Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Easter
Sunday 10th May 2009
St Cuthbert’s, Benfieldside
Acts 8. 26-40
Psalm 22. 24-30
1 John 4. 7-21
John 15. 1-8
A couple of weeks ago I found myself walking through
Lanchester, one rainy morning, with the school children
from Years 3 and 4, to visit the Parish Church. This was
not an RE lesson. They weren‟t learning about
Christianity or what people do in church. They were
visiting the church as part of a study into local history.
It was fascinating! Did you know that the oldest part of
All Saints, Lanchester, was built in 1147, using stone
from the Roman fort? The oldest of the stained glass
windows there are some 700 years old and depict
scenes from the nativity. But what caught my eye, in
particular, were the stained glass windows to the north
of the nave, which depict scenes from the Acts of the
Apostles.
Our Eastertide readings from the Acts of the Apostles
are like a breath of fresh air. Who could fail to be
inspired by the story of the young, idealistic and
enthusiastic church. Luke, the writer of Acts tells us:
“All who believed were together and had all things in
common; they would sell their possessions and goods
and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day
by day, as they spent much time together in the temple,
they broke bread from house to house and ate their
food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and
having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day
the Lord added to their number those who were being
saved.”
It sounds wonderful, doesn‟t it!
And it was from this infant church in Jerusalem that
Philip – the Philip that we read about in today‟s story
from Acts – emerged.
In the early days of the church, as we have already
heard, there was no private ownership and everything
was held in common. The church looked after the poor
and gave them food. The apostles couldn‟t do all the
work themselves. And, besides, their main task was to
preach and to pray. So they appointed „seven men of
good standing, full of the Spirit and of wisdom‟ – the
first lay ministers of the church.
One of these was Stephen, who became the first
martyr, stoned to death by false witnesses, while Saul
of Tarsus looked after their coats. And another was
Philip, who became known as „the evangelist‟.
After the death of Stephen the Christians in Jerusalem
were persecuted. Luke tells us that Saul ravaged the
church by entering house after house and dragging off
both men and women to commit them to prison.
Hounded out of the city by the church‟s enemies, Philip
went into neighbouring Samaria to preach the gospel.
This was a bold step because, in the eyes of the Jews,
the Samaritans were enemies and outcasts. But the
crowds, Luke writes, listened eagerly to Philip and saw
how he was able to cure the lame and heal others who
were sick. Many were baptised.
But then Philip was called away by God to travel south
to the wilderness road which runs between Jerusalem
and Gaza.
The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is a familiar
one to many of us. It‟s one that you can picture clearly
in your mind‟s eye.
Here‟s Philip, trudging along in the blazing sun,
travelling on foot, south, along the long desert road -
the barren rocks, sparse vegetation, burning sands,
shimmering in the heat.
And here‟s the grandiose Ethiopian official, bowling
along in his chariot - perhaps with an escort of
horsemen kicking up the dust from the road. He is
clearly an important and powerful man.
The text tells us that he was a senior official of the court
of the Queen of Ethiopia, „in charge of her entire
treasury‟ – or Chancellor of the Exchequer, if you like.
Luke describes him as a eunuch – a castrated man. This
fact is significant in that it would have prevented him
from becoming a full convert to Judaism. And he
obviously is attracted to the Jewish faith, since he has
made the long, long pilgrimage from his homeland in
Africa to Jerusalem to worship. What‟s more, he is using
his travelling time to study the Jewish scriptures.
It‟s a strange encounter. Something prompts Philip to
approach the chariot and speak to the foreigner. The
Ethiopian, in his turn, invites Philip – a complete
stranger – into his chariot and asks for his help in
explaining the passage he is reading from the book of
Isaiah. And so Philip is able to tell him the „good news
about Jesus‟. When they come to some water, the new
convert asks to be baptised immediately. Both Philip
and the eunuch go down into the water and Philip
baptises him.
And, yes! If you go to All Saints, Lanchester, you can
see this very scene clearly and colourfully depicted in
one of their stained glass windows.
After that encounter Philip travelled north again to
Azotus - and on to the seaport of Caesarea.
We hear about Philip just once more in the book of
Acts. Some years later - perhaps twenty or twenty-five
years later - Paul and Luke arrived in Caesarea after
their third missionary journey. There, we are told, they
went into the house of Philip the evangelist and stayed
with him. He now had four daughters, who remained
unmarried, and who all had „the gift of prophecy‟ –
having inherited, perhaps, their father‟s skills in
preaching, teaching and leading others to faith.
It‟s clear that Luke chooses to tell us this story about
Philip and the man from Ethiopia to emphasise how the
good news of Jesus Christ is good news for the whole
world and not just for a chosen few. Through Philip,
God reaches out first to the hated Samaritans and then
to the first black African convert. Later tradition
suggests that this man himself became the first
evangelist in his native country.
But Philip‟s story is also of particular interest to me in
that he was one of the first lay ministers of the church.
Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of women as
Readers in the Church of England. There are more than
10,000 Readers in the Church today, with men and
women represented almost equally. As some of today‟s
„lay ministers‟ we are licensed by the Church to a
specific ministry - to preach, teach, and lead worship.
Its worth taking a moment to consider the meaning of
the term „ministry‟. The title „minister‟ is often
associated with someone in a position of importance –
Prime Minister or government minister, for example. But
the word „ministry‟ derives from the Latin word „minor‟,
meaning „less‟. A „minister‟ in the church sense of the
word is a servant - someone who strives to serve,
support and assist other people.
Within the Christian community each one of us is called
to a different ministry. This church, like the early church
we read about in the Acts of the Apostles, relies on the
glad and generous hearts of its members and on the
sharing of our resources. Each of us has a job to do in
the service of others. Not all are called to be priests or
Readers. But the church could not function or thrive
without the contributions of the churchwardens, the
PCC members, the organist, the cleaners, flower
arrangers, bell-ringers and coffee makers.
And where would we be without the members of the
choir, gardeners, sidespeople, Sunday School teachers
and Christian Aid collectors, people who make and serve
lunches at the lunch club, people who count and
manage money, people who give lifts to others?
Christians today gain strength from the shared worship,
fellowship and mutual support they find within their
churches, just as the early church did.
But I am sure that God is calling us, as he did Philip, to
carry our faith outwards, too. Through Philip‟s witness
of the gospel „outsiders‟ were invited to participate fully
in the worship of God. Togetherness is important. But
God calls us, too, to the desert road – to the wilderness
of our homes, our streets and our places of work, where
we might encounter the puzzled seeker, the lost, the
lonely and the plain bewildered. We are called to love
one another. But there are many strangers – be they
loveable, loveless or unlovely - who need God‟s love,
and our love, too.

As one writer asks:

“Are we the ones who send them off to read their bibles
alone on a deserted road? Or are we the ones who track
them down, join them in the chariot, and talk about
how scripture finds its meaning in the gospel of Jesus
Christ?”

This morning, as every Sunday morning, we will end our

service by praying together „Send us out in the power of
your Spirit, to live and work to your praise and glory‟.
As we go about our daily lives this week let‟s remember
that the good news of Jesus Christ is good news for the
whole world and not just for a chosen few. And God‟s
love – God‟s perfect love - is for all.