Bishop Hutterer: Setting our course
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
“They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.”
The Office of the Bishop team is dwelling in the words of Acts 16:6-10, and will be for the next few months. In a time of weariness, when we are unable to go to the places we desire, this story from the church in its infancy has much to offer.
Paul and his companions are not only blocked by the Holy Spirit but the Spirit of Jesus as well. Unable to go north or south, they are seemingly herded to the seaside town of Troas, where they run out of land.
That night Paul hears a neighbor’s call for help. Already placed near a harbor, they immediately and without question set sail for Macedonia on a course direct and true.
This all seems straightforward, until we remember the many struggles Paul has gone through already. This is his second mission trip, hundreds of miles longer than the first.
We also remember they are heading into the unknown. Ups and downs on the seas and strange lands await. Once in Macedonia, they receive remarkable hospitality from Lydia, are arrested and stripped and flogged, miraculously set free, then back to Lydia’s for a visit before going on their way. All in a day’s work for an apostle: ups and downs of following Jesus.
As we think of all we’ve been through this year, and as we look ahead to a future that seems increasingly uncertain, ups and downs abound. There is no guarantee as to what will happen to us: good, bad, or indifferent.
What can be certain, however, that the One we follow knows how to lead through the dips.
We can take heart that this is a story of surety of purpose: a map comes to Paul in a dream and in a stranger’s cry for help.
When we are frustrated—at a loss for what to do next, unable to achieve our own goals and arrive at our own destinations—we can take heart that God’s call to us is simply waiting to be heard in God’s time. And, that God will provide companions along the way.
We need merely to stop and listen. God’s call will be clear and precise. It may even come during the spaces where we seek respite.
I am grateful for the gift of the setting sun, for breathing space in the evening and night, and for the darkness in which God works to place a map within us sending us where we are to go.
I am grateful for you and your work. Tonight, I encourage you to rest. Tonight, I encourage you to listen to where the Spirit is calling you to love and serve and share the Good News of Jesus.
The Rev. Deborah K. Hutterer
Bishop
Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA
