The Amazing Race - Paul goes to Cyprus
Reader
1:
Welcome
to week two of the Amazing Race: The
Amazing Race is a Reality program featuring 12 teams of 2 racing around the
world for a cash prize of $1,000,000. The teams compete in thirteen legs
traveling all over the world. In most legs the last team to arrive at the pit
stop is eliminated. The team in first place is the winner of $1,000,000 and the
winner of The Amazing Race. As in most of these reality game shows, there are
competitions that each team must complete.
For example, in Hawaii the teams find beach access 118 where an
exhausting task requires them prepare a pig for a luau. Once they have
successfully completed this task they receive the next clue instructing them to
travel to a buoy field where they must search amongst over 100 buoys for a
clue. Upon completing this task, they travel to a surfboard fence along the
Hana Highway. One racer gains a substantial lead at the leg's Roadblock when
the other teams get lost on the way to it. Ultimately, the other teams catch
up, making it a very close race for the finish.
Reader
2:
Last
week, we met Saul, a Pharisee from Tarsus, a Jew that was persecuting early
Christians in Jerusalem. As these early
followers of Jesus fled Jerusalem due to the persecution, Saul takes it upon
himself to follow them and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial. On the road to Damascus, he is struck down by
the Lord, and blinded. Through this
conversion experience Saul becomes Paul and his journey to spread the word of
God made known in Jesus Christ begins.
Reader
1:
So, in
true reality game show fashion, Paul and Barnabus, partner together and head
off for the first leg of the journey to Cyprus where they must face their first
competition. The team is filled with the
Holy Spirit as they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues there. When they arrive in the city of Paphos, they
encounter a magician. He is their
roadblock.
Reader
2:
The
story tells us that the magician’s boss,
the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, wants to hear the word of God but the magician
prevents it. We are not told how or what
he does, but merely that he tries to turn the proconsul from the faith. As Paul and the magician square off, it
almost seems as if magic is being fought with magic. Paul seems to put a spell on him as he calls
out:
Reader
1:
“you will be blind for awhile, unable to see
the sun.”
Reader
2;
This
happens throughout our scriptures, amazing occurrences that seem to be magic
such as Moses and the plagues over
Egypt. Or Elijah and the prophets of
Baal in 1 Kings 18. Over and over again,
there are these competitions of - whose God is more powerful? From 1 Kings “How long will you go limping
with two different opinions? If the Lord
is God, follow him; but if Ball, then follow him.” Elijah then goes on to state that it is one
against four hundred and fifty. He alone
is the prophet of God against all these others that are prophets of Baal. He then takes two bulls, one for each camp,
and they prepare them upon a fire but no fire is set. “Then you call on the name of your god and I
will call on the name of the Lord; the god who answers by fire is indeed
God.” The result is that the bull of
Elijah is burned and consumed but not that of the prophets of Baal.
Reader
1:
But this is not magic. Somehow, the power of God unleashes itself at
various times in our faith history in order to point people in the direction of
the true God versus false idols, gods, and worship. We have these amazing acts in our scriptures
but we can struggle with how they work in today’s world. How Paul is given the power of blinded another,
remains a mystery. What is made clear in
this story is that there are things in our way that block us from hearing the
word of God. As in the time of Elijah,
we go through life limping with two opinions, that of the world and that of
God. Who will we follow? God’s power is unleashed upon these
roadblocks opening the way for us to see God’s path more clearly. As soon as Paul blinds the magician, he removes
the Roadblock, and Sergius Paulus believes.
Not only does he believe through the act of the blinding, but the
scripture tells us that he is astonished at the teaching about the Lord. The thing that was blinding him from the word
of God is removed and his eyes are opened and now he can see - spiritually. The competition is completed, Paul’s team
wins one for the Lord.
Reader
2:
In true reality game show fashion,
there now needs to be a prize or immunity for the winner. As we seek to identify the Roadblocks in our
own lives, as we seek to name the things that blind us in our own faith journey,
we too are given a prize and immunity as we journey along this Amazing
Race. On a monthly basis, we receive the sacrament
of Communion. The challenges we face in
our daily lives are exhausting and God meets us with spiritual food, spiritual
nurture through this meal. We are
reminded that we are children of God, heirs of the Kingdom of God, brought into
adoption through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We do not worship Paul and his mighty
acts. We do not worship Elijah and his mighty
acts. We gather to give thanks that
God’s faith history with Israel has been fulfilled through Jesus Christ, and
that the Holy Spirit is still pouring forth into this world, empowering us to
be God’s agents, seeking to bring God’s love, grace, forgiveness, and
reconciliation into this world.
Reader
1:
We come to worship and God’s gift of
love and grace, limping between our spiritual selves and the ways of the
world. We come with other priorities on
own minds. We come burdened with many
obligations. But we come. We come because the prize has been won for
us. We come because we have had moments
in life where we have seen clearly. We
come because we have known God’s healing touch.
We come because even in our doubt we believe. God reminds us that Christ has given us our
immunity. We have completed this leg of
the journey and gotten this far. Now we
are to be renewed and refreshed to move forward to the next stage of where God
leads us. Amen.
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