Grace and Peace to you!
In our Sunday Worship during the weeks following Easter we will once again have the Book of Acts as our First Reading. As we go through the book of Acts, we will meet up with a number of remarkable people. On the last Sunday of May, we will meet Lydia.
While on a missionary journey, a vision appeared to the Apostle Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen this vision, immediately Paul and those with him set off for Macedonia.
While in Philippi, on the sabbath day, Paul’s group went outside of town, to a place they thought that other Jews might be meeting, perhaps a small synagogue or other meeting place. And what did they find, that there was no synagogue. Apparently, they didn’t have the 10 Jewish men that was required to have a synagogue. In fact, there were no men there that day at all. There was a group of women, meeting to pray.
I wish that all the names of these women had been recorded as they are among the great heroes of the faith. They are shining examples from which we can learn from in our day. They were truly faith warriors. They had every reason to give up, every excuse for not meeting anymore: the men – the primary “movers and shakers” of that society – were not there; there was no church, there was no possibility of having a synagogue; the Romans were always either persecuting, or threatening to persecute the Jews; and sticking to their faith was not going to win them any popularity contests in Philippi. But still, they devotedly came to the river. Every Saturday they came to meet, to pray, to carry on their faith.
Things aren’t that much different now. We live in a society where people feel free to make fun of Christ and Christians. Where the name of the Lord is not honored, in fact people use it as a curse word or a joke. We live in times where people will bend over backwards to keep from offending people but, will look at you funny, or even get mad at you if you stick up for your faith. We need to be more like these women who gathered beside a river to share and grow in their faith.
In this group of women was Lydia, who was a dealer in purple cloth. In the ancient world, purple cloth was only for the rich. In order to dye something purple, I am told that one had to get the pigment from a certain shellfish off the coast. It took hundreds of these mashed up shellfish to dye just a couple of yards of cloth. With Roman citizens as her chief customers, Lydia was a wealthy woman.
But what was most important to her wasn’t her business, or her status, or her money, or her house. What was most important was what she learned on the banks of that river, what she learned outside the city walls, away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds, away from the rich clients and the day-to-day business she ran.
She learned a story of love, and power, of riches, and blessings like she had never heard anywhere else before. She learned of all that God had done for his people in what we now call the Old Testament. And then the picture became even clearer when Paul and his friends showed up unexpectedly and shared with those women the fulfillment of that story of love.
They told Lydia and the other women about Jesus Christ. Of how he was born miraculously into this world, to a young virgin. Of how he had fulfilled all of the laws of God perfectly, where no one else could. And of how Jesus went to the cross to die to pay for all the sins each of them had committed, for the sins of the world in fact. They were told about Jesus rising from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his promise to come back again to bring all believers to their heavenly Father’s home. That is what mattered the most to Lydia.
I believe that if there were anything that Lydia would want us to remember about her, it wouldn’t be the other stuff of her life, it would be just this one thing: That Christ died for her sins, which Christ died for all of our sins.
Lydia then shared her new-found faith: with her kids, with her household, and in fact, with many people in Philippi, because it wasn’t long before there was a thriving church there.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day this month, remind someone, whether it be your mom or another woman, (or even a man – that’s OK too!) that they helped teach you what is most important in life – about Jesus and how you can teach others about Christ too.
In Christ,
Pastor Bakker
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.
Acts 16:14 (NRSV)
Grace and Peace to you!
In our Sunday Worship during the weeks following Easter we will once again have the Book of Acts as our First Reading. As we go through the book of Acts, we will meet up with a number of remarkable people. On the last Sunday of May, we will meet Lydia.
While on a missionary journey, a vision appeared to the Apostle Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen this vision, immediately Paul and those with him set off for Macedonia.
While in Philippi, on the sabbath day, Paul’s group went outside of town, to a place they thought that other Jews might be meeting, perhaps a small synagogue or other meeting place. And what did they find, that there was no synagogue. Apparently, they didn’t have the 10 Jewish men that was required to have a synagogue. In fact, there were no men there that day at all. There was a group of women, meeting to pray.
I wish that all the names of these women had been recorded as they are among the great heroes of the faith. They are shining examples from which we can learn from in our day. They were truly faith warriors. They had every reason to give up, every excuse for not meeting anymore: the men – the primary “movers and shakers” of that society – were not there; there was no church, there was no possibility of having a synagogue; the Romans were always either persecuting, or threatening to persecute the Jews; and sticking to their faith was not going to win them any popularity contests in Philippi. But still, they devotedly came to the river. Every Saturday they came to meet, to pray, to carry on their faith.
Things aren’t that much different now. We live in a society where people feel free to make fun of Christ and Christians. Where the name of the Lord is not honored, in fact people use it as a curse word or a joke. We live in times where people will bend over backwards to keep from offending people but, will look at you funny, or even get mad at you if you stick up for your faith. We need to be more like these women who gathered beside a river to share and grow in their faith.
In this group of women was Lydia, who was a dealer in purple cloth. In the ancient world, purple cloth was only for the rich. In order to dye something purple, I am told that one had to get the pigment from a certain shellfish off the coast. It took hundreds of these mashed up shellfish to dye just a couple of yards of cloth. With Roman citizens as her chief customers, Lydia was a wealthy woman.
But what was most important to her wasn’t her business, or her status, or her money, or her house. What was most important was what she learned on the banks of that river, what she learned outside the city walls, away from the hustle and bustle of the crowds, away from the rich clients and the day-to-day business she ran.
She learned a story of love, and power, of riches, and blessings like she had never heard anywhere else before. She learned of all that God had done for his people in what we now call the Old Testament. And then the picture became even clearer when Paul and his friends showed up unexpectedly and shared with those women the fulfillment of that story of love.
They told Lydia and the other women about Jesus Christ. Of how he was born miraculously into this world, to a young virgin. Of how he had fulfilled all of the laws of God perfectly, where no one else could. And of how Jesus went to the cross to die to pay for all the sins each of them had committed, for the sins of the world in fact. They were told about Jesus rising from the dead, his ascension into heaven, and his promise to come back again to bring all believers to their heavenly Father’s home. That is what mattered the most to Lydia.
I believe that if there were anything that Lydia would want us to remember about her, it wouldn’t be the other stuff of her life, it would be just this one thing: That Christ died for her sins, which Christ died for all of our sins.
Lydia then shared her new-found faith: with her kids, with her household, and in fact, with many people in Philippi, because it wasn’t long before there was a thriving church there.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day this month, remind someone, whether it be your mom or another woman, (or even a man – that’s OK too!) that they helped teach you what is most important in life – about Jesus and how you can teach others about Christ too.
In Christ,
Pastor Bakker
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.
Acts 16:14 (NRSV)
