31 Days of Prayer: DAY 17
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FOCUS VERSE: He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. — Acts 8:31, NRSV |
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PRAYER OF PRESENCE: Holy and abiding God, |
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SCRIPTURE: Acts 8:26-40 |
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HYMN FOR REFLECTION: O Thou Who Camest from Above
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REFLECTION: Wait a minute—is this not the same text we read yesterday? Well, yes, it is. Today, we revisit Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, but we are invited to shift our perspective. Rather than focusing on Philip, the one who offers himself to journey with another, we are invited to look at the text through the realities, feelings, and concerns of the Ethiopian eunuch—a person who stands outside the social margins, longing to be included. Parker J. Palmer, the Quaker educator and philosopher, introduced me to the concept of the Tragic Gap, the space between the difficult realities of life and what we know to be possible. This gap isn’t reserved for large societal challenges—it’s a space all of us have likely experienced when we look at the world, or our own lives, and see something beautiful, something powerful, something full of potential that seems just out of our reach. I imagine that the Ethiopian eunuch was no stranger to this tragic gap. He was a man of great authority, the treasurer for the queen of Ethiopia—a person of privilege and influence. Yet, his position as a foreigner and a eunuch placed him on the margins in profound ways. As I mentioned yesterday, according to Jewish law, because of his physical condition, this individual was excluded from full participation in temple worship (Deuteronomy 23:1). And yet, despite this, he made the long journey to Jerusalem to worship—perhaps seeking something more. I wonder how he felt on his journey back home. Was this the first time he had traveled to Jerusalem? Did he know, before journeying so far, that he would be barred from fully engaging in the worship of the God he sought? Was he disappointed, or did he feel fulfilled as he traveled back home? We do not know the answers to these questions, but we do know that his hunger for God persisted. In our text, we find him sitting in his chariot, pouring over the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah and struggling to grasp its meaning. Here we see someone who refuses to give up—someone who intentionally lives in the tragic gap, longing for the full reality he imagined was possible, even though it remained unseen. And then, along comes Philip. In an unlikely moment, on a deserted road, the eunuch encounters someone willing to meet him in the gap. Philip, prompted by the Spirit, steps into the eunuch’s reality, approaching him with deep curiosity and respect. Rather than immediately offering help, Philip offers companionship—a willingness to journey alongside this man in his search for understanding. I wonder how it felt for the eunuch to be seen—not as someone excluded from communion due to a physical defect, but as someone included in the larger story of salvation simply because he was loved. The great W. E. B. Du Bois, in his work The Souls of Black Folk, outlines what I imagine is the feeling not only of our Ethiopian friend but of all who, for some reason, have stood outside the margins longing to be included. Du Bois writes, “Between me and the other world there is ever an unasked question… How does it feel to be a problem?” For our Ethiopian friend, that question may have loomed large as he navigated life on the margins. But in this encounter with Philip, he is reminded that he is not a problem. Instead, he is a beloved child of God, welcomed into the story of salvation. Have you ever felt that you’ve stood in the tragic gap? What does it mean to stand in the tragic gap? How does it feel to hold on to hope while navigating the tension between the way things are and the way you believe they could be? And how might the Spirit be inviting you and us to meet others in their gaps, offering curiosity, respect, and the reminders that they, too, are beloved? |
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CLOSING PRAYER: "Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Your power, and infinite is Your wisdom. And we, being a part of Your creation, desires to praise You—we, who bear about with ourselves mortality, the witness of our sin, even the witness that You resist the proud. Yet still we desires to praise You, even I, who am but a small part of Your creation. You have prompted me that I should delight to praise You, for You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You. Grant me, O Lord, to know and understand whether first to call on You or to praise You; and, again, to know You or to call on You. For who can call on You, not knowing You? For the one that knows You not may call on You as other than You are. Or is it rather that we call on You that we may know You? But how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher? And those who seek the Lord shall praise Him. For those who seek shall find Him, and those who find shall praise Him. I will seek You, O Lord, and call upon You. I call upon You, O Lord, in my faith which You have given me, which You have inspired in me through the humanity of Your Son and through the ministry of Your preacher." —St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) |
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WEEKLY PRACTICE: Jan 12 - 18 (Sun - Sat) Praise: Celebrations of God’s Presence in Prayer What was begun anew at Christmas with the birth of Christ stays with us in this new year. With God’s presence and guidance we have much to celebrate and be thankful. So, take a moment to actively lift up in your prayers the God we love and adore just as we did when celebrating his birth at Christmas. In fact, consider the celebratory nature of the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the awe and wonder of God at work in creation. God truly provides all we need in body, heart, and mind with a greatness that far exceeds anything we can imagine. Glory to God in the highest! May we all see God’s handywork and lift words of praise. Amen. |
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