In Serving, God’s Will be Done on Earth

Philip of the Acts of Apostles was selected to serve the Greek speaking members of the earliest community of faith.  The original disciples thought they were too important to attend to daily distributions of food to the widows & needy among them.  So Philip & six others, men full of faith, stood before the apostles who prayed & placed their hands upon them.  When the early persecutions caused the flight of the faithful from Jerusalem, Philip settled among the Samaritans where he continued his ministry of sharing the good news of Jesus of Nazareth.  While in Samara he was invited by God to go to the main North-South highway of Israel.  Along that highway came the treasurer of the Egyptian Queen returning from Jerusalem.  He was reading aloud (all people read aloud in those days) from the book of the prophet Isaiah.  Philip was invited to board the chariot with this Egyptian official (who is also described as Ethiopian), & then interpret the text.  Upon deepening his understanding, the high court official of Egypt asked to be baptized since there was water available.

We then don’t hear of Philip until much later in the Acts of Apostles when he was living in Caesura & he provided hospitality to St. Paul.

In the life of Philip, we find many of the values we live by at All Saints.

We serve the ignored, the overlooked, & the neglected through Martha’s Table, Meals on Wheels, Meals for Seals, & the community emergency pantry.

We engage in conversation where ever life takes us, at the Post Office, Library, coffee shop, on campus, and we host many community gatherings.

And through serving, conversation, & hospitality, we observe no cultural barriers that would separate us from our brother & sisters.

In serving, engaging in conversation, providing hospitality, we provide opportunities for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.