ares. Paul delivered his sermon to the council of Athens – the Aeropagus.

Paul’s sermon is a wonderful example of meeting people “where they were at.” He referenced how religious the people of Athens were. He quoted Greek philosophers they would have known. He was very positive in his remarks about the people of Athens.

Then, Paul suggested the unknown god they already had shrines for was our God. And he explained Jesus was God’s son—the messiah– who came to earth to redeem all people. He told them Jesus resurrected from the dead. And, then Paul invited the people of Athens to become followers of Jesus and embrace Christianity.

The people who heard Paul’s sermon, and heard about Jesus’ resurrection, had three different types of responses to his words. One group of people dismissed Paul – they didn’t believe him and they thought Jesus’ resurrection was a ridiculous idea. One group of people were curious – they wanted Paul to tell them more about Christianity and our beliefs and philosophy. And, the third group of people became Christians – they began to believe in Jesus and became part of the growing Christian church in Athens.

Paul could see, as he walked around Athens, that people were seeking connection to God – they were spiritual searchers. They wanted to feel a closeness to the divine. But, Paul realized they were searching in all the wrong places – they put their trust in the Greek or Roman pantheon of gods instead of connecting to the real God. 

We also live in a place and a time in which people are seeking a connection with the divine.  But, other people may put their trust in the things of this world instead of God….we personally know people who have almost a religious devotion to the stock-market or technology or their preferred political party – we know people who are fascinated with the British royal family or influencers or their favorite movie stars. We can walk around like Paul walked around Athens and see people are searching in all the wrong places.

We can take inspiration from Paul’s approach. We must work to meet people where they are at – appreciate the positive things they are doing – take a sincere interest in what they care about – and then offer them a relatable explanation of why we believe in God. People want to hear why we know our relationship with Jesus makes a difference in our lives. They want to hear that we have been helped and supported through our life’s challenges and joys by both our God and the church. People want to know that our faith makes a positive difference in our lives.

People need to hear from Christians the reasons why we feel our faith helps us. They need to hear from us.

And, we hope that people will be curious and want to hear more. We pray they will also take on this faith for themselves – the world is full of people who are searching in all the wrong places, and having a relationship with God will make all of the difference for them.

Let us be brave – let’s meet people where they are at and tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Paul & Silas -- Jumping to Conclusions -- A Message for April 26, 2026

 

       Friends, last week, our message was focused on Saul’s conversion to Christianity. When we first read about Saul in our scriptures, he was a pious Pharisee who was full of hatred for Christianity. He devoted his life to persecuting and arresting Christians. Then, when was on the road walking to Damascus, he had an encounter with Jesus – Jesus told Saul to stop persecuting him and his people. After this moment, Saul devoted the rest of his life to Christ and preached the Good News.

He did a 180-degree turn.

As Saul’s Christian ministry grew, and he traveled away from Israel and into the Gentile world, he began to use his Roman name, Paul. 

Today, we encounter Paul, and his co-worker Silas, in the Roman city of Philippi in Macedonia. There, they met a wealthy woman named Lydia and she and her household converted to Christianity. The city did not have a synagogue, so the followers of Christianity met to pray on the shores of a river. One day, when the Christ-followers were headed to the river to pray, they ran into a problem. 

Let’s enter the story in the book of the Acts of the Apostles Chapter sixteen verses sixteen through thirty-four:

Scripture Acts 16:16-34

Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 

She followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 

She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her.

When her owners realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 

They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 

by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”

The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 

After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 

When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. 

The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 

But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 

He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 

Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 

At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 

The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

When it was daylight, the magistrates sent their officers to the jailer with the order: “Release those men.” 

The jailer told Paul, “The magistrates have ordered that you and Silas be released. Now you can leave. Go in peace.”

But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”

The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. 

They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. 

After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.

Amen.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen

Let us pray….

Message Paul and Silas – Jumping to Conclusions

We are situated about a mile away from a maximum security prison – SCI Phoenix. Skippack has been neighbors with a prison for almost a hundred years – since 1929. I have heard colorful stories from long-time church members about prisoner escapes in the past and when the prisoners farmed the fields next to the old Skippack Elementary School. But, in this day and age, SCI Phoenix would not be the first place we would go to recruit new members for our church.

Likewise, in the first century, if you were looking for the next person to join your church, you probably wouldn’t have looked in a high-security Roman prison. And, you certainly wouldn’t have picked a cynical jailer who was ready to end all.

 Yet, God often uses the most chaotic, messy, and 'earth-shaking' moments of our lives to get our attention. Today, we look at how an earthquake broke the chains of a prison, and how God picks unlikely people to become God’s followers.  

This morning, our scripture describes several strange events that unfolded while Paul and Silias were in Philippi. While they were doing their missionary activities, they began to be followed by a girl – persistently followed by a shouting girl. The girl was a slave and she was possessed by a Spirit who allowed her to predict the future. The girl's owners used her fortune-telling abilities to enrich themselves.  

The spirit or demon that possessed the girl recognized Paul and Silas as representatives of God. The girl followed the men around and shouted: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.” 

After she followed them for days, shouting, Paul grew frustrated. As a reaction to his frustration, he told the demon to leave the girl….and it did. We would think this is good news, and maybe it was for the girl, but her owners lost their income source when the girl couldn’t predict the future.

They were angry.

They caused a scene.

The owners of the girl dragged Paul and Silas before local magistrates and accused them of causing an uproar and taking away the girl’s powers.  The people in the crowd and the magistrates were locals – they were the citizens of Philippi….they were Romans….and Paul and Silias were outsiders – foreigners – aliens. It was easy for the crowd to turn against Paul and Silas.  

In response to the accusers and the angry crowd, the magistrates had Paul and Silas beaten and thrown into jail….they didn’t have a trial….they weren’t represented by attorneys. They were just beaten and thrown into jail.

Paul and Silias were thrown into the deepest, darkest part of the prison and were placed in stocks. Thrown into the dark and immobilized. They must have seemed very dangerous to the authorities.  While they were there, they sang hymns and religious songs. They took every opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their positive attitude surprised the other prisoners who listened to the Christians songs and stories of hope…. Paul and Silas sang cheerful songs in a very cheer-less place.

In the middle of the night, an earthquake struck. The prison was rattled and the doors were flung open.  All of the prisoners had the opportunity to escape.

When the jailor saw the doors were open, he was so upset that he decided to kill himself on the spot…..i guess dying by suicide was preferable to being killed by the Romans for derelection of duty.

Paul realized the jailor was about to kill himself, so Paul called out to him and told him to not do it. Despite the prisoners having the opportunity to escape, no one left the prison. 

The jailor saw this as a miracle. And, he believed it was caused by Paul and Silias’ faith in God and Jesus. He was so impressed he took Paul and Silias into his home, cleaned them up, fed them a meal, and he and his whole family were baptised and became Christians.

The magistrates discovered they had imprisoned Roman citizens, Paul and Silias, without a trial in violation to Roman law. They asked Paul and Silas not to make a fuss and to leave their city. 

And, Paul and Silas did indeed leave Philippi, but their visit resulted in many conversions and Philippi becoming one of the early centers of Christianity.

When we talked about this story at our Lunch Bunch Bible Study this week, Ned pointed out that within this story there  were several examples of people “jumping to conclusions” before knowing all the facts. The owners of the slave girl jumped to the conclusion they were going to lose money when the demon was cast out of her. The Magistrates jumped to an incorrect conclusion when they thought they could beat and imprison Paul and Silas without a trial – not realizing they were citizens of Rome. The jailer jumped to the conclusion the prisoners had escaped without checking to see if they were still in the jail even though the doors were opened…he nearly took his own life before he discovered they stayed in the jail. 

One of our “take-aways” from  this story is a reminder that instead of jumping to conclusions, it is important to gather as much information as possible before we make major decisions. 

But, on the other hand, our faith is one of those things that may quickly take hold of us – and once we become followers of Jesus, we will spend the rest of our lives gathering information to support our faith.

When Paul and Silas were brought to the prison, they were perceived by the jailer as dangerous foreigners – they were of a different religion than him, they were from far away, they were a different ethnicity (Jewish instead of Greek), and they had caused a commotion and an upset in their town. The jailer locked them up in the inner-most, darkest, dankest part of the prison and also trapped their feet in stocks so they were completely restricted. 

  He may have heard them while they were under-arrest – Paul and Silas sang songs of their faith. This would have seemed unusual and drawn attention to them.

But, after the earthquake, when the jailer thought he had lost control of the prisoners and almost killed himself, Paul was the one who shouted for him to preserve his life. Paul had a word of Grace in the midst of a big upset.

The jailer immediately rushed into the cell where Paul and Silas were held, fell at their feet, and asked what he needed to do to convert to their faith.

And, in reply, Paul and Silas told him: “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” With that, the jailer took them to his home, cleaned and bandaged their wounds, had his whole household baptised, and fed them a meal. He believed, and his whole household was saved.

This didn’t take a lot of contemplation. The jailer didn’t study for years like Crystal has been studying to prepare for her confirmation. His family members possibly didn’t know anything about this new-to-them faith until they were brought into the room to be baptised. But, God’s grace came to them, they believed, and they became children of God and members of the Christian faith.

Belief can come in a moment…Salvation comes in an instant…but it is our work as believers to expand our knowledge of our faith – to pray – to listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit – to worship – to read our scriptures – to go to Bible studies – to learn about topics in Christianity – to practice applying our faith to our lives – to put our faith into action.  We believe, and then we learn, and then we apply our faith.

The jailer maybe wasn’t who Paul and Silas went to Philippi to convert. He was probably not their target audience. But, this story reminds us that even though we may not recognize that others need to hear the message of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is working to reach all people. We must do our part to share a message of God’s love with everyone we encounter, by our words, by our actions, by our kindness, and by our love. 

May we do so today and all days. Amen.