That old time religion
Commentary
That old time religion
Give me that old time religion,
that old time religion.
It was good for Paul and Silas,
and it's good enough for me.
Reading about the activities of Paul and Silas encourages second thoughts about the desire expressed in this foot-stomping old gospel song. The religion of Paul and Silas got them thrown into jail in Philippi and into a sticky situation in Thessalonica. We do well to be sure of the things for which we yearn. Luke in his story of the early church makes quite clear to us just what the old time religion is all about.
John of Revelation does likewise. His letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor concludes with the vision of a city whose maker and builder is God and an open invitation to share the vision and live for it in the present. Paul and Silas were doing just that as they went about expanding the perimeters of human community in their risk-laden travels.
Paul and Silas, of course, in their own time were fulfilling the grand prayer of Jesus. They were in the world, but marching to a different drum beat. Our gospel reading is that portion of the prayer that embraces us. He prayed that we would be one with him as he and the Father were one in redemptive love for the world. Denominational mergers are not the burden of this prayer, but public ministry in the world.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Acts 16:16-34
A Pakistani pastor once told me of an incident that he witnessed in his country which was similar to Paul's encounter with the slave girl. A street preacher was being verbally harassed by a young woman. The preacher ended the interference by taking off his shoe and giving her a spanking. Paul and his companions were not being heckled by the slave girl. What she was saying was true enough, but her constant repetition was getting on Paul's nerves. He had the insight to sense some inner disturbance in the young woman and performed an exorcism. This incident might suggest to us that there are creative alternatives to lashing out at folk who annoy us.
The healing made the slave girl no longer profitable to her owners who made money via her activity as a fortune-teller. They were not happy about this turn of events so they formed themselves into a Political Action Committee and went to the authorities to lobby for remedial action. One thinks here of the way the first missionaries to Hawaii incurred the wrath of the whalers by objecting to their sexual exploitation of the native Hawaiian women.
The charge that the owners make (verse 20) is a real red herring. Vested interests in every age are adept at throwing up smoke screens. These owners charged Paul and company of being un-Roman. They knew just the right button to push. Imperial sentiment ran high in Philippi. It was here that Antony and Octavian, whom we know as the emperor Augustus, defeated the legions of Brutus and Cassius. Augustus made the city a Roman colony, settled his discharged veterans there, and dignified the city with the title, Colonia Augustus Julia Philippiensis. Here is a sermon path that leads right into today and the use of scare tactics to cloud public issues.
This reading also offers an opportunity to think about a sermon on Silas. He is a worthy subject. Check out the many references to Silas in Acts 15-17. He was willing to reach out to others; he was a peacemaker, a prophet, a loyal companion to Paul through thick and thin. He was a disciple on the cutting edge of the church's mission.
Several years ago I read a book, I Played Their Accompaniment (I forget the author's name). He has been a noted piano accompanist for many accomplished performers. Being a competent accompanist is a crucial task. Silas was an accompanist and we could well describe our discipleship in those terms. Someone once asked Leonard Bernstein what he found to be the most difficult instrument to play. He replied, "Second Fiddle."
The preacher may also find a sermon suggestion in the scene of Paul and Silas singing hymns at midnight within the jail. One thinks of the song that has been sung in many jails in our own and other countries, "We shall overcome." Think of the songs of protest that fired youthful idealism in the 1960s. Woody Guthrie, whose songs in dust bowl days reflected both the glory and shame of the nation said, "I hate a song that makes you think you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you're just born to lose, no good to nobody, no good for nothing, because you're too fat or too slim, too old or too young, too slim or too ugly to do this or that." Think of the grand musical tradition of the church through the centuries. Many denominations are presently paying renewed attention to the hymnody of the church.
The diverse congregation coming into being in Philippi is worth noting. There is an accomplished businesswoman and her household, a slave girl, and now the city jailer and his family. The earthquake is a typical Lukan flourish and the first century reader would understand it as signifying an answer to prayer.
The jailer was ready to commit suicide at the thought of what his loss of the prisoners would mean in terms of punishment. But Paul and Silas were of a different mind set. They did not bolt and run because they cared for him.
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John's vision of the City of God is a vision of a new humanity in all its diversity. Such a vision is an eclipse in our midst. Privatism is a prevailing religious pattern and private fantasies rather than social vision abound.
There are in our nation metropolitan areas where some suburban developments look like fortresses. They are replete with walls, locked gates, and some even with guards. People-fear is much present. Here is the flash point between the vision of John and the shape of the city today. It is important to note that the City is in fact the new earth and the bride is the whole of a redeemed humanity in all its diversity. Verse 17 could serve as a key verse for a sermon bearing the open invitation to share the vision of the new world of God's making. This is the corporate vision articulated by the old time religion.
John 17:20-26
It has been the unfortunate fate of these verses in our time to have been commandeered by enthusiasts for denominational mergers. The prayer of Jesus that we all be one has nothing to do with ecclesiastical structures. Paul Minear suggests that we understand these verses by reference to the preceding verses where Jesus prays that his disciples will remain in the world whatever the risk. He makes this insightful comment:
In this respect, the situation of all believers, as reflected in Jesus' final intercession (17:20-26), was not very different from that of their charismatic leaders (17:7-19). Although they prided themselves on believing, they were loathe to define that believing by testifying to the world, when such testifying involved a high level of risk. They were not eager to define faith by love for the world but were more inclined to take pride in God's love for themselves. So they were not yet one with the Father and his Son .... Basic to the prayer is the conviction that all believers are witnesses, and that all witnesses are obliged to love the world that threatens to destroy them.1
Wow! Talk about the old time religion!
1. Minear, Paul S., John, The Martyr's Gospel, The Pilgrim Press, New York, 1984.
Give me that old time religion,
that old time religion.
It was good for Paul and Silas,
and it's good enough for me.
Reading about the activities of Paul and Silas encourages second thoughts about the desire expressed in this foot-stomping old gospel song. The religion of Paul and Silas got them thrown into jail in Philippi and into a sticky situation in Thessalonica. We do well to be sure of the things for which we yearn. Luke in his story of the early church makes quite clear to us just what the old time religion is all about.
John of Revelation does likewise. His letter to the seven churches of Asia Minor concludes with the vision of a city whose maker and builder is God and an open invitation to share the vision and live for it in the present. Paul and Silas were doing just that as they went about expanding the perimeters of human community in their risk-laden travels.
Paul and Silas, of course, in their own time were fulfilling the grand prayer of Jesus. They were in the world, but marching to a different drum beat. Our gospel reading is that portion of the prayer that embraces us. He prayed that we would be one with him as he and the Father were one in redemptive love for the world. Denominational mergers are not the burden of this prayer, but public ministry in the world.
Sermon Seeds In The Lessons
Acts 16:16-34
A Pakistani pastor once told me of an incident that he witnessed in his country which was similar to Paul's encounter with the slave girl. A street preacher was being verbally harassed by a young woman. The preacher ended the interference by taking off his shoe and giving her a spanking. Paul and his companions were not being heckled by the slave girl. What she was saying was true enough, but her constant repetition was getting on Paul's nerves. He had the insight to sense some inner disturbance in the young woman and performed an exorcism. This incident might suggest to us that there are creative alternatives to lashing out at folk who annoy us.
The healing made the slave girl no longer profitable to her owners who made money via her activity as a fortune-teller. They were not happy about this turn of events so they formed themselves into a Political Action Committee and went to the authorities to lobby for remedial action. One thinks here of the way the first missionaries to Hawaii incurred the wrath of the whalers by objecting to their sexual exploitation of the native Hawaiian women.
The charge that the owners make (verse 20) is a real red herring. Vested interests in every age are adept at throwing up smoke screens. These owners charged Paul and company of being un-Roman. They knew just the right button to push. Imperial sentiment ran high in Philippi. It was here that Antony and Octavian, whom we know as the emperor Augustus, defeated the legions of Brutus and Cassius. Augustus made the city a Roman colony, settled his discharged veterans there, and dignified the city with the title, Colonia Augustus Julia Philippiensis. Here is a sermon path that leads right into today and the use of scare tactics to cloud public issues.
This reading also offers an opportunity to think about a sermon on Silas. He is a worthy subject. Check out the many references to Silas in Acts 15-17. He was willing to reach out to others; he was a peacemaker, a prophet, a loyal companion to Paul through thick and thin. He was a disciple on the cutting edge of the church's mission.
Several years ago I read a book, I Played Their Accompaniment (I forget the author's name). He has been a noted piano accompanist for many accomplished performers. Being a competent accompanist is a crucial task. Silas was an accompanist and we could well describe our discipleship in those terms. Someone once asked Leonard Bernstein what he found to be the most difficult instrument to play. He replied, "Second Fiddle."
The preacher may also find a sermon suggestion in the scene of Paul and Silas singing hymns at midnight within the jail. One thinks of the song that has been sung in many jails in our own and other countries, "We shall overcome." Think of the songs of protest that fired youthful idealism in the 1960s. Woody Guthrie, whose songs in dust bowl days reflected both the glory and shame of the nation said, "I hate a song that makes you think you're not any good. I hate a song that makes you think you're just born to lose, no good to nobody, no good for nothing, because you're too fat or too slim, too old or too young, too slim or too ugly to do this or that." Think of the grand musical tradition of the church through the centuries. Many denominations are presently paying renewed attention to the hymnody of the church.
The diverse congregation coming into being in Philippi is worth noting. There is an accomplished businesswoman and her household, a slave girl, and now the city jailer and his family. The earthquake is a typical Lukan flourish and the first century reader would understand it as signifying an answer to prayer.
The jailer was ready to commit suicide at the thought of what his loss of the prisoners would mean in terms of punishment. But Paul and Silas were of a different mind set. They did not bolt and run because they cared for him.
Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
John's vision of the City of God is a vision of a new humanity in all its diversity. Such a vision is an eclipse in our midst. Privatism is a prevailing religious pattern and private fantasies rather than social vision abound.
There are in our nation metropolitan areas where some suburban developments look like fortresses. They are replete with walls, locked gates, and some even with guards. People-fear is much present. Here is the flash point between the vision of John and the shape of the city today. It is important to note that the City is in fact the new earth and the bride is the whole of a redeemed humanity in all its diversity. Verse 17 could serve as a key verse for a sermon bearing the open invitation to share the vision of the new world of God's making. This is the corporate vision articulated by the old time religion.
John 17:20-26
It has been the unfortunate fate of these verses in our time to have been commandeered by enthusiasts for denominational mergers. The prayer of Jesus that we all be one has nothing to do with ecclesiastical structures. Paul Minear suggests that we understand these verses by reference to the preceding verses where Jesus prays that his disciples will remain in the world whatever the risk. He makes this insightful comment:
In this respect, the situation of all believers, as reflected in Jesus' final intercession (17:20-26), was not very different from that of their charismatic leaders (17:7-19). Although they prided themselves on believing, they were loathe to define that believing by testifying to the world, when such testifying involved a high level of risk. They were not eager to define faith by love for the world but were more inclined to take pride in God's love for themselves. So they were not yet one with the Father and his Son .... Basic to the prayer is the conviction that all believers are witnesses, and that all witnesses are obliged to love the world that threatens to destroy them.1
Wow! Talk about the old time religion!
1. Minear, Paul S., John, The Martyr's Gospel, The Pilgrim Press, New York, 1984.
