Acts 8.26-40 and John 15.1-8
It is a magnificent story - Philip and the Ethiopian - and St. Luke obviously values it highly as his second book, the Acts of the Apostles, is focussed mainly on St. Peter and St.Paul.
Philip must have been an outstanding Christian, chosen with laying on of hands by the apostles, simply to serve food to the widows but then becoming a very fruitful evangelist.
Perhaps we can imagine him at prayer in the town of Samaria when an angel appears to him, “Get up, and go towards the South to the road that goes from Jerusalem to Gaza.” In those times it would be a journey of three days or so but he arrives at exactly the right time. He sees the chariot and, again, in obedience to the guidance of the Holy Spirit he goes over to the chariot where he hears the Ethiopian reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. In those days people usually read aloud. The Ethiopian was either a convert to Judaism, a ‘proselyte’ as they were called by the Jews, or one who was interested in the Jewish faith and called a ‘Godfearer’. Jewish influence had spread to Ethiopia and many people were attracted to that faith because of the teaching about one God instead of many. As treasurer to the Queen, the Ethiopian would have been rich enough to buy a scroll of the book of Isaiah. The Holy Spirit not only calls Philip but prepares the heart of the Ethiopian. He had got to exactly the right passage in Isaiah for Philip to have the opportunity to tell the Ethiopian about Jesus. Tradition has it that the Ethiopian was the first African convert and spread Christianity to his nation. Do you think that that kind of experience can ever happen today?
Well it has never happened to me although I have experienced the guidance of the Holy Spirit on a number of occasions. I remember a long time ago at a harvest festival. We had distributed gifts to everyone we could think of and I was left with quite a large box of fruit and vegetables. “What shall I do with these?” I wondered. The thought came into my mind of a family with whom I had contact but who lived outside the Parish some miles away. So off I went, leaving the box on the doorstep as the family was out. Later I met the mother who told me the family had no food in the house. She was out trying to borrow some from a relative and was almost in tears when she saw the box.
But I do know of a similar story to that of the Ethiopian. This was told to me by a person called Jack Winslow, one of the founder members of Lee Abbey and a great help to me personally. He was a missionary in India in the 1920’s. One young Indian girl, frightened by the idols of gods in the Hindu Temple where she was living ran away - I think she had been sold to the priests by her family to become a temple prostitute as happened in those days. She knocked on the door of one of the only Christians in the village. The woman took her in and then spent the night in prayer as she knew the priests would come looking for the girl the following day. In the morning Jack Winslow and his friends arrived just in time to take the girl away. Not too dramatic, you might think, but Jack and his team had been guided by the Holy Spirit five days before to make the long journey to that particular village arriving just in time to rescue the girl. She then went to a Christian Boarding School.
Can, I asked, that sort of thing happen today? In our Church? Such things don’t happen often and I would suggest there are two or three conditions which, I’m afraid are not easy. The first is clearly that we must be consistent in prayer. It is good to spend time in silence to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit can prompt us at any time. The second, and hardest, is to be obedient. I know from my own experience I have prayed “Please Lord, guide me, show me what I must do.” But at the back of my mind is a proviso, the whisper - don’t let it be that. For example, I have a feeling - nothing more than that at present, - that I should go and stand in my cassock and dog collar in Pride Hill with placards about Climate Change. If it becomes more than a feeling - a sort of clear direction - will I have the courage? I don’t know. Or if the Holy Spirit says, I want you to give all your money away to such and such ... I knew a husband and wife who did exactly that and helped a large number of people as a result. But again, would I have that sort of courage? Show me the way O God, but don’t let it be this or that, does impede the work of the Holy Spirit. Philip was obviously completely devoted to doing God’s will wherever that may lead him - as were other heroes of the Acts - Stephen, Peter, Paul - eventually leading to death or imprisonment. Another thing is that we may need the help and support of other praying Christians although the Ethiopian didn’t have that - Jesus was enough.
Nevertheless, I do believe that God deals kindly with us according to our faith and there will be times when the promptings of the Holy Spirit take root in our hearts and we pluck up courage to act upon what we hear. I am sure many of you will have experienced that kind of guidance. For, as the Gospel reading tells us, we are the branches joined to the vine which is Jesus. If we try to abide in Him and let Him live in us, as He does at this Communion Service, then we will bear fruit - perhaps not in such a dramatic way as Philip but nevertheless fruit for the Kingdom of God. And when we do bear fruit that we can see (sometimes we may never see it in this life) the joy is very great. Let’s pray that we may hear the voice of the Holy Spirit more clearly and act upon what we hear, knowing God who is so gracious will not ask us to do more than our faith enables us to do. Amen.
Revd Colin Hurford