From God comes faith through grace — a way to orient our lives.  From God comes blessings beyond what we can possible conceive.  From God comes life and, though Jesus, the promise of eternal life.  From humankind, comes religion with all of its rules and restrictions.  This is why some people are quick to say, “I’m spiritual, but not religious.”  In other words, “I believe in God, but I want nothing to do with organized religion.  I want nothing to do with the church.”

You know such people.  You’ve talked to them.  Actually, they have talked to you this way, justifying why they do not go to church.  On one hand, I can’t blame them.  Historically, the Church has done some horrible things.  The crusades forced non-believers to accept Jesus at the pain of torture.  Most quarters of the Church turned its back on the Holocaust and Hitler’s reign of terror.  The Bible has been used to justify slavery, the subjugation of women, and to deny right to people because of whom they love.  More recently, stories surround the clergy sex scandals within (but not solely within) the Roman Catholic Church make people think that we are hypocrites at best, evildoers who hide behind God at worst.  Yes, the Church has done its share of damage.

Furthermore, we have become slaves to tradition and doctrine, making dogma a four letter word.  We are strict when it comes to enforcing the way we do things.  It makes some people think we are rigidly antiquated.  I wonder what the modern Church would think of Philip.

Today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles is interesting.  An Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the Queen’s treasury, is reading the prophet Isaiah as he is riding in a chariot.  The eunuch wants to know whom the passage he is reading about.  Philip, now seated beside him, explains the passage to him — revealing it is about Jesus.  As they continue along, they come upon some water.  Seeing it the eunuch says, “What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”  The chariot stops, Philip and the eunuch enter the water, and Philip baptizes him.  The eunuch does not have to meet with a pastor beforehand.  He doesn’t have to attend a new member’s class.  His faith is enough.

I am not saying that the way we do things is wrong.  It’s been over two thousand years since Jesus commissioned the disciples.  Of course some things are going to change.  For one thing, the Church became institutionalized, which means there are organized ways that we live the life of faith.  We don’t just hop on chariots and baptize strangers by roadside waters.

That said, the story of Philip teaches us (among other things) that we need to leave room for the Holy Spirit to act.  We need to allow for a little spontaneity to take hold of us sometimes.  There are some churches and denominations that are known for this.  People sit in silence during Quaker Meetings until some feels moved to speak.  People who are Pentecostal believe that they have a variety of spiritual gifts, as outline in 1 Corinthians 12.  One of those gifts in speaking in tongues.  Moved by the Holy Spirit, Pentecostals speak a language that sounds like babble to most.  Those who have the gift of interpretation literally interpret what those who speak in tongues say.  In their worship services there’s no telling who will speak and when.  Don’t worry: I am not suggesting that we adopt the worship practices of the Quakers or Pentecostals.  Although I respect such practices, they don’t align with my theology.  Besides, I like my job.  If I were to suggest that we start speaking in tongues, I’m sure your eyes would roll and then my head would roll!

My point is simple: in the day to day living of our faith as a church — whether it has to do with what we do in worship, or what we do administratively behind the scenes, or even the tasks our ministry teams fulfill — maybe, just maybe, we do not always have to do things the same way because we have always done them that way.  Maybe, God wants to break in from time to time and disrupt our business as usual.  Maybe the Holy Spirit has a word for us, and that word will sound uncomfortable, because it challenges our usual way of thinking.  Can we know for sure that this won’t happen?  Anyone who answers “yes” must have the mind of God!

Here’s one example.  Churches spend an exorbitant amount of time looking backwards to the way things used to be.  We all know that the mainline Church (actually, churches in general) are in a state of decline.  We can lament that fact.  We can wax about the glory days when attendance was through the roof and we had so many kids coming here that we had to build a new addition.  Such nostalgia will not put a single, solitary, warm behind in the pews.  Instead, we need to think outside the box.  How do we minister best to the people God sent to us?  This does not mean that we do not have to evangelize.  However, if we minister to those whom God has sent to us, then I truly believe word will spread — in fact, I think it already is.  Yet, even if it doesn’t, what’s so bad as having the best ministry we can for those already here?  So many churches focus on who isn’t here that they do not feed those who are!

And this is just one example.  What about the way we worship God?  Every week I work with Patty (our office manager) to put the bulletin together.  It’s pretty much the same each week.  We add a hymn and the Passing of the Peace on Communion Sunday, the first Sunday of the month.  That’s not a criticism.  This is a standard format for worship in the Congregational tradition, and in many other mainline denominations, too.  We want order, not chaos.  That’s one of the ways we show our reverence for God.

But then again, maybe here, too, we can leave some room for the Holy Spirit to challenge our usual way of doing things.  As the leader of worship, maybe I need to listen a bit more carefully for times when we may need to spontaneously change things a bit.

Again, none of this is a criticism as to how we do things.  It’s just that sometimes the Scriptures offer us a lesson we need to hear.  Philip is our teacher today.  In a sermon he delivered several years ago at the Vatican, Pope Francis warned the Church to allow God to disrupt our plans.[1]  The poet Robert Burns said that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  Maybe this is what the Pope was thinking about.  When our plans do not conform to God’s plan for us, God disrupts them.  Although that may leave us a bit unsettled, it’s a good thing.  We shouldn’t be too comfortable in our man-made ways.  Let us leave room for the Spirit.  You never know what could happen!  Amen.

[1] See ncregister.com/daily-news/allow-god-to-disrupt-your-plans-pope-francis-says.