Sixth Sunday of
Easter – Year C
May 5, 2013
Acts
16:9-15
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.
In
two weeks we celebrate Pentecost, the birthday of the church; the day when the
Holy Spirit came down with power upon the disciples and followers of Jesus
gathered in Jerusalem. This morning, our
text from Acts shares with us the story of the first converts in Europe. For those of us who trace our family roots
through Europe, the conversion and baptism of Lydia is as much a birthday for
the church as Pentecost. This woman,
this dealer of purple cloth was the first person to come to Christianity in
Europe. She is our spiritual mother and
grandmother in many ways. As is always
the case when it comes to the women in our families and lives, we have much to
learn from the story of Lydia; and the story of how Lydia became the first
fruit of the Christian mission has much to teach us about the bearing and
harvesting of fruit in mission today.
As
tempting as it would be to jump straight to Lydia, it’s important that we
remind ourselves what it was that Paul was up to before he responded to the
vision to go to Macedonia. This is Paul’s
second missionary journey. Paul’s first
missionary journey was fairly landlocked, and even when he traveled by sea, he stayed
pretty close to his home base in and around Jerusalem. For his second, he was
hoping to go to Asia, which wouldn’t have involved any sea travel and again
would’ve stayed relatively close to regions and places in relative close
proximity to the Holy Land.
Yet,
as we read in the preceding passages in Acts, Paul’s plans don’t seem to be
working out very well. If we read the
beginning verses of this chapter we will find Paul being nudged by the Spirit
repeatedly toward Philippi. The Spirit
didn’t stop at nudging either, in the verses just before this reading we read
of how Paul was blocked from going in another direction – twice. Finally, after receiving a vision of a man
from Macedonia pleading for help, Paul and his traveling companions go to
Philippi. It’s fortunate that Paul
finally followed God’s vision, rather than his own, for the relationships that
he found in Philippi would be ones he remembered and thought of with joy (Phil.
1:3-11).
If we look at the accounts Paul’s later
mission journeys in Acts, we will find that there is a definite pattern. When he arrives in town, he heads to the local
synagogue (Acts 13:14; 14:1; 17:1, 10, 17; 18:4, 19; 19:8). Whether that was a practice he developed
later, or he had to break his desired form of outreach we don’t know. But we do know that this time things were
different. After arriving in Philippi,
he bides his time. He and his traveling
companions spend several days wandering around town, getting to know the people
and the place. Then, on the Sabbath,
rather than going to the synagogue they head out of town to the river. Perhaps there wasn’t a synagogue in
Philippi. Perhaps at that time it was
common for Jews and God-fearing gentiles to gather at a river. It would make sense: God’s actions had been
most powerfully felt by the Jewish people during the Exodus when the waters were
divided. To this day it’s common for
people of faith to gather together where water flows to give praise and worship
to God.
When they come together, Paul assumes the
position of teacher and begins to speak to the women gathered there. That Paul, an unknown traveler would just assume
the position of teacher is amazing in itself, that he chose to talk to the
women gathered there is virtually unthinkable.
I don’t need to remind you of the role of women at that time, of the
role of women in the religious life of the Jewish community. To single out women would have been unusual
to say the very least. Yet, it was this
group that Paul seems to have sought.
Perhaps, he knew a truth that we all know, that women are the spiritual
rock and center of most families. It’s
women who more often than not are the core of a church, it’s women who are the
teachers of their children, it’s women who are the ‘real’ heads of the
household.
Paul’s unusual decision produces
results. Lydia is there, and Paul’s
words take root. She is captured by the
Holy Spirit, brought to faith, and she and her entire household are
baptized. Thus, is the church in
Philippi begun, and the mission of the gospel outside the Holy Land has its
first convert. That is the story; that
is the account of mission and outreach working.
What can we learn?
First, mission and outreach is never about
us, it’s about God. God is the one in
charge. When Paul was deciding for
himself where to go, who to minister to, there was no success. He found himself constantly hindered from
doing what he thought was best. Only
after he stopped following his own desires, only when he gave control over to
God was he able to move forward, was he able to do God’s will. “It is not the
charismatic personality of the pastor or preacher that has the power to create
faith; it must come from God’s own merciful activity. From beginning to end,
this text stresses that it is God who is in charge of the mission, God who sets
its direction, and God who determines its results.”[1]
Second, mission and outreach is most
effective when it is in response to a need.
In Paul’s vision the man pleads for help. Throughout the history of the church some of
the most effective and rewarding ministry the church has had has been in
response to the needs of the people: homeless shelters, women’s shelters, food
banks, orphanages, hospitals, schools.
The people cry out in need, and the church responds. Perhaps that need was one of salvation, but
more often than not the people were more concerned with just living, just
surviving; and the church’s response was to give aid where it was needed.
Third, successful outreach and mission takes
time and planning. Paul and his traveling
companions didn’t just walk into town and start to preach. They spent time learning about Philippi,
learning about the people that were there.
Then, after they had come to understand the community they sought out
the best location to bring their message.
The message of the gospel never changes, but the way in which it is
presented may be different from place to place, from person to person. Outreach and mission is not about ‘one size
fits all’.
Fourth, they went to where the people were
rather than expecting the people to come to them. Mission and outreach is rarely like The Field of Dreams, where if you build
it they will come. Mission and outreach
requires movement, it requires work, it requires sacrifice. All of us like to have yards and gardens that
have flowers in them. But, if we just
prepared our yards and gardens, kept them clean of weeds yet never planted a
seed would our gardens ever grow? So it
is with the outreach and the spreading of the good news.
Fifth, our text doesn’t say how many times
Lydia had to listen to Paul’s message and invitation before she responded; our
text just says that God opened her heart to hear what Paul said. It seems like a small detail, but an important
one. How would we read this passage
differently if Lydia only responded to Paul after hearing him 5, 10, or 50
times? There have been multiple times in
the history of missions when it took years before the first convert. Yet, how often do we in this time become
discouraged and stop when we don’t see results from our outreach after several
weeks or months? Are we following God’s
vision or ours?
Sixth, if we looked at Lydia from the outside
we would have assumed she had everything going for her. She was successful. She was in charge of her own life. When her household is baptized, it is her household. When she invites Paul and his traveling
companions to stay with her, it is at her
home. She was a person who seemed to
have faith, after all she had gathered with others at a place of prayer. Yet, she desired more. How often do we look to someone and assume
they are happy in their faith life, happy in their church? Could they be searching for more?
Finally, we can’t predict who will respond to
the prompting of the Spirit. Paul had
spent time trying to do mission in Asia and had been failing. Yet, when he finally follows God’s call his
first convert is from the very place he had been trying to go in the first
place. God works in mysterious
ways. God calls who God calls, when and
where they are called.
The conversion of Lydia was the beginning of
the growth of the church in Europe, it was the first step. And in the story of Lydia we are given
lessons and guidance in continuing the growth of the church. May the lesson of Lydia guide us as we seek
to follow God’s vision for our lives to be ministers of hope, healing and joy
to a world that has gathered outside of our gates. Amen.
