Faith and St. Olaf Lutheran

Acts 16:9-15

Faith and St. Olaf Lutheran

Easter 6

May 1, 2016

Where to Go?

Where to go – what to do? It’s that time of year – almost summer, school is almost out – time to decide where to go on vacation; and what to do when you get there. How does a family decide things like this? Does everyone get to vote? Do the kids’ votes count even? Will we drive or fly? Take a cruise? Or just stay home? Do we get out a map and look at it first? Or shall we just get in the car and go? Should it be a fun theme park like Sea World or a historical tour in Israel? Question, questions!

Paul is having similar problems in the Acts reading today. BUT his is not a vacation trip, it is a trip for God. Paul’s mission trip is about making disciples for God. He and Silas start in Jerusalem. You can find that on the map on your bulletin in the bottom left corner. Then they go north to Syria if you follow the arrows. Turning west he picks up Timothy in Lystra. They go through Phrygia and Galatia because the Holy Spirit forbids them from going to Asia, which was at that time the name of a little region in western Turkey. They attempt to go to Bithynia, but again the Spirit says no. They pay attention to the Holy Spirit and do what it said. BUT now what?

What to do? If you’re on the west coast of what is now Turkey and you can’t go south or east or north, there is only one choice! Take a boat, and that is what they did. They did take a boat to an island and then on because Paul had a dream one night. Someone is saying, “Come over to Macedonia to help us.” Paul, Timothy and Silas pay attention to God’s Spirit! And then the writer Luke must have joined them too because he wrote, “WE, (I guess Luke and the rest) immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that this was the place God called US to proclaim the good news of Jesus.”

(Problem: Discerning God’s will.) Discerning God’s will for God’s mission - that is always a question that Christians have, personally and as the body of Christ. Where are we to go and what are we to do? We know it’s God work and our hands, but how do we determine what that means? Notice that Paul’s not alone in his quandary – he has a group of 2-3 others with him. They are in it together following as the Spirit guides.

Even today when a person is called to be a pastor or missionary, it is not an individual decision. The Holy Spirit guides. And there must be a church involved, too. The church has to offer a call to the pastor. Friends can help the pastor discern the call. I know that in the ELCA there are candidacy committees and call committees at churches and seminary faculty involved before anyone ever gets into a church parish as pastor. It is not our personal determination of God’s call; it is a call of the whole church, meditating and praying on God’s will. And to complicate matters even more our call can change! Paul had a vision, something he saw. I’m not sure what that was, but he knew what to do!

Discernment is an ongoing process! Pastors do it a lot. All Christians do. Discernment “is the ability to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God – both in the ordinary… and larger decisions of our lives” (L Magazine, March/April 2013, p 20). And discernment keeps on happening – it happens every time we choose good over evil. It happens when we determine what will draw us closer to God and what will not. It is done individually for our personal Christian lives. And it is done as a church together for a sense of what God desires for us and how we move forward with that. And if we are not doing God’s will then, whose will are we following? (ibid) Discernment requires us to move beyond human thinking and to allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of God.

How will you know when you have found God’s will in your call? Your call can be defined this way: “It is where your greatest happiness and the world’s greatest need intersect” (F. Buechner). It is a place where you experience spiritual energy, joy and fulfillment. It is where the Holy Spirit is calling, sending dreams, opening hearts and revealing leadership. You find spiritual excitement, not drudgery, in your call.

(Good News: The Spirit guides.) What can happen as a result of being guided by the Spirit? Well, in Paul’s case today, when he followed the Spirit, he was sent to Macedonia in Europe. He was the first one to bring the gospel to all of Europe! And the response he got was Spirit led, too. A woman named Lydialistened. She was a business woman who dealt in purple cloth, which was the most expensive dye at that time. She listened because Lord opened her heart. And she and her household were baptized! The Spirit worked not only with Paul and his group, but the Spirit worked also with this woman and her family to prepare them. They became the first Christians in Europe, the leaders of the church there! And Lydia then opened her home to Paul’s missionary group.

So I must ask today, where is your Macedonia? The Spirit is calling you to something, somewhere. It might be right here. It might not. Who will help you discern God’s will for your life? You have this built-in group of believers. They can pray with you and for you to help you can discern God’s will for yourself. And as for this church, where is your Macedonia? Who is saying to you come over and help us? Every time a group meets here, pray for God to guide this congregation to the spiritual place you should be.

Soon a transition team and call committee will be active here in the process of preparing for a new pastor. You will have an interim pastor first. It is going to be a time of prayer and stretching yourselves to something new. Your gut may say to you, “Let’s pull inward and only take care of us. Forget about mission at this time.” But the Holy Spirit draws you outward. God is preparing someone to be your pastor. God is preparing you to receive someone. You are called to be praying about that partnership you will have with a new pastor. My prayer is that you will remain open to the movement of the Holy Spirit - that you won’t become discouraged and give up on doing ministry and mission!

At baptism we were marked with the cross of Christ forever! And from that moment on, we are not allowed to be inward turned. Christ never pulled inward. He instead gave himself up to be put on the cross. On the cross Christ was at the margins with us, so we are called to continue to be at the margins with others (Rubin Duran, NTNL Assembly 4-28-13). Expect that when you pull outward, the Spirit will be there guiding. We ask God today to open our hearts, to give us ears to listen, and to give us leaders with vision for the future. We ask for God’s will because someone is begging, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” AMEN.