and God has blessed us.
Psalm 67:6
Acts 16:6-15
6 They [Paul and Timothy] went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; 8 so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
9 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." 10 When he had seen the vision, we [Paul and Timothy] immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
11 We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, 12 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. 13 On the sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
14 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. 15 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 persuaded us.
The 6th Sunday of Easter
The lectionary scheduled another reading from Revelation this week, but I love the Lydia story so much I wanted to write about it. During the Great Fifty Days of Easter we hear from Luke's Acts of the Apostles instead of a Hebrew Bible passage. How appropriate is that because at the start of the book, the gathered followers of the Risen Christ receive the indwelling Spirit of Life that enables them to live as the body of the Crucified and Risen Christ after Jesus' Ascension. But then again, we won't celebrate that third great trinitarian festival – the Day of Pentecost – until the fiftieth day of Easter.
The Book of Acts
As Acts begins, Jesus is concluding his post-resurrection ministry. He tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem because there they will receive God's promised Holy Spirit to such a degree they'll be baptized (immersed) in the life of the Spirit.
Possibly still awaiting and hoping for a military or a royal savior, they ask Jesus if now he will restore "the kingdom" to Israel. Jesus replies the question is wrong because they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit so then they will witness in word and deed "to the ends of the earth" and help establish the reign of heaven on earth that Jesus began. The Holy Spirit is prominent throughout scripture, yet the extra-ordinary Divine Spirit of Pentecost now indwells each of us.
Born of Spirit, Water, and Word, the nascent church made sure everyone had enough, no one lacked essentials. We hear about members constantly being added as a result of dynamic, inviting preaching and caring community.
The earliest members had followed an itinerant rabbi whose teaching and existence got him crucified by the occupying Roman imperial government. Their leader was dead, yet they met Jesus of Nazareth as the very alive Christ of God three days after Rome killed him; the disciples continued to interact with him until his ascension to sovereignty and power "at God's right hand," as the ecumenical creeds proclaim.
Today's Reading
In this passage, after considerable travels that must have been challenging, Paul and his sidekick Timothy went to the Roman colony of Philippi in Macedonia, then down to the river on the sabbath hoping to find an ad hoc synagogue, because if there was no local synagogue, Jews would gather at the river to form a minyan or at least to pray together.
They met Lydia by the riverbank, and eventually baptized Lydia and her entire family. Commentaries from writers familiar with that culture differ on whether Lydia was very rich from selling purple goods or if she was poor and barely scraping by.
Paul was founding pastor and a kind of mission developer of this congregation that was the first church on European soil, so it's both First Church Philippi and First Church Europe. Later on, his letter to the Philippians reveals exceptionally heartfelt love and affection for them.
Empire-Covenant
The itinerant rabbi the earliest church members followed had been crucified by an occupying imperial government. Egypt is another example of an empire. Top-heavy leadership, Pharaoh in control of agriculture and manufacturing, no consideration for the well-being of regular people. Forced labor, production quotas, no days off.
Contrast that with the lifestyle God showed the former Egyptian slaves during their desert trek to the land of promise. God supplied their needs for food and water. God guided and led them, sometimes with "a pillar of fire by night, a pillar of cloud by day," sometimes in the person of Moses. They knew life as gift and not as an arduous burden the way it has been in Egypt.
When they reached Canaan after receiving and promising to keep the Ten Words or Commandments of the Covenant God gifted them with at Sinai, they took advantage of the fertile land and cascading waters and stewarded them well, always keeping a day of sabbath rest to remember life first as gift before it was necessary labor.
They followed the covenant's commands, caring for each other and for anyone passing through who might not have a settled home. They became community, individuals united with the common cause of care and nurture for one another.
Citizens of Heaven on Earth
When he writes to the saints at Philippi, Paul encourages them: "Live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel." Philippians 1:27
Lydia and her household were baptized into the gospel of death and resurrection. Paul tells the Philippian Christians to live "in a manner worthy of the gospel" as witnesses to Jesus' death and resurrection—not to Rome's or any other life-negating death-dealing imperialism.
Paul reminds them wherever they are, their real citizenship is in the earthbound reality of God's reign of heaven on this planet. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann describes baptism as "a subversive act of renunciation and embrace." Beyond resistance! Anti-imperial heavenly citizenship begins with baptism!
Lydia
The early church we hear about in Acts made sure no one did without essentials; they took particular care of the most vulnerable. Rumor has it Lydia's residence may have been a way-station for outsiders seeking to belong and for travelers passing through. It could have a safe stop to shelter women or children escaping abuse or danger.
Outreach and intake actions help counter and resist imperial and other forces that turn humans into numbers instead of addressing them by name. They begin at the most basic level and create a solid foundation. Remember, the occupying Roman government still was at full force, but Lydia and others like her created a humanizing haven.
Where We Live
Acts chronicles the newly birthed church thriving in the wake of Jesus' death at the decree of empire. Although death-dealing excesses of empire still engulf everyone, throughout Luke's Volume 2 we see communities and individuals in those communities doing well.
Our default for "empire" usually is political leadership, but other entities long have functioned in an imperial mode. Today, multinational corporations (ExxonMobil – Walmart – Amazon – Shell – Samsung – what's your least favorite?) influence and affect everyday people's everyday lives. Two millennia after Jesus' death and resurrection, we're still amidst stacked up empires: finance; manufacturing; government; commerce. These are giant scale, mega everything. Covenantal living is smaller scale, often on the micro level.
The early church we hear about in Acts made sure no one did without essentials; they took particular care of the most vulnerable. Like Lydia and the rest of the early church, we're reborn in Water, Spirit, and Word. Living baptized into the good news of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, how do we renounce empire and embrace loving justice?
We can follow the Sinai Covenant's commands, caring for each other and for anyone passing through who might not have a settled home. At those basic levels where life happens daily, we gradually became community, individuals tied together with the common cause of care and nurture for one another.
Like Lydia and the Philippian church, our actions here and now help resist imperial and other forces that turn humans into numbers instead of recognizing them by name.
An Acts scholar could tell us how much elapsed time the book chronicles, but we're continuing to write the Acts of the contemporary people of God in Jesus Christ. Do you ever journal, blog, or otherwise write down what you, your group, or maybe your congregation has done or currently is doing? Do you post pictures on social media or save them for yourself?
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