God comes home
May 13, Revelation 22:1-5, Acts 16:9-15, John 14:15-29
Sorry for the long absence; time for blogging got interrupted by many things! Now I hope to be back weekly.
Sunday's texts are again so rich it is hard to know where to go. We'll begin with Lydia whom we meet in the book of Acts. The intro to this (most of which is not part of the lectionary segment) indicates that Paul had a clear plan for his mission, and it involved going to Asia. But Luke writes that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus blocked Paul from going to Asia. Then Paul has a dream in which he is called to Macedonia, so he goes.
Macedonia. In case your geographical knowledge can't call that one up, it is either a separate country north of Greece, or the northern part of Greece (there's actually a rather nasty modern conflict about that boundary and name). The critical piece for the spread of the gospel here is that this is the first time word about Jesus is coming to Europe. We're told that the city of Philippi is a Roman colony, a place established often for veterans of the Roman armies to dwell. The religious affiliation of the people would probably have included the Greco/Roman religious sects, but there may have been Jews there as well. At any rate, Lydia and her household are almost certainly Gentiles.
An interesting stylistic note on this passage, in verse 10 suddenly the narration shifts to "we" language. Apparently the writer of Acts (Luke?) now accompanies Paul on his journeys. I find this exciting because now the story seems less like old historical material and more intimate, more real, if you will.
Paul seeks a place to worship on the sabbath and finds a group of women gathered at the river. Was the river a usual place of prayer in society at that time? Interesting that in the Revelation passage, a river also is shown as an important focus for prayer and worship. Water imagery abounds in the readings today (and in the alternate gospel, John 5, the story of the pool of Bethesda). Baptism....new life.....all centered around the river.
It would have been both unusual and normal for Paul to speak with women who were strangers. Unusual because in his time this generally wasn't socially acceptable. Usual because from its inception the church included women in prominent positions. Paul gets a rather unfair rap as being sexist because he often worked with women in leadership in the churches (Priscilla and Lydia prominent among them).
Lydia. She was probably a gentile. She was probably unmarried because we are told she made independent decisions for her household which a wife would not have done in roman society. She was wealthy; purple cloth was the most expensive due to the dyes, and so reserved for the upper classes. She was also a seeker, we are told, looking for God in her life. So when she hears Paul, (and we assume we are told only a very condensed version of longer events here), she responds in faith and shows that faith by her hospitality, inviting Paul (and eventually the church in Philippi, to which Paul would later write a letter, Philippians) to her home. He goes and uses her home as a base for other forays into Macedonia.
More tomorrow on the John reading.
Sorry for the long absence; time for blogging got interrupted by many things! Now I hope to be back weekly.
Sunday's texts are again so rich it is hard to know where to go. We'll begin with Lydia whom we meet in the book of Acts. The intro to this (most of which is not part of the lectionary segment) indicates that Paul had a clear plan for his mission, and it involved going to Asia. But Luke writes that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus blocked Paul from going to Asia. Then Paul has a dream in which he is called to Macedonia, so he goes.
Macedonia. In case your geographical knowledge can't call that one up, it is either a separate country north of Greece, or the northern part of Greece (there's actually a rather nasty modern conflict about that boundary and name). The critical piece for the spread of the gospel here is that this is the first time word about Jesus is coming to Europe. We're told that the city of Philippi is a Roman colony, a place established often for veterans of the Roman armies to dwell. The religious affiliation of the people would probably have included the Greco/Roman religious sects, but there may have been Jews there as well. At any rate, Lydia and her household are almost certainly Gentiles.
An interesting stylistic note on this passage, in verse 10 suddenly the narration shifts to "we" language. Apparently the writer of Acts (Luke?) now accompanies Paul on his journeys. I find this exciting because now the story seems less like old historical material and more intimate, more real, if you will.
Paul seeks a place to worship on the sabbath and finds a group of women gathered at the river. Was the river a usual place of prayer in society at that time? Interesting that in the Revelation passage, a river also is shown as an important focus for prayer and worship. Water imagery abounds in the readings today (and in the alternate gospel, John 5, the story of the pool of Bethesda). Baptism....new life.....all centered around the river.
It would have been both unusual and normal for Paul to speak with women who were strangers. Unusual because in his time this generally wasn't socially acceptable. Usual because from its inception the church included women in prominent positions. Paul gets a rather unfair rap as being sexist because he often worked with women in leadership in the churches (Priscilla and Lydia prominent among them).
Lydia. She was probably a gentile. She was probably unmarried because we are told she made independent decisions for her household which a wife would not have done in roman society. She was wealthy; purple cloth was the most expensive due to the dyes, and so reserved for the upper classes. She was also a seeker, we are told, looking for God in her life. So when she hears Paul, (and we assume we are told only a very condensed version of longer events here), she responds in faith and shows that faith by her hospitality, inviting Paul (and eventually the church in Philippi, to which Paul would later write a letter, Philippians) to her home. He goes and uses her home as a base for other forays into Macedonia.
More tomorrow on the John reading.
Labels: May 13
posted by shelly @ 9:37 AM
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