Am I A Witness Like Stephen?

by Rev Michael S. Piazza
June 26, 2008

Scripture

When they heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. Acts 7:54

A Word of Hope

Stephen was a deacon in the early church. He was one of the first Christians selected and set aside for lay ministry. The deacons were selected to serve the people so that the apostles could give their time to teaching and preaching, but in chapter seven of Acts Stephen is the one who is preaching.

His sermon stirs quiet a reaction. I've always been amazed by that. Why can't my sermons stir such passion in people? Don't get me wrong. I don't want people to rise up and stone me, but sometimes I feel like the old bishop who said wistfully, "Wherever the apostles went they turned the world upside down. Wherever I go they serve tea."

When you look back over the sermon itself, you discover that, although the words were confrontational, what Stephen said shouldn't have stirred such hatred. Perhaps it wasn't what Stephen said as much as who Stephen was.

You see, that is the reason people react so strongly to lesbian and gay people. It isn't what we say, or even what we do, that elicits such anger from homophobic people. It is who we are that threatens all their preconceived ideas about how life is supposed to be. We disturb their fixed ideas about what it means to be a woman or what it means to be a man. The bulk of their anger is rooted in sexism. That evil has such a subtle and tenacious hold that disturbing society can get us stoned. We mainly threaten society's prejudices because gay men aren't afraid to express their feminine side and lesbian women are strong enough not to need a man to protect and provide for them.

Our very existence challenges who they are and what they believe. In the same way, I think that it wasn't so much what Stephen said in his sermon that created such rage; it was much more who he was. They could argue with him about theology, and dispute all that he said about Jesus. What they couldn't negate was that Stephen had been transformed by his faith in the resurrected Jesus. Could you be that kind of witness today?

Prayer

Loving God, thank you for loving me just as I am. Empower me to live a life that witnesses to my faith in you. Amen

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