The story in Acts 16: 16-40, is a struggle between spiritual versus worldly powers. Could this shed light on the governmental struggles in Washington, DC between the Executive, Legislative, and recently Judicial powers?

1. Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, Bradenton, FL, February 23, 2020
LOVE WINS: SPIRTUAL VS. WORLDLY POWER
By Paul H. Carr
The story in Acts 16: 16-40, is a struggle between spiritual versus worldly
powers. Could this shed light on the governmental struggles in
Washington, DC between the Executive, Legislative, and recently Judicial
powers?
Carr-Osborn Family Players.
L.to R. Ginny asked the Gypsy Girl for her fortune.
Emily was the narrator.
Paul played the Apostle Paul and delivered the sermon.
The New King James Version of Acts 16:16-40:

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16
Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain girl possessed with a spirit
of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17
This
girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the
Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18
And this she did for
many days.
But Paul, greatly [a]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the
name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very
hour. 19
But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized
Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
20
And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being
Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; 21
and they teach customs which are not lawful for
us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” 22
Then the multitude rose up together
against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded them to be
beaten with rods. 23
And when they had laid many stripes on them, they
threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. 24
Having
received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in
the stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Saved
25 But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
prisoners were listening to them. 26
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that
the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were
opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. 27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking
from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled,
drew his sword and was about to kill himself. 28
But Paul called with a loud voice,
saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”
29
Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and
Silas. 30
And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

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31
So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your
household.” 32
Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in
his house. 33
And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes.
And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34
Now when he had brought
them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in
God with all his household.
Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly
35
And when it was day, the magistrates sent the [b]officers, saying, “Let those men
go.”
36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates
have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”
37
But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly,
uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us
out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
38
And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when
they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and
brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40
So they went out of
the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren,
they encouraged them and departed.
The spiritual powers of the Apostle Paul were exorcism and healing,
prayers and hymn singing, loving forbearance, forgiveness, and hope of
freedom. This is in contrast to worldly powers, which are militaristic,
economic, racist, imprisonment, and death. “The power of love is greater
than the power of death,” according to theologian Paul Tillich and also Rob
Bell, who recently wrote the book “Love Wins.” We need “strength to
love,” as Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote.

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Jesus taught us to “love our enemies” and not call them derogatory names.
We are talking about “agape” sacrificial, parental love as opposed to “eros”
or romantic, sensual love. According to Paul’s 1st
Letter to the Corinthians:
4 AgapeLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps
no record of wrongs.
6 Love does not delight in evil butrejoices with the truth.
7 Love hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.”
The “the girl with a spirit of divination” sensed that Paul had the power
to free her from the economic exploitation of her owners. That is why she
persisted in following Paul saying “These men are the servants of the Most High,
who proclaim to us the way of salvation.”
Paul, said to the spirit, ‘I command you to come out of her.’.” This illustrates how
Paul’s freeing, healing power was stronger than the “spirit of divination” that was so
popular in the ancient world, as evidenced by the Oracle of Delphi.” City states like
Athens would consult this Oracle before such strategic decisions as making war on
rival City State Sparta. Can we imagine consulting an Oracle to ask whether our
country should go to war with Iran? The answers from the Oracle in Delphi were
often ambiguous.
Theologian Paul Tillich believed that the “new state of things” or the New Being was
the heart of the Apostle Paul’s message. The “new state of things” superseded
outmoded Oracles and fortune telling as the embodiment of evil spirits.
When the slave owners learned that they had lost their economic power, they
dragged Paul and Silas before the politically powerful magistrates and made the
racist accusation that Paul and Silas were Jews who were “teaching customs which
are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.”

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In prison, Paul and Silas exercised their spiritual power 25
But at midnight Paul and
Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to
them. 26
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the
prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s
chains were loosed” After an earthquake, the prisoners were set free to the extent
that the jailer, realizing that he had lost his imprisoning power, was about to kill
himself. He realized that the magistrates would have done the same to him had the
prisoners escaped.
I, as a scientist who prefers naturalistic, reproducible explanations, tend to regard
“an earthquake that freed the prisoners” as literary metaphor. It is not impossible
that it happened this way. However, I prefer to believe that Paul’s charismic spiritual
power communicated by singing hymns encouraged to other prisoners to revolt.
After all, they outnumbered to jailor. We know from present history that prison
revolts have happened without earthquakes.
“Release from imprisonment” can have symbolic significance for us today. May
we as a country be released from the imprisonment of unchanging political
polarization, where compromise and following the dictates of our conscience are
regarded as treason by some.
We often are not aware that our limited worldviews are imprisoning us. For
example, I grew up as a Trinitarian Methodist minster’s son. When I moved to
Bedford, MA to work at the Air Force Research Laboratory, I joined a Trinitarian
Congregational UCC church. There was no Methodist church in town. The original
meetinghouse on the town common was Unitarian Universalist. I later learned that
the Trinitarian Congregationalists had moved a block away from the UUs on the
common in the 1800s because of their differing views of the Trinity. This had
happened in many New England towns.
After I retired from my laboratory, I enjoyed the Institute of Religion in and Age of
Science Conferences on beautiful Star Island off Portsmouth, NH. There I became

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acquainted with many UUs who shared my interest in relating science and religion.
With this broadened worldview, I would drive by this Manatee UU Fellowship on the
way to the beaches on Anna Maria island and decided to come to your Sunday
service, where you made me feel at home. I have been coming here every winter
since then.
Many of you may have had similar experiences with organized religions. The
largest growing demographic today are those who are “spiritual but not religious.”
Returning to the story of Paul and Silas, they might have let their worldly
triumph take place and escaped with the other prisoners. Instead they exercised
their power of loving forgiveness, and forbearance by telling the jailer, “Do yourself
no harm, for we are all here.”
The Jailer replied, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31
So Paul said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your
household.” 32
In so doing, Paul traded a worldly power win for converting the jailer and all his
household.
Paul Refuses to Depart Secretly
35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the [b]officers, saying, “Let those men
go.”
37
But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, as
uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us
out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.”
38
And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when
they heard that they were Romans. 39
Again Paul could have exercised his power of being a Roman Citizen and
have had the magistrates punished for having beaten Paul without a trial.

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Paul did, however, hold the magistrates accountable by forcing the them to
come in person to the prison to plead with Paul and Silas to leave the city.
40
So Paul and Silas went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and
when they had seen the believers, they encouraged them and departed.
Thus agape love won! The spiritual powers of Paul, healing, prayers and
hymn singing, loving forbearance and forgiveness won over the worldly
powers, which were militaristic, economic, racist, imprisonment, and death.
Paul enjoins us to “Make love our aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual
gifts (I Cor 14:1).”
Paul mastered the art of being assertive without the abuse of power. May
we receive spiritual power in our Fellowship as we sing the hymn, “God of
Grace and God of Glory, on thy people pour thy power.”
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Opening Words Unitarian Universalist Hymnal No. 418
Come into the circle of love and justice…
Opening Hymn No. 38
Morning has broken
Like the first morning
Responsive Reading No 440
From the fragmented world of our everyday lives we gather together in
search of wholeness.
Concluding Hymn 115
“God of Grace and God of Glory,
on thy people pour thy power.
Crown thine ancient church’ story,
Bring its bud to glorious flower.”
Benediction No 694
May the love which overcomes all differences.