Dear Friends
Acts 19: 23 – 26
23About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. 24A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. 25These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, ‘Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. 26You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods.
You have to feel a bit sorry for Demetrius. He’d grown up in Ephesus, a city which worshiped the Roman gods. It was their way of life. It was what they did. Perhaps Demetrius was a very pious man and that was what brought him into the religious knickknack trade? In any event it brought in a tidy income. And now the upstart St Paul was threatening to destroy not only his income but his whole way of life as he preached in the city and drew crowds to turn away from Roman gods in order to worship the true God.
The upshot was that Demetrius stirred up the city and provoked a lynch mob to find Paul. The city elders were afraid that there was going to be a riot which would have meant the involvement of Roman soldiers and would not have been at all pretty. Paul had to leave the city hurriedly. I’m not going to draw any analogies with riots in 2021 but rather to suggest that Christian faith does not always lead to easy conclusions.
If I was Paul, after I’d had to leave the city in a hurry, I’d have viewed it as failure and wondered how I could have done it differently! Could I have worked with the silver makers to produce crucifixes instead? Could I have been a bit less aggressive and suggested people prayed to Jesus in the temple of Artemis instead of abandoning them? Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey! I’m not sure that Paul was plagued with self-doubt in this way, but in any event if it had happened like this, would it have been as satisfactory? I leave it to you to make the decision! What I think is certainly true is that if we, as Christians, spend our whole time criticising rather than affirming we’re going to be seen as killjoys, holier-than-thou, and mischief makers. On the other hand if we never make a stand about anything we feel strongly about, our faith is not going to be life-changing.
In a time when so much is called into question for society at large and all the old certainties are suddenly certain no longer, what do you think Christians should be saying to offer hope that is meaningful rather than just empty words? And are we able to do it without turning society upside down, or is that part of the deal?
A prayer
Of course the one Christian prayer that really challenges the status quo of the world is the one we know best, the Lord’s Prayer. Here is an interpretation of it from Central America
Our Father
Who is in us here on earth,
Holy is your narne
In the hungry who share their bread and their song.
Your Kingdom come,
A generous land where confidence and truth reign.
Let us do your will,
Bring a cool breeze for those who sweat.
You are giving us our daily bread
When we manage to get back our lands
Or to get a fairer wage.
Forgive us for keeping silent in the face of injustice
And for burying our dreams.
Don’t let us fall into the temptation
Of taking up the same arms as the enemy,
But deliver us from evil which disunites us.
And we shall have believed in humanity and life
And we shall have known your kingdom
Which is being built for ever and ever.
Source unknown (Central America)
Listen to the Missa Luba Sanctus which has a sense of transformation about it.
Every blessing
Andrew