The Inner and Outer Loop
Easter 6; May 5, 2013
For First Mennonite Church of Denver
Copyright Vernon K. Rempel, 2013

Bible reading: Acts 16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Cinco de Mayo!
Cinco de mayo today
 If you’re not used to Spanish
  it sounds like a thing, a name of a holiday
   but it’s actually a day – the 5th of May

Like the 4th of July
 only it’s not Mexican independence day
  but it is sort of Mexican dignity day….

(from Wikipedia – is a good start to research
 but needs to be confirmed)
The Battle of Puebla was important for at least two reasons. First, although considerably outnumbered, the Mexicans defeated a much better-equipped French army. "This battle was significant in that the 4,000 Mexican soldiers were greatly outnumbered by the well-equipped French army of 8,000 that had not been defeated for almost 50 years." [28][29] [note 4] Second, since the Battle of Puebla, no country in the Americas has subsequently been invaded by any other European military force.[30][note 5]

Dignity
 for peoples who were largely tromped by Europeans
  for centuries

Why and how this was is brilliantly discussed
 by Jared Diamond in his prize-winning book
  Guns, Germs, and Steel

This is an “outward” reality to pay attention to this a.m.

Our theme for this season following Easter
 until Pentecost on the 19th
  is “Learning inward; learning outward”

It is a naming and affirmation of the paradox
 of the importance of “inner work”
  listening to our inner teachers, our true selves,
   the spirit within

And then exploring how that interacts in relationship
 with individuals, with our community
  with the world “out there”

Just do inner work and you will be navel gazing
 Just do outer work, and as Thomas Merton
  points out in his “letter to a young activist”

You gravely risk doing damage in the world
 because of a driven desire to succeed and win
  for the sake of justice and goodness

Activism must be leavened and deepened by reflection.
 And reflection must find expression in social relationship.

So part of the outer loop this a.m.
 Cinco de mayo!
  A day for dignity for the peoples
   of the Americas…

Paul and Macedonia
In our passage
 “the good news” – Paul gets vision to “proclaim”
  in Macededonia

He’s experiencing a learning from his “inner teacher”
 from the teaching of the Holy Spirit in his heart

Paul gets vision of a man
 Every missionary and evangelists’ favorite passage
  a man calling to come

“…there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us."

Now you can imagine how a missionary or evangelist
 would love this passage
  if they live life experiencing the challenge and resistance
 to their work of spreading the good news of Jesus

Unfortunately, too often perhaps,
 they “spreading the good news” types
  may have just been annoying or bossy
   or knowing to much and listening too little

I don’t know how often it’s true
 but I remember thinking it even when I was a child
  and heard these sermons  on this passage
   often from guest speakers

part of which was that the tone of the preaching
 was so different from the deferential thoughtfulness
  of my father’s preaching voice

What an exciting deal for a missionary or evangelist
all loaded up with the right answers, and now an invite
 “come help us”

It’s like having a large truck
 with really great large-gauge jumper cables
  in the tool box

and here’s a motorist in distress
 just needing some jumper cables!

Come help us with the good news
 yes indeed

But you know what, love does make us want to reach out
 to care, to have a sense of vision

And I used to think of Paul as this sort of bossy guy
 that would push his way in with agenda all loaded
  and he may have had some of that

(And I freely admit having jumped into this agenda-driven
 helpfulness trap myself over and over….)

But after re-reading I Thessalonians this winter
 (and you can read my verse by verse commentary, if you wish)
 I was impressed by how compelled he was by a deep and
love – he declares his delight and joy over and over again
 
not just a stern message about following Jesus and
  being a new church

all very well as far as it goes
 but Paul’s old pharisaic ego is just crushed by delight
  but the new love he finds in Christ.

And so even though the call to Macedonia
 is recorded as an opportunity to “proclaim the good news”

I think it may be more accurate to read it as
 “Paul’s heart warmed with love
  and he longed to share it and meet with people
   whose lives were struggling toward a love
    that they could not name”

And so Paul goes to Macedonia,
 and here’s a twist not often mentioned, as I recall,
  in the traditional mission or evangelist sermons:

He meets women. The vision is of a man calling.
 But Paul meets women.
  And one woman in particularly – Lydia,
   offers him hospitality

She’s possibly a woman of some means
 a seller of purple – much valued fabric
  made in sea-side towns from
   crushed mollusks

So now Paul’s inner vision of a man calling
 needs to be readjusted to a woman
  who becomes the lead actor in this story

She offers hospitality and becomes the basis
 of the new community in Macedonia.

She does. Not he.
 Paul adjusts from the man calling to the woman.

The inner vision encounters the outer reality
 and is adjusted.
  The inner wasn’t all wrong – there was a call
   to share Christ’s love

But form was significantly different
 from the traditional man calling and inviting
  to a woman

And now like the centurian in Acts 10
 she and all her house were baptized
  as a celebration of the new love
   that had come into their lives
     in the Spirit of Christ.

Inner vision moves, act, readjust – man to woman

Theda – spiritual director
One key way to work at our inner practice
 is spiritual direction
  and pastor Theda Good is a trained spiritual directory

Theda, welcome!

What is spiritual direction?

What drew you to learning more about this practice?

A favorite anecdote or story?

Do I come to you with a relationship problem?
 Or do I come to you with a problem at all?
  Or is this more like good spiritual maintenance?

Offer us a bit of a reading or something you might use in this practice?

The inner and outer loop….

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