From the Acts of the Apostles:
An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went.
(From the Daily Office Lectionary – Acts 8:26-27a (NRSV) – August 21, 2014)
I suppose that if “an angel of the Lord” told me to “get up and go” that I’d do as Philip did, even in these times when a trip to Gaza would not be the most pleasant journey one could make. I have often remarked at the willingness of the early disciples to drop everything and respond to these calls to ministry. The response of the first of the apostles, of Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, of James and John (the sons of Zebedee), to leave their fishing businesses and take off with Jesus is the same. (Mt 4:18-22) The response of Matthew (or was he called Levi) to leave his tax booth is the same. (Mt 9:9) “Come” and they come; “get up and go” and they go. Modern folk are seldom so swift to respond.
Of course, we live in a world (at least in the United States . . . at least in the Episcopal Church in the United States) that discourages swift responses to God’s call.
We should really think about that!
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Father Funston is the rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Medina, Ohio.
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