A Praise Break

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 7/17/11).

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed." (Acts 16:25-26)

All of us will face the midnight hours of life. The existential “Midnight” is what the poet, John of the Cross referred to as the “Dark Night of the Soul.” The midnight hour is the time and place when trouble comes into our lives, the time and place of darkness, the time and place of confusion, the time and place of wondering and questioning, as to “why” things are the way they are in our lives.

All of us will face the midnight hours of life. In the midnight, we learn of the inevitability of adversity and pain. Indeed trouble will come into our lives, sometimes like mighty winds – spiritual tsunamis, tornados and hurricanes - blowing to knock us down, and to destroy us. And it is our attitude in the midst of troubles and trials that will make the difference between victory and defeat. How we look at troubles and trials, how we respond to storms, how we face the midnight hours, and deal with them, makes the difference in how we come out.

• We remember David, who experienced a midnight hour, and declared, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.”

• We remember Job in the midst of his midnight hour who declared, “Though he slay me, yet will I praise (the Lord).”

• We recall that Jeremiah, declared in the midst of his despair, “God’s mercies are new every morning… great is the Lord’s faithfulness.”

In Acts chapter 16 we find that Paul and Silas were facing a similar midnight hour. They had been placed in maximum-security prison. They had been put in a Philippian jail for trying to lift up Jesus. There were several other prisoners with Paul and Silas. We can imagine that many of them had also been beaten, and were in great pain. For some reason all of the prisoners were awake, and it was midnight.

As they lay awake, Paul and Silas began to do something unusual. They began to pray and sing praises to God. You see, Paul and Silas were able to put the suffering they endured into perspective, because they realized that their suffering was for a purpose. These two apostles realized that they had been placed in this Philippian prison for a reason.

• We remember that it was Paul who had written while in prison that, “if any person suffers as a Christian, let that person not be ashamed.”
• It was Paul who would remind the Roman Church that “the suffering of this present time is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.”
• And later Paul would write in the same 8th chapter of Romans, “For we know that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord, and are called according to God’s purpose."

No, Paul and Silas were not ashamed or afraid to lift up the Lord even in prison. They had made up their minds to praise the Lord even in the midst of their adversity.

In reflecting on the predicament of Paul and Silas, we recall Dr. Martin Luther King and others who were put in jail in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. They were imprisoned for their struggle for voting rights and civil rights. It was in the Birmingham Jail that Dr. King wrote one of his most eloquent letters – the Letter from Birmingham Jail- encouraging persons - particularly Christians - to stand up for righteousness and justice.

It was Dr. King who would write that “the true measure of a person is not how one acts in times of comfort and convenience, but how one acts in times of challenge and controversy.”

Paul and Silas found themselves locked in a Philippian jail for the sake of their faith. But they decided not to sit there complaining and crying. They decided not to wallow in sorrow and lament as to why God would allow them to be placed in this terrible situation. The Bible says that in the midst of their midnight hour, Paul and Silas began to pray and sing praises to God.

And it’s good to know that as they praised the Lord, God responded to their praise. The Bible says,
“and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison shook. And immediately all the doors to the prison were opened, and every prisoner’s bonds and shackles were loosed.”

Paul and Silas took a Praise Break! In their story, we find help and encouragement for our journey of faith. We find strength for our times of testing. We find hope for our times of pain. We find promise for the times when the storms of life threaten to consume us and sweep us away.

Indeed, the various dungeons and imprisoned places of life have a way of weighing us down and keeping us from praising God. The dungeons of war and violence, capital punishment, widespread malnutrition caused by poverty, and high unemployment rates can weigh us down. The dungeons of educational achievement gaps and high drop-out rates among many of our young can weigh us down. But we must never let our circumstances keep us from praying and singing praises to God.

In the midst of struggles, it’s good to take a praise break!

As Paul and Silas sat in prison, waiting on their breakthrough maybe they sang something like we are apt to sing from time-to-time:

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,
O what a foretaste of glory divine.
Heir of salvation,
Purchased of God…
This is our story, this is our song
Praising our savior, all the day long!