As we close out our month-long look at Gordon Light's "Draw the Circle Widc," we will explore how to be faithful to God's call as we endeavor to do our best to draw our circles wider.
Acts 16:16-26, NRSV
16 One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a female slave who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. 17While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. 19But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men, these Jews, are disturbing our city 21and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us, being Romans, to adopt or observe.” 22The crowd joined in attacking them and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23After they had given them a severe flogging; they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. 24 Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
