Purple Fabric

Acts 16:9-15

Poor Paul.  He has his plans and they get all mucked up.  You might know what it’s like: your itinerary is set, your bags packed for the climate to which you’re heading and then something happens to call off the trip.  Or to send you in a completely different direction.

Paul and his companions had no plans to go to Macedonia.  In fact, in the verses just prior to what we heard this morning from the 16th chapter of Acts, Paul had been trying to go towards Asia but “the Spirit of Jesus did not allow it”, (v. 7). 

We need a little understanding of the geography of that place and time to really get an idea of what’s going on here.  We have to remember that Judea sat at the edge of Asia, near to Europe, but not quite in it.  So when Paul had wanted to take the gospel into Asia, he was referring to Asia Minor, where we now find Turkey.

Macedonia, on the other hand, is Europe.  Macedonia, in present-day Greek, was the home to Alexander the Great, who conquered much of the known western world at the time, spreading the Greek language and culture throughout Europe, Asia, and Africa.  Alexander went east with his armies and might.  Paul, on the other hand, traveled west without armies, without military might; just the word of God.

Heading to Europe meant going to the Gentiles.  Christianity was primarily a Jewish sect, don’t forget.  Paul did his best conversion work in synagogues.  Who knew what he’d find in a place as unusual as Europe? 

But there he was--a man of Macedonia appearing to Paul in a vision.  “Come to Macedonia” this vision said, “we need you.”  So Paul, being the obedient one, set out for Macedonia, arriving, as we heard in Philippi. 

Macedonia had once been big and significant and Philippi had been one of the important cities there.  So Paul and companions weren’t necessarily downgrading by going to Philippi.  This was still a big deal, even if it wasn’t what Paul wanted.  (Just goes to show--if the Spirit of Jesus wants you to do something, you may as well do it!)

Once there, Paul seeks to find the God-believers in the city.  There evidently isn’t a large enough gathering of Jews to form any sort of synagogue because he just meets with a group that gathers at the river outside the city gate.  And the surprising thing about this group is that they’re all women.  We may not have even noticed that particular detail when the scripture was read this morning, but assuredly Paul and his companions noticed.  They weren’t used to dealing with women so directly, but with the Spirit of Jesus prodding him on, he met with them and proclaimed the good news of the Christian Gospel.

Among them was Lydia, one of the women who is actually named in the Bible, so many of them going nameless through the ages.  Lydia must have been important.  Because she was a business woman; she sold cloth.  Not just any cloth though; Lydia was a dealer in purple cloth.  Purple was the most expensive and rarest of all cloth colors.  So Lydia dealt with the richest and loftiest folks of the time.  Though it’s not specified exactly what was meant, her household was baptized with her.  Clearly there were other members of her household and Lydia had the power to make decisions for them.  Lydia was a big deal.

And think about it: Lydia’s conversion, in fact, is the first conversion of a European.  Even though it was a man of Macedonia who appeared to Paul in his dream, the first European to embrace Paul’s preaching and be converted to Christianity was a woman, Lydia, the dealer in purple fabrics.

Lydia invites Paul and his company to stay with her, which they accept.  And, several verses later, after they’ve been imprisoned, Paul returns to Lydia’s and finds a house church there.  Lydia is truly one of the Mothers of the church, though we so infrequently hear about her.

It’s a great story, isn’t it?  But if you think about it, you realize that Lydia didn’t need to do what she did.  She was comfortable as a trader in purple cloth.  She had her household, her business, and her standing in the community.  She didn’t need to do what she did.  But yet, she did it.  And did it first out of everyone in Europe.  And went on to do the first new church start in Europe.

This story is one about mission and perseverance and discernment and hospitality and about women’s experience in the early church.  Thus it’s an important story; one which we should pay attention to.

Certainly, we’re not in the same position as Lydia.  None of us is going to be the first anything probably, on the grand scale that Lydia was first.  But yet (there’s always a ‘but yet’, isn’t there?) we have amazing and wonderful opportunities before us all the time.

Like Paul, we might have to change our well-held plans and head off in a completely new direction.  Like Lydia, we may do so at some risk to our livelihood and standing in the community.

But if we are to be faithful to our calling, we need to think about the mission, perseverance, discernment, and hospitality that runs through this narrative and reflect on it as we examine our own stories and how they are progressing.

We may feel like that small gathering at the river that Paul and the others found there in Philippi thousands of years ago, surrounded by the great and mighty Roman empire.  But from those seeds that were planted there that day, converting the first woman, the first person in Europe, a mighty church has sprung.  I imagine that we, as our own small group of journeyers, have more in common with that riverside group that we can guess. 

We have to remember that that small group, too small to be a synagogue even, was the start of Christianity in Europe, going on to meet in Lydia’s home, as she welcomed in her companions on the journey of faith and from there into the church that Paul wrote to in his letter to the Philippians.  When you see purple fabric, I hope you’ll remember Lydia and give thanks for her courage and ministry as you continue your story in the faith.