Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Queerying Easter 7C



Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Acts reading.

Acts 16:16-34
16One day, as we were going to the place of prayer,
we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination
and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.
17While she followed Paul and us,
she would cry out,
“These ones are slaves of the Most High God,
who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”
18She kept doing this for many days.
But Paul, very much annoyed,
turned and said to the spirit,
“I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.”
And it came out that very hour.

19But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone,
they seized Paul and Silas
and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.
20When they had brought them before the magistrates,
they said, “These men are disturbing our city;
they are Jewish 21and are advocating customs
that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.”
22The crowd joined in attacking them,
and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing
and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
23After they had given them a severe flogging,
they threw them into prison
and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
24Following these instructions,
he put them in the innermost cell
and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the prisoners were listening to them.
26Suddenly there was an earthquake,
so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken;
and immediately all the doors were opened
and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
27When the jailer woke up
and saw the prison doors wide open,
he drew his sword and was about to kill himself,
since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.
28But Paul shouted in a loud voice,
“Do not harm yourself,
for we are all here.”
29The jailer called for lights,
and rushing in,
he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
30Then he brought them outside and said,
“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They answered,
“Believe on the Lord Jesus,
and you will be saved,
you and your household.”
32They spoke the word of the Lord to him
and to all who were in his house.
33At the same hour of the night
he took them and washed their wounds;
then he and his entire family were baptized without delay.
34He brought them up into the house
and set food before them;
and he and his entire household rejoiced
that he had become a believer in God.

Queeries for the text:
Which place of prayerWhere?
Why is telling the truth annoying to Paul?  What does the girl who is enslaved feel?
How do we profit off of slavery?
What agency does the girl who was enslaved have?  What happens to her when she is no longer "useful"?
Which customs were unlawful for Romans?
What happened to a fair trial?
Who else sings and prays in prison?
How do you believe "on" something or someone?
Did the others in the household also become believers?  Does it matter?
What ever happened to the girl?

What are your queeries?



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