| Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,
Prayer List– Please include in your personal devotions and consider for the Prayers in worship next Sunday.
Texts– A summary of the upcoming texts.
Salem Houston musician Meg Flowers dies
Funeral Tuesday at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston.
Meg is survived by her husband, David, by three daughters and their families, by her sister and two brothers, two step-daughters, and five grandchildren.
Communicating my work
I’ve been putting these e-mails out weekly. I am tempted to ramble on and on about what I’m seeing, what I’m doing, and what the rest of the staff are up to. I know some of you really appreciate hearing some of these things, and feel more connected than ever. Others of you, however, have said that the only thing you read is my devotional, and that I should pare it down. So, I have cut back on a lot. The lectionary stuff that used to follow at the bottom of the e-mail is now theb”lectionary” link to my webpage, which you see above. The prayers that I encourage you to add to your prayers on Sunday morning are now also a link above. Let me know how I can make this most useful.
For those who wish to follow in more detail what I’m doing and thinking, I encourage you to follow my webpage/blog. There I post daily photographs, comments, web links, Bible passages, and other things – sometimes several times a day. For those who want to follow very closely this is the best place to go. You can find it at www.BishopMike.com.
For example:
And so on. Don’t feel obligated, but it’s there if you wish. All this is too much to put in one weekly e-mail. For those who are interested, there is a place on my page where you can subscribe to the blog, and it will e-mail you all posts the minute that I post. Just click the orange “Subscribe to feed” button at the upper left.
TRUTH (Travels Revealing Understanding – Trust – Hope) group returns this week (May 5).
Keep them in prayer: Pastors Steve Quill, Beth Halvorsen, Chris Lake, Brad Fuerst and others. See last week’s post for more info. Also Dr. Jill Carroll’s blog http://blogs.chron.com/talkingtolerance/ and Pastor Chris Lake’s blog: http://pastorlake.com.
Mother’s Day vs. Easter 6
Okay, next Sunday is Mother’s Day. I know, I know. It’s Easter 6 on the liturgical calendar, but let’s face it: nobody will walk through the door next Sunday thinking, “Oh, goody, it’s Easter 6. However, nearly every single one of them will know that it’s Mother’s Day.
Mother’s Day is fun, but it’s also hard. It’s hard for those whose mothers have passed away. It’s hard for those who had abusive mothers. And it’s hard for those who wanted to be mothers but could not.
Still, motherhood is a great blessing and something to be celebrated. Giving birth. Giving life. Nuturing families. And there’s one thing we all have in common: We all were born – we all had a mother of some kind or another.
Any speaker knows how hard it is to speak to a diverse group. You search for something, anything the group shares in common, so you can connect. Well, this Sunday, you’ve got it.
And in the gospel of John Jesus says quite a few things my mother might have said when I was a boy. Things like:
- If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
- I and the Father are one.
- Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not let them be afraid.
- I am going away, but the Father will send the Comforter.
Those who preached on Revelation last week might like to continue with it this week. The image of the Tree of Life from the Garden of Eden, now in the New Jerusalem, whose leaves are for the healin of the nations, next to the river of life that flows from the Lamb on the Throne is too good to pass up. Genesis and Revelation are truly bookends to Heilsgeschichte.
But I love the Acts 16 passage.
This is the beginning of Paul’s 2nd Missionary Journey. After the First Missionary Journey (which began and ended in Antioch) they have the Jerusalem council, and then Paul has the rift with Barnabas, who wants to take John Mark (Zebedee?) on the next trip, but Paul won’t, because John Mark deserted them in Pamphilia (Acts 15). So Barney goes with John Mark and Paul goes with Silas. MJ2 begins where MJ1 left off, the furthest point: Derbe, and Lystra, where he picks up Timothy. Timothy’s mother is Jewish, but his father is Greek. So the poor guy gets circumcized. He was probably sore for the whole trip. Adult circumcision was no small matter, medically speaking. So now we have Paul, Silas, Timothy and… Luke?
Luke joins the trip. The text never says this, but then again it does. Up through chapter 15, Luke uses “they” pronouns. They did this and that. Starting in 16:11 Luke shifts to “we.” And we get: “We set sail from Troas…” Luke is the silent partner and chronicler of the event.
This is the pivotal place in which the gospel enters Europe. Because of Paul’s vision, Christianity spreads into a new continent. One can hardly imagine European history without Christianity. It defines it’s best and worst moments.Christianity shapes Europe and Europe shapes Christianity. One wonders if we would even have Plato today if it were not for Benedictine monks’ voracious copying habits.
E. P. Sanders asks us to imagine Europe without: Benedict, Dante, cathedrals, Medieval universities, 15th century humanism, the Reformation, Crusades, Inquisitions, Ambrose, Augustine, Aquinas. Marsilius, Duns Scotus, Hume, Marx, Voltaire, Bach, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Kant, Wagner. Sanders writes: “Of course if the Faith had not been European, and Europe had not adopted the Faith, there would have been some other story. But it would not have been our story.”
What if he had not gone? What if he had dismissed his vision? What if we were to do the same with the visions God gives us? The very fact that we serve the Christian church in an even more distant continent today can be traced back to Paul’s moment of decision that changed history.
In Philippi he meets Lydia, a powerful business woman from Thyatira, the great home of ancient dyers’ guilds. Purple was worn by senators and royalty. The dye was hard to come by (extracted from oysters) and so very expensive.
Lydia heard Paul’s words, believed them, and was baptized along with her whole household. She seems to have had a house in Philippi. She housed Paul, Timothy, Silas and Luke. Must have been a big house. One gets the sense that she protected them once they were out of jail. In any case, her house is the first house-church mentioned in Acts. This is a big deal.
Archeologists have uncovered no synagogue in Philippi. So where else could they go but a house? And where would they go for worship, but a “place of prayer” down by the riverside?
A. N. Wilson suggests that because women were not affected by the circumcision questions, it made sense that there were more female converts at first.
Lydia is unique, insomuch as she is in control of her own life. Roman women could not vote, be witnesses in court or serve in the army. There was no rite of passage for a woman to don a toga. Most women remained in control of their father even after marriage. There is no female adulthood per se. As pastor/presider over her house-church, which Paul apparently sanctions, Lydia is a unique figure, a curiosity. A new model for a new church. She is the image of the strong, smart female business woman who becomes a leader in the faith. She is considered a Deacon by our church, and is commemorated on January 27 on our ELCA calendar along with Dorcas and Phoebe. Perhaps she should be commemorated as pastor.
Maybe this is a good Sunday to lift up women of exemplary faith and leadership, like Lydia, Priscilla, Mary, and others. Studies show that a mother’s faith (even more than a father’s for some reason) is the single most influential factor in a child’s religious development.
I know it was in mine. And I’ve always been captivated by this passage about Timothy, a third generation Christian:
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. (2 Timothy 1:5)
Actually, I couldn’t think of a better Mother’s Day text.
Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow,
help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel,
along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Philippians 4:3
שלומ سلام Peace,
Michael Rinehart
- Barclay, William. “Acts of the Apostles”
- Blailock, E. M. “The Acts of the Apostles” from the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. New York: Tyndale Press © 1959.
- Wilson, A. N. Paul, the Mind of the Apostle, New York: W. W. Norton and Co. © 1997.
Michael Rinehart, bishop
TX-LA Gulf Coast Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
12941 1-45 North Freeway, Suite #210
Houston, TX 77060-1243
(281) 873-5665
www.GulfCoastSynod.org
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