Rolling Up Our Sleeves

TEXTS: Acts 1:15 – 26 and Voices, by Ursula Le Guin, pgs 359 – 361.


Last week I chose the readings for this week and next week. I did not know that casting lots and choosing a successor would be so closely related to what we did on retreat yesterday.

For those of you who were not able to make it to the retreat, yesterday we used a 4 sided die to decide which question of our 4 questions we would attempt to answer first. Also, I announced that I feel like I have been called to be interim pastor here at Grace, and that I have had a single vision for healing for this community, but that I feel called to not become the permanent pastor. It was not a decision fully formed until yesterday afternoon, but one that I have been discerning through reading and prayer for the last couple of months. It wasn't until the power was flowing in our gathering that I clearly heard what I was to do and be.

The believers, as they are called here in Acts, are waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate this fulfilled promise next week, but the believers did not have a time-table for when they would receive their power. At this point they are devoting themselves to prayer and taking care of business as they need to.

I think it's interesting that they decided the parameters of who would become the successor of Judas, but they let a divine roll of the dice decide which of the two who met the criteria would be selected. Those are interesting side notes ... details to the story. What really catches my eye is that they listened to the messengers that we read about last week. They stopped looking up and waiting for Jesus' return and they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Some of that work was devoting themselves to prayer. Some of that work was doing the next thing that felt important.

In our other story, Memer finds out that she is the successor in her faith tradition. Her mentor, though not really her predecessor, offers her an explanation for a miracle that was not a miracle – the running of the fountain which hadn't run in decades. Memer is not troubled by this act of drama, but is more curious about the real miracle, that a lame man stood straight and tall, running and moving with grace and agility. Her mentor had been lame since she first knew him and remains lame, but in that moment of that day Memer describes the Waylord as "a tall, straight, beautiful man, smiling, with fire in his eyes. ... He was not lame, he was lithe and quick."

The Waylord was only acting upon what he felt prompted to do. He had no recognition of the miracle he had become in that moment. Both he and Memer, in a time of crisis when war broke out, listened to Holy promptings that guided them and did not let doubt stop them from moving in the power they were given.

These are before and after stories of receiving power. The believers are yet waiting for theirs. Memer and the Waylord received theirs. In both stories people roll up their sleeves and get to work trusting that what needs to happen will happen. Some miracles may be more or less miracle. What appears to be a miracle might actually be produced from skill or sweat. But within the apparent miracle, I think, is where the miracle often occurs.

As power surged through the Waylord, and he did the task that he knew he was supposed to do, he became lithe and agile, tall and beautiful. When Memer trusted that she was doing what she needed to be doing and let herself be guided by her god, she became filled with power from the gift that had been dormant within her. These people became the miracles.

As the believers wait for the promise of power from the Holy Spirit they do what they need to do. They replace Judas using both skill and spirit. Their skill is the reasoning that they do. They decide that it should be a person who has been with them from the beginning. Then they call on their god to guide the dice. God honors their reasoning skills and they accept the roll of the dice as divine.

We need to devote ourselves to prayer, take practical steps toward our goal, and trust that our God will divinely guide us. We need to appreciate the apparent miracles that we see but also remember that when it comes down to it, any one of us may become the real miracle for the moment. Listen for guidance, do what you know how to do, trust that the power that needs to be released will be released, and don't be afraid that it may be released through you. The Waylord thought he was the Reader, but he wasn't. He had a different role. Memer didn't expect to be the Reader, but she was. Justus and Matthias may have never entertained the thought to become one of the twelve.

Don't make up your mind what role you have. Make up your mind that you will hear and be able to respond. Make up your mind to do what is in your power and to let Power do what is in you. It's time to roll up our sleeves, trust our skill and trust our God.