Called To Sing
Acts 16:16-34, Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21
“Amen, Amen, A-a-men, A-men, A-men”
“Sing-it-with-me –”
“Amen, (singin’ in the jail cell) Amen, (Paul and Silas)
A-a-men, A-men, A-men”
In jail. Paul and Silas lay there beaten. But at midnight in the jail cell, they are praying and singing hymns.
Listen and observe with your imagination, today, the ways that people in the 16th chapter of Acts move in and out of captivity and freedom – physically and spiritually. And of course, as you listen, consider your own state of being – free? or held captive?
Weren’t Paul and Silas just rejoicing in Lydia’s salvation and that of her whole household? How did they end up in jail? It all started on the way to prayer meeting.
What a friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Paul and Silas encounter a “slave girl.” She’s also described as possessed by a spirit, mentally imbalanced, a psychic, a fortune-teller. But most unfortunately, she is a piece of property. She is enslaved by owners (plural) who are exploiting her. (They would be producing a reality TV show with her if this were happening today. And millions would tune in to watch it.)
She took to following Paul and Silas around, shouting at them, saying things about them. “These men are slaves of the Most High God. They preach the way of salvation.”
She’s not wrong!
{Paul often referred to himself as a servant of JC.} Ironic isn’t it? The slave girl recognizes in them “a ‘different’ master at work.” Different from the ones she works for. “The living God whose generative power is love,” not greed, “faithfulness,” not manipulation - this is the One she can’t help but announce.[1] Yet, Paul seems to have had it (up to here).
Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
Paul takes it to the Lord in prayer, okay. Not out of love and mercy for her, but because he is annoyed with her screaming and yelling, and following them everywhere. She is Too much! In the name of Jesus, he turns and casts out the spirit, so that she is FREE of it. And he is free of her.
The Lord can hit a mighty lick with a crooked stick. [That is, accomplish great things through an imperfect vessel. Might be true of both parties in this case. A-a-a men}
Her liberation is what costs Paul and Silas their freedom. Because though she is free of the spirit, she is still enslaved by her owners who have just lost their money-making scheme.
And so they do what the vested interests always do when their interests are threatened.”[2] They find a way to name what their adversaries are doing as illegal, foreign, dangerous. “These men are disturbing the peace – dangerous Jewish agitators subverting our Roman law and order.”[3] Here we go, “Nation, race, and tradition – all stepping into line behind the [almighty] dollar.”[4]
They get the judge to go their way easily when the crowd gets involved. Paul and Silas are flogged with clubs, dragged off to jail where the jailer puts them in maximum security and their feet in the stocks.
Beaten and humiliated, the balm they reach for is prayer and singing because though they are physically imprisoned, Paul and Silas remain spiritually FREE.
There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
To heal the sin-sick soul.
Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again.
The Holy Spirit liberates the prisoners with an earthquake so violent the prison doors are broken open and everyone’s chains are loosed. The jailer assumes the prisoners have all escaped. His immediate response is to pull out his sword and run himself through - saving his superiors the trouble..
Divine liberation is nearly the jailer’s undoing! But Paul cries out to him to stop. They are all still there. Overcome, the jailer falls at Paul’s feet, begging, “What must I do to be saved?” In this critical moment of surrender, spiritual freedom comes to the jailer and his entire household.
It bothers me, a bit, that there seemed to be more grace for the jailer than there was for the slave girl. But God is always on the side of freedom. And her liberation rippled through Philippi all the way to a Roman jail. I am choosing to believe that though we don’t know for certain what happens to her, we know there is a thriving group of new Christians meeting for prayer and sharing hospitality, led by Lydia. Perhaps when word spreads about the girl set free from her malady and recently unemployed, Lydia will take her in; along with new converts: the jailer and his family.
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit
We are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our Love, by our Love
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our Love.
This whole story sequence in Acts 16, asks us individually to confront our tendency to protect our own interests – silencing voices that confront our allegiances; turning away people whose truth proves to be inconvenient for us. [5]
On a societal scale, the chapter reveals a series of “Spirit-disrupted events” that are an indictment of systems and structures in our world that are as literal as a prison or as “spiritual” as money-making from human exploitation.[6]
The Holy Spirit won’t tolerate any of it.
God is always working on the side of liberation.
Jesus preached, You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32).
Some might say, Aren’t you just preaching to the choir? I am 100% preaching to the choir[7] because: 1) we are (all) called to sing; and 2) the choir (all of you!) needs all the encouragement it can get right now.
When Paul and Silas could have been completely defeated, they sang and celebrated the goodness of God. Sometimes, that’s all we can do.
Their songs of praise reverberated in the hearts of people they met along the way and we might say, they are why we are still singing today.
Even so, Paul and Silas are not the heroes of this story. Neither is the Jailer for his remarkable transformation, nor the young woman healed of her bondage… In the end, God is the character which shines most brightly in Acts. God has acted! God is acting! God will continue to act! That is truly good news, fit to be proclaimed.[8]
“Amen, Amen, A-a-men, A-men, A-men”
“Sing-it-with-me –”
“Amen, Amen, [comin to the Table]
A-a-men, A-men, A-men” [All God’s children]
[1] Goodman, Liz Christian Century Liberated and Vulnerable, June 1 2025 Sunday’s Coming
[2] Willimon, William H. Interpretation Commentary Series, Acts
[3] Peterson, Eugene The Message Acts 16:20-21
[4] Willimon.
[5] Carey, Greg Christian Century May 18 2022
[6] Goodman, Liz Christian Century June 1 2025 Sunday’s Coming
[7] This is a Nadia Bolz Weber quote from her Red State Revival tour, February 2025
[8] Barreto, Eric Christian Century 2013