Sixth
Sunday of Easter, (Year C) May
1, 2016
Acts
16:9-15; John 14:23-29
Have you ever been a missionary? I have a few
friends who have done that. Dave and Kristin from seminary spent over 10 years
in ministry in Lithuania, reestablishing United Methodist churches after the
fall of communism in the 1990’s. Their children were born there, and the
relationships they nurtured there built there brought lifelong friendships.
Their mission efforts helped to raise a church that had been in hiding for 50
years, and the church is now being served by local Lithuanian pastors alongside
one missionary family who continue their work.
I have another friend who grew up in a missionary
family overseas. It has greatly influenced her life. She sees being in mission,
not as a just as a finite call with a beginning and an end, but as a way of
life. Mission was not just what happened when you were in church or bible
study. It wasn’t just about helping people know who Jesus is and inviting him
into their lives. It was about being with them in everyday tasks and helping
Christ be present there, also. And it was about adsorbing from her host country
all the ways that God was working, even as it was different from the way that
people in the US experienced God.
We are getting ready to celebrate Ascension Day this
Thursday… you will know that it’s a special day because the stores will be
closed and people will take a day away from work. In German, it is
“Himmelfahrt”… literally heaven travel… Jesus, leaving behind the burdens and
trappings of the world as ascending to his rightful place in heaven. In his
last words to his follower, Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey
everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day
until the end of this present age” (Matthew 28:19-20).
During this season of Eastertide, we have been
following the story of the early church as we read through the book of Acts. We
have seen the disciples struggle and grow as they worship and are taught by the
risen Jesus. We have met Paul, as he is converted from persecuting Jewish
leader to Christian teacher and leader. We have seen the struggle that the
church has figuring out how to blend the Jewish and Gentile Christian
communities and make unified expectations for all. This week we see Paul
pushing the bounds of the Christian community outward from Jerusalem – out of
the Middle East, out of Asia and into Europe.
Today’s lesson from Acts is a powerful portrait of
how Easter faith gives rise to a desire to spread the good news. Paul’s mission
is making its way northwestward, through Asia Minor and onto the continent of
Europe. He had tried to go east, further into Asia, toward Ephesus, a center of
cultural and trade activity. But several times he was stopped by different circumstances,
which he saw as roadblocks put up by God to send him in another direction.
Paul’s call to Macedonia comes in the form of a
vision, Luke’s reminder of the extraordinary nature of our bidding to go out in
God’s name. With this dramatic event, the mission to Europe begins, and Paul
must feel that nothing will ever be the same. The gospel is moving out of
familiar territory where the Pauline gospel is well established. It is moving into uncharted waters. It is as
if the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection were a big rock, thrown
into a pond, rippling out to reach all the world.
We often think of Paul as a hater of women, or at
least unappreciative. People have used some of Paul’s writings to prove that
women were not equal to men in matters of faith and leadership. But this story
is one which reminds us that the issues of faith are not always black and
white. Lydia’s conversion reminds us that God will call whom God will call, and
the all of us, man, woman, youth, and child, are opening to the changing power
of God’s grace.
Lydia, a woman of means, probably a merchant and
leader in the community, encounters Paul and his companions at a place of
prayer by the river. The authenticity of her response is indicated by the
eagerness with which she responded to Paul’s sharing. Both she and her
household were converted, and the genuineness of her conversion is reflected in
her hospitality. When they hesitate, she teaches them by asking them to judge
her by nothing but the realness of her faith. So we shouldn’t be surprised that
after Paul and Silas are released from prison at the end of Chapter 16, they go
back to Lydia’s house, and find that faith in the Christian life has already
grown in the town, and that a house church has been established, with Lydia as
the driving force.
There are so many aspects of this passage which
appeal to me. It reflects the radical nature of the gospel in that the message
is available to all who will listen and let it change their lives. Think about
it. Paul, one of the chief tellers of the faith story, has been sharing the
story of the Messiah within the traditional Judaic framework. When he arrived
in a town, he went to the synagogue, because he knew that there would be people
there who shared a common foundation with him and with Christ… belief in the
God of the Jews. And he talked to the
men, because they were the leaders in the society, and could help him gain
access into other parts of people’s lives.
But when Paul got outside the
region of Asia, he encountered a different set of circumstances. Here, the
place of prayer was not in a synagogue but by the river. And the people, mainly
women, were probably not gathered in formal worship, but sat together sharing
stories of life and faith. Maybe it was a shock to encounter a situation so
different… maybe not. But Paul and company never debated on whether to share
the good news. They didn't flinch or hold a conversation about how to handle
the situation -- they just sat down and started talking. They met Lydia, a Gentile
woman who quickly became the first European convert to Christianity (thus in
our Euro-centric congregation, our mother in the faith).
For many years, this passage
has been lifted up to affirm the ministry and leadership of women in the
church. Lydia’s ministry within the community at Phillipi gained a good
reputation and supported Paul in his further missionary travels. They took care
of people in their community. They witnessed to the love of God. They used the
gifts that God gave them to do the work of Christ. And they set a pattern for
leadership that can be followed even today.
Ministry opportunities comes
to us in all shapes and sizes. And often we do not recognize them for what they
are… divine calls from God. We are so busy, so distracted, by the worries of
our world that we do not see the people that God is calling us to walk beside.
If we think to ask how someone is doing, we are more than likely thinking of
how troubled our own lives are… seriously, when you are telling me the
struggles that you are going through, I am having to work so hard to not say,
“Well, you think you’ve got it hard… here’s what I’m dealing with…”
Too often I am not present
enough in my day to ask myself these questions: God, how are you speaking to me
through this encounter? What do you want me to take with me and what do you
want me to leave behind? What am I meant to learn from this – how do you want
me to change from this conversation, and sharing another’s story?
These questions matter
because they make an assumption that most of us are unlikely to make… that God
is traveling with us along the course of our days. Too often, our own inner
monologue is drowning out the voice of God calling us to think less about our
own need to be center stage and more on hearing and responding to the needs and
pain of others. Can we hear God telling us to be open to a new plan and new
challenges, ones that we didn’t expect or even want for ourselves? Are we willing
to hear a call and just go – and are we ready to receive the gifts that come
with unexpected encounters and their mysterious way of helping us take new and
grace-filled paths?[i]
In our gospel lesson, Jesus
gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, which is a very
interesting part of the work that the Holy Spirit does. We are able to see the
Spirit as Comforter, because it’s often our first experience. But to know the
Spirit as Advocate, that’s a much more unsettling way to experience God. Bruce Cromwell reminds us:
Beyond believing that God still speaks, we then need to believe that God knows whom to call, and why…By the gift of the Holy Spirit, God gives us spiritual gifts in addition to our natural talents and skills. And so when God has work to do in the world, women and men are called and equipped to do that work. We simply have to faithfully respond to that call. When ministry in the church in the world falls short, nine times out of ten it’s because one or two or ten of us have a hard time believing that God would ever, that God could ever, choose us to do something worthwhile and of significance for His Kingdom.[ii]
Imagine their surprise when
two Air Force Academy cadets discovered that the janitor that had been cleaning
up after them for the last two years was actually a Medal of Honor recipient from
World War 2. When they asked him if he was the soldier they read about, he
replied simple, “Yep, that’s me.” “Why didn’t you tell us?” they asked. He slowly replied after some thought, “That was one day in
my life and it happened a long time ago.” At a loss for words, they sped off to
class, but shared the news with everyone in their squadron.
After
that, things were never the same. No longer was he “the janitor.” Students
regularly stopped to talk to Mr. Crawford and invited him to formal occasions. Not
only did it change the students, but it also made a difference to Mr. Crawford,
who seemed to walk a little taller and offer them words of encouragement
throughout the year.[iii]
There are many lessons of leadership to be learned from the story, but it is
also a great portrait of what it means to be a person of faith. Mr. Crawford’s heroic
actions saved lives in 1943 and changed the lives of Air Force Cadets over 40
years later. And it makes me think about how the things that happen in one day
in my life now could still be sending out ripples, long after I have stopped
talking about or even remembering them.
Think of a still pond on a
cloudy day. And gradually it begins to gently rain. See the ripples on the
water? They reach out and keep spreading until they meet up with another ring,
and then they head back to where they started. The history of the church is
filled with the stories of people of all descriptions who have lived out their
faith in the best way they could. Sometimes we feel like the only drop in the
pond. Other times, the rain is coming so fast we cannot see where our rings end
and where others begin.
Lydia’s faith was made strong
by listening to Paul tell the story. The town of Phillipi grew strong in faith
by seeing the witness of her call. And as we hear the story, we too grow in
faith and belief.
What are the ripples of faith
that have reached you? Have they changed you enough to help you be a ripple
maker, too? No matter where we are in
our journeys, let us be reminded that if we are willing to see them, God’s
ripples of love and grace are witness to the fact that we are called to be a
witness and channel of the transforming power of God.
[i] “On
Macedonia and Being Open to God's Vision,” Janet H. Hunt, Dancing With the
Word, April 24, 2016. http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2016/04/on-macedonia-and-being-open-to-gods.html
[ii] A Plain
Account, Bruce N. G. Cromwell, April 25, 2016
Commentary on Acts 16:9-15, Mitzi J. Smith, May 1,
2016.
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