Here is an example of the sermons that are enjoyed by people who attend St. Andrew's.

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson
Easter 5: Year B - May 10, 2009
Acts 8:26-40

Most of you are probably familiar with baby books; perhaps you have compiled them or seen the one your mom kept of your big baby moments. Mine was lost in a fire but I’ve seen my sibling’s and my wife’s. This is not a new concept; in fact, you could say our Bible contains a baby book. It begins with the preparation, soon thereafter, the birth. Laying out the early details, told through loving eyes, the book helps us to recall the birthday and the first words, the first spats, the first steps. And today, on Mother’s Day, we pull out that book and we read a passage and remember.

If you haven’t yet guessed, I am speaking of the book of Acts. The book of Acts is the story of the Church’s birth and infancy; it is a baby book of the Church. It adoringly tells the story of the Church and its Mother – the Mothering Spirit that gives birth to the Church on the day of Pentecost. A Spirit that not only births, continually births the Church, but leads and guides and sees the Church through its early growing pains. Acts tells the tale of our Mothering Holy Spirit, the Spirit is the divine feminine in the Hebrew language, who teaches us through the early church’s witness, what true mothering is.

Today’s passage from Acts is one of my favorites; it is so vivid and fantastic. The passage presents an exciting picture of the growing Church in its early days; it comes to life in the imagination. In reality, each and every biblical character and story is in some way exotic for us in the US, but this story intentionally carries with it additional exotic appeal. Phillip is compelled by the Spirit to meet on a wilderness road an Ethiopian eunuch from the court of Queen Candace. Prior to this encounter, the message of Jesus has been centered in Jerusalem. Prior to this encounter, Jesus’ followers have preached the message of Jesus to the Jews. Prior to this encounter, those being added daily to their number have been Jews who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

We are given few details about the man in the chariot to whom the Spirit sent Phillip. But what we are given is highly intriguing. We are told this man is from Ethiopia; in first century Palestine, Ethiopia was very, very far away. Ethiopia generally referred to an African land beyond Egypt – Egypt being a country with which Jews were more familiar. He holds a position of status within his country; he is a court official of Candace, the Queen of Ethiopia. We know the God of Israel intrigues him; he has traveled to Jerusalem to worship and is found reading the Hebrew Scriptures on his journey home, in his chariot. And of course, he is a eunuch.

I am not going to assume that everyone knows what it means to be a eunuch – although I am sure some, or even most, of you do. Eunuchs are actually mentioned several times in the Bible. Jesus, in the Gospel of Matthew, speaks of those who have “made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven.” Some in the early church took this saying far too literally – including St. Origen who himself became a eunuch for the kingdom. Just to be perfectly clear, a eunuch is a castrated male.

Royalty often employed eunuchs because they were not considered a threat. For example, a king might employ eunuchs to watch over his harem because the eunuch could not impregnate his concubines; we see this in the book of Esther. Their lack of testosterone made them ideal for focused devotion and service. Their sexual ambiguity and gender confusion placed them outside of “normal” society – especially a society in which procreation is considered the apex of divine blessing, especially in a society in which one is remembered and honored through their offspring.

But what is most important for understanding the lesson from Acts is that according to Torah Law, in the twenty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, eunuchs “shall not be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.” This Ethiopian eunuch, despite his interest in the Jewish Temple religion was forbidden by the Law to enter into solemn assembly or to be a priest. This eunuch made his pilgrimage and read the Hebrew Scriptures. Maybe he even found in the Law that he was of lesser worth, and yet he still thirsted for God. He still believed somewhere in his heart that God sought him. Perhaps he chose to look past Deuteronomy to find hope in Isaiah 56 – a passage that says, “do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am a dry tree’...I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.” The promise of a name – something a eunuch, one with no offspring, could never hope to have...until God gave this promise through the prophet.

From the margins, of the Temple assembly, of society, a eunuch found some hope. He found enough hope to go looking for the promise.

Religions have a long history of setting boundaries – making rules, defining who is in and who is out. The Ethiopian was out for many reasons: he was foreign, his skin was dark, his gender was confused, his body was imperfect, he was flawed – he was a eunuch. He “shall not be admitted in the assembly of the Lord.”

The Spirit was moving. The Mothering Spirit was actively birthing the Church. God was erasing borders – widening the circle. And so Phillip finds the chariot. The Ethiopian is on his way back home but God is not finished. God needs him to know: you are welcome in my assembly. Where there were boundaries, there are no longer boundaries.

But the Spirit needs a messenger. The Spirit needs some legs to carry the message. The Spirit needs a mouth to speak this good news. The Spirit needs some hands to bring new life, new birth, out of the water. The Spirit needs a Phillip.

So Phillip goes and he finds the man and gets in his chariot. He sits with him. He builds a relationship. He did not shout some platitudes at him from the side of the road. He did not tell him what to do or think on his way past. Phillip sat with this stranger; the Ethiopian sat with this stranger. And they talked. Phillip his patient guide. The Ethiopian faithfully challenging the boundaries of this new religious movement. They needed each other. They needed the relationship. Like a spiritual director and a hungry catechumenate. Like a loving mother and a curious child.

In the 1850’s, William J. Alston became the first black student enrolled at Bexley Hall – the Episcopal seminary that was at the time at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Though he too was a student at the seminary, the chaplain would only serve him Holy Communion after the entire white population was communed. Alone he would sit in the chapel until it was his turn to take the lonely walk to the altar. Oh, the many ways religious institutions say, “you are not admitted in the assembly of the Lord.”

During a visit to the seminary the second bishop of the Diocese of Ohio, Bishop Charles McIlvaine, was given word of this practice. Attending chapel during his visit, Bishop McIlvane intentionally forgot to bring his prayer book – a bold action that would strike fear into the heart of any clergy person. That day the bishop took his seat next William Alston, the first black student of Bexley Hall seminary. Alston was seated alone in the chapel, apart from the other students and professors – a loneliness to which he had grown accustomed. Not having his prayer book, the bishop asked Alston if they could share.

The custom of the chapel was that the priests at the Table communed first. After they had received the Sacrament, the bishop, of course, would be next to come and receive. Knowing full well that Alston was only permitted to receive Communion after everyone else, the bishop stood and stepped forward; he then turned to Alston, this man who had been made an outsider in his own Christian community because of the color of his skin, who had been told by the Church though their liturgical practice that he was not as worthy, the bishop turned to this man and invited him to come to the Lord’s Table. And together they walked down the aisle, and together they knelt at the altar, and together they received the most precious Body and Blood of their Lord.

Having faced many reasons in his past, as if he expected an answer, the eunuch asked, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” And together they walked down to the water. And the one who had been restricted to the margins for so long, was now a full member through baptism. And the one who had been called “imperfect” and “unworthy,” was reborn as “child of God.”  

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