Rev. George Miller
June 30, 2019
Acts 8:26-40
One of the most enduring television shows of the past 30 years has been “The Golden Girls.”
Thanks to constant repeats, “The Golden Girls” has maintained one of the most diverse fan bases; everyone from 14 to 104 years old.
There are many reasons why the show stays popular: sharp writing, timely topics, cutting one-liners.
But perhaps the truest reason is because “The Golden Girls” is about people from broken backgrounds who have somehow, some way been fortunate to have found one another and create their own unique community/family.
There’s one scene that always rings true. It’s when Blanche Devereaux is asked how’s she’s feeling, and she responds “Magenta.”
Blanche goes on to explain that she’s not feeling blue, she’s not green with envy, or red with anger, or yellow with sickness, she’s just…..magenta.
In other words, Blanche is just OK. Not good, not great, not bad, no sad, just OK.
Pastorally, this expression of “feeling magenta” is such a gift we can give ourselves.
In a world in which people are often made to feel extremes, to either put on a happy face, or play helpless victim, it is nice to be given permission to just feel magenta from time to time.
Feeling magenta is normal.
It can be when it’s a rainy day. Or you’re stuck on the phone with the insurance company. Or you’re caught in traffic due to an accident.
You can’t help but to feel…magenta.
Biblically speaking, there is another word for being magenta, and that’s “wilderness.”
The wilderness is that place in which things seems to be at their blandest, or most boring, in which there is nothing but waiting, worrying, or hoping.
The wilderness can also be a place fraught with danger, uncertainty, and mystery.
Almost always, the wilderness is lonely.
Throughout the Bible we have numerous wilderness stories. When Hagar flees from Sarah.
When middle-aged Moses is minding his father-in-laws flock. When the freed-slaves wander for 40 years.
The wilderness is where John the Baptist preaches. Where Jesus is tempted.
In today’s readings, when an apostle of Christ finds a seeker of God in the noon day sun.
Many times the wilderness, as boring, empty, and magenta as it is, is where God most often meets the people.
And a good portion of the Bible takes place in the magenta wilderness of the world.
Today we hear about how the Lord tells Philip to take an afternoon stroll down the Gaza highway. While doing so he comes across a court official for the Queen of Ethiopia.
The man, returning from a trip to Jerusalem, is sitting in his chariot, reading the words of Isaiah 53, trying to figure out what it all means.
The Spirit says to Philip “Go on and join that man,” which Philip does, and it becomes a moment of bonding, a moment of teaching, and it results in an unexpected baptism and increase in the Family of God.
In many ways, this is a story about 2 broken people from 2 different backgrounds who were fortunate enough to find one another in the magenta moment of their life.
Many theologians will bring attention to the court official. That as an Ethiopian, he was a foreigner, he was of a different race, he was a gentile, and he was part of a sexual minority.
As a eunuch, he was a man who had been castrated, and though this served a purpose in the ancient world, it created various barriers.
It meant he could not have children, not engage in certain acts of intimacy, and in the Jewish laws, it denied full inclusion into the household of God, no matter how much he believed or studied scripture.
But he is not the only person in this story dealing with a kind of brokenness. There is also Philip.
If you recall, back home Philip was a member of the Service Committee, feeding the widows and stocking the pantry. But due to threats of violence, he has fled Jerusalem for fear of his life, seeking safety in Samaria.
They each have their wounds, their fears, their magenta-ness.
But this does not mean they are completely down and out, or total victims.
Philip, during his time of distress, discovers that he has the gift of preaching and healing.
And the eunuch may be missing a vital part, but he is an exceptionally powerful, educated man of position.
He is chancellor to the Queen, in charge of all her money. When most are illiterate, he can read. When most drive a Hyundai, he has a Mazarati
So both men have hurt, and they both have success. They both have experienced other-ness and they both know what it’s like to be excluded for one reason or another.
So there is something so beautiful, so touching about this scene, that these two individuals are able to come together.
One is fleeing from a place that is no longer safe, one is returning from a place in which he is not truly welcome.
Both are on a deserted, wilderness road in the middle of the day, when the weather is at its most hot and the conditions are most unbearable.
In other words, they are both…magenta.
And yet they are so fortunate that the Holy Spirit brings them together, if even for just a moment.
And if you notice, the text that unites them is not about green pastures, or abundant catches of fish, but it is about injustice, humiliation, and denial.
Topics that many people wish to ignore or sidestep in cocktail conversation.
And yet these two mighty men confront the difficulty of life head on.
They study scripture, they talk about God, they celebrate Jesus Christ, and together they come across a cool body of water in which the chancellor asks to be baptized, and the apostle gladly abides.
It is almost like a movie. A Bro-mance. The original “Green Book.”
Today’s scripture is a wonderful validation of how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
How it can take a man on the run from violence, and a man who seems to have everything, yet doesn’t, and brings them together for the glory of God.
The eunuch is unable to have his own family, but the Holy Spirit speaks, Philip listens, and now the man is part of a much bigger family than anyone could have ever imagined.
Life can often be filled with the magenta.
There will be highs/lows.
Mountaintops/valleys.
Calm waters/rough seas.
Green pastures/barren lands.
Blues, greens, reds, and yellows.
But more often there will be those wilderness moments. Those in-between periods of waiting.
Those magentas.
Those times when you’re waiting for the doctor’s report or the closing of your home.
Those times when you’re waiting for a job offer, or the airplane, or for the car to be repaired.
Those times when you’re waiting for your son or daughter to return. Or for the day you’ll be reunited in glory….
Life is filled with roads in the wilderness; with times in which we will sit by ourselves; with times we are not sure what to do.
Those wildernesses moments can also be the times when God most calls; when others reach out; when we are encouraged by the Holy Spirit to reach out to another.
We discover that God, through Christ, has a way to bring us together, no matter how different we may seem, no matter how broken we are, no matter the obstacles before us.
We are fortunate that the Holy Spirit has a way to move, to empower us, and to create such a unique and universal community of mercy and grace.
Amen and amen.
A UCC Pastor's walk through the spiritual waters of Scripture, pop culture and life.
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