The Rev’d Stephen C. Holton
Christ Church, New Haven, Conn.
The Seventh Sunday of Easter
June 2, 2019
In this sermon the Rector reflects on the story of Paul and Silas in Acts, inviting us to envision what fears and anxieties bind us in chains—and to imagine a world where our chains fall away, just like Paul and Silas’s did, as we become aware of the light of God’s love shining on us and all people.
As Charles Wesley writes in a hymn the congregation will sing this day,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?