Some of us have experienced going to a church hoping to worship and instead being turned away or being allowed to attend, yet made to feel uncomfortable because of our gender, sexual orientation, skin colour or disability. We may have left those churches with heavy hearts, wishing we could find our spiritual home.
Philip enters our text today amid similar rejection and longing. He sits beside the Ethiopian eunuch, answers his questions and tells the story of Jesus. In doing so, he proves himself to be a recklessly hospitable person, a man who makes himself unclean in order to call attention to arbitrary rules about who’s “in” and who’s “out.” Philip baptizes the eunuch (someone we would today consider a gender non-conforming person) who had been excluded from the worshipping life of the community, and sends him on his way rejoicing.
God of welcome, help us bring down the walls keeping some in and others out. Allow the Spirit to move, leading us into deeper communion with God’s all-encompassing welcome for all. Amen. —