Daily Office Readings for Thursday of Proper 15: Year 2
Morning, Psalms 131 and 132, Evening, Psalms 134 and 135;
Job 1:1 to 22; Acts 8:26 to 40; John 6:16 to 27:
“Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.” (Acts 8:29)
There are three significant entities in this reading; there is Philip, and there is the treasurer of Candice who happens to be a eunuch, and of course, the angel or spirit of God who directs Philip. The eunuch is returning from the Temple in Jerusalem where he was probably not welcomed due to his bodily defilement. But he is a faithful student of scripture and maintains faithful practices.
I wish we had the name of Candice’s treasurer; I don’t like referring to him as “the eunuch.” We learn that, like most of us, he needs assistance in understanding what the scripture is really saying. I like the way Philip obeys the Spirit, and also, how he assists this treasurer. He doesn’t go back to Adam and Eve, or Abraham or even Moses. No, he starts with Isaiah, he starts from where the person was, in his reading. Sometimes we try to give a person too much information. The Spirit did not say go over to the chariot and rule it. The Spirit said, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
Another part of our story that I really like is that after the explanation of the scriptures, which must have also talked about our Lord Jesus and the importance of Baptism, they come upon some water. Then “the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.” As a priest I have used this model by Philip to baptize people who ask for it as soon as possible, normally at the next Sunday worship service if possible.
Beyond the lesson about how to coach or teach, and of baptism, there is the listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We today, should not think that the Holy Spirit of God does not speak to us today, it still happens. At the end of this experience both men go their separate ways: the eunuch, back to Ethiopia rejoicing; and Philip, again following the Spirit and proclaiming the Good News!
Please keep up your thoughts and prayers and hopes for Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and our schools. And, as we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and serve, and to teach others to love and serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray:
Come Holy Spirit, lead us and guide us as we journey our path. Equip us to be patient and kind and informative to all you put in our path, and above all, let us meet and greet them where they are and assist them in their spiritual growth as they too journey to you. In your most Holy Name, Amen.
onewhoponders 