Paul, the Slave Girl, and the Cost of “Freedom” // The Word Made Fresh (Acts 16:16-34)

A few weeks after Easter, we return to the pulpit with a challenging and deeply honest conversation about Acts 16—the story of Paul, Silas, and a slave girl.But what if we’ve been reading this story wrong?Instead of focusing on Paul and Silas, Rev. Adriene Thorne invites us to center the unnamed enslaved girl—her exploitation, her “liberation,” and the unsettling question: what actually happened to her next?This episode wrestles with:• When “doing good” can still cause harm• The cost of liberation without long-term care• How power, gender, and class shape whose stories matter• Why the church struggles with suffering, lament, and complexity• The danger of turning every hardship into a neat redemption storyThis is not a feel-good sermon preview. It’s an invitation to sit in the tension, ask harder questions, and develop a deeper, more honest faith.Because sometimes suffering isn’t redemptive.Sometimes it’s just suffering.And maybe the work of the church is learning how to stay present in it—together.