Sermon - 5-29-22

<p><strong>Acts 16:16-34; Easter 7C; 5/29/22</strong></p> <p><em>Paul and Silas bound in jail</em><em><br /> Had no money for to go their bail<br /> Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on<br /> <br /> Paul and Silas thought they was lost<br /> Dungeon shook and the chains come off<br /> Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p> <p>Throughout history, praying and the singing of hymns have been <strong>subversive</strong> actions people of faith have taken to bring about change within the established order. These actions have moved people to engage culture, to act, and to work for change. We saw this during the Civil Rights Movement as people subversively worked for equality, civil rights, and policy change in society. People of faith routinely sang hymns like <em>We Shall Overcome</em> and <em>Keep Your Eyes On The Prize,</em> the hymn I just quoted. The time is upon us when we must do this again as we face our culture’s brokenness.  We must confess the idolatry of our worship of guns. We must confess our malignant ideology of extreme individualism and personal rights, face our captivity to guns, face the evil plague of gun violence in this land, and work for change. We have been acting subversively this morning as we began worship with a litany <em>Lamenting Gun Violence</em> and then sang the hymn <em>If We Just Talk Of Thoughts And Prayers</em>. We act subversively as we do this, while at the same time working for change within the context of the present established order of rule in this country.  <strong>Activities like these have been an aspect of the faith community for centuries. </strong></p> <p>As the Jesus movement was born and began to spread throughout the Roman Empire, Christianity both helped to <strong>subvert</strong> the long Roman domination in people’s lives and at the same time preserve what was best within it.  In fact, as we think about Jesus’ own ministry, he was always <strong>subverting</strong> the established order – not only the civil order of the day, but also the