6^th Sabbath in Easter

May 11/13, 2007

Mother’s Day

Victor H. Nixon

RESPONDING TO A CALL FOR HELP

Acts 16:9-15

My mother was a very special person in my life. She died three years ago this summer and I still think about her most every day, usually in the mornings, on my way to the church because that’s when I phoned her. She suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease and seldom remembered to take medications, so my call included a reminder. She would often say, "These pills must not be doing any good if I can’t remember to take them." I would give a silent thanks to God the disease had not destroyed her sense of humor.

At some point in the conversation she usually asked, "When are you coming to see me?" The invitation was always open to visit my mother. I cannot remember a single time in my life when it was inconvenient or when she was too busy for her son to visit. Her home, like her life, was always open to me and to my family.

Invitation and hospitality are themes in our text for today. The Book of Acts is a travel narrative, generally coupled with the Gospel of Luke because it is considered to be the second half of one literary piece, commonly referred to as Luke-Acts. Apostles travel throughout Acts, preaching in one place and another, being persecuted in others. In our text for today, the Apostle Paul was on the second of his three missionary journeys, a trip that took him and Silas, a friend and fellow Christian from Antioch, through Asia Minor where they planned to visit churches established on Paul’s first journey. Along the way another believer, Timothy, had joined them. In each place they were gladly welcomed. Fledgling churches were strengthened by their visits and their faith. Bithynia was on the itinerary. However, from some reason, they felt that Christ was not leading them there. So, our pilgrims ended up in the town of Troas, located on the western coast of present-day Turkey, on the Aegean Sea.

During the night, Paul had a vision in which a man of Macedonia invited him to "Come over to Macedonia and help us." Macedonia was located across the Aegean. Luke writes, "We immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them."

This Macedonian invitation is intriguing. For example, there was no indication of what kind of help was needed, just a plea to come and help. It has the sound of crisis, the sound of urgency, like a phone call in the middle of the night saying, "I need you, come quickly!"

Also, notice that response was immediate. You don’t ask questions, you hang up the phone and go because you are convinced that it’s something important and your help is crucial. It isn’t like the 1-800 number with automated answering that says if your problem is this, push one, if your problem is that, push two, and so on. And you discover that the part has to be ordered and takes three weeks for delivery. There was immediate response to the call for help in Macedonia.

Another interesting thing: Paul and company were invited to a place they’d never been before. Macedonia is in Europe in the present-day country of Greece. A new continent! Paul and the others brought Christianity to Europe for the first time.

And another: They were convinced that God wanted them to go and proclaim the good news of Christ. They believed this call was divinely initiated. God was in it.

Do you know this story? People of faith called by God on an urgent mission to share the Good News with people in crisis in an unfamiliar place? Isn’t that the story of the church? Isn’t this our story? Aren’t we invited to hear God’s call in the urgent need of people and to share the good news of Christ?

Shortly, a mission team from our church will leave for Guatemala. Weekly, members of our congregation do Bible study with incarcerated people. Next week we will receive an offering for Serenity Park to help build a treatment facility for women with alcohol and drug addictions. Our broadcast ministries beam the good news around the state and world. For nine months teachers and mentors have been leading confirmands to profess their faith in Christ and join the Christian journey next Sunday. God’s call to share the good news of Christ is more urgent than ever!

Essentially, this journey isn’t about doctrine; it isn’t about polity or structure; it isn’t about who can be a member and who can’t; it isn’t about language, race, economic circumstance, gender, age or sexual preference. All those are important considerations, but the primary purpose of the church is this: to join the urgent mission of God to share the good news of Christ with people in need wherever and whoever they may be. In these days, the church needs to hear again its call and it must not be distracted from that primary calling by peripheral, personal, social or political issues.

There’s another component to this calling. If you read this text from Acts carefully, you’ll notice that in verse 10 the narration changes from third person to first person. Luke says, "When [Paul] had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, . . . " From this point on in the text, it is no longer "they" who are on this missionary journey; it is "we" who are crossing over to share the good news. What is happening here? Apparently, the author, Luke, has joined Paul, Silas and Timothy on the journey. Several times in the Book of Acts, Luke changes from third to first person in what are called "we passages," where Luke makes the story personal by including himself.

I suggest to you that the significance of this story to come and help in Macedonia is not merely a blanket invitation to the church in general; it is your personal invitation as well. God invites you to join the journey of faith and the mission to new places and people to share the good news of Christ. If you haven’t done so, you are invited to write yourself into the story today and to make this pilgrimage personal. People of every kind, everywhere, are in crisis. The need is urgent and cries out, "Come over and help us." God needs you on this mission team. Write yourself into the story and join the greatest journey of your life!

Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke crossed the sea to Macedonia. After landing at Neapolis, they made their way inland some ten miles to Philippi, a Roman colony and major city on the trade route between east and west, very cosmopolitan at the time. After resting for a few days, they observed the Sabbath Day by going outside the city to worship and share the good news with a group of women by the river.

One of those was Lydia, a believer in God and a successful businesswoman, importer of cloth from her native city of Thyatira in Asia Minor, home to an industry of dyers and dealers of "Turkey Red" or "purple" cloth very popular at the time. Luke says that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart and she listened eagerly to Paul as he shared the good news of Christ. Lydia and her whole household were baptized that day. By God’s grace Lydia and others became part of the story and the response to God’s call.

The Church of Lydia, a Greek Orthodox structure, is a beautiful, unique little church built on the sight of her baptism. When we visited a few years ago, I was captivated by the design. Lydia’s church is a bit larger than our chapel and has beautiful windows. Interestingly, there are no pews. Instead, a large pool of water, a baptistry, is in the middle of the nave, around which people stand to observe the sacrament of baptism. I think of the Church of Lydia as a Church of the Open Heart, a place of invitation and welcome, where God prepares people to receive the good news of Christ.

God is preparing young hearts to receive the good news in the baptism of children here today. Baptism means that we are becoming those whose hearts are open to God. In baptism we intentionally invite God into our lives, to take up residence in us. Baptism means that God has a hospitality suite in my life. God opened Lydia’s heart . . . Are you open to receiving God?

Lydia, in turn, opened her door to a group of strangers from another country. "Come and stay at my home," she said to Paul and the others. When she insisted, they accepted. Lydia’s home became the local house church in Philippi, open to all people, men and women, friends and strangers alike, a model for early and modern communities of faith.

Years ago I was appointed to a church where the parsonage was being renovated. Nothing like being sent to a church with no place to live! I wondered what my family and I would do. Unexpectedly, we received invitations from two families who graciously invited us to live in their homes until renovation was complete. Although we were complete strangers, they welcomed their new pastor and his family warmly into their homes and treated us as honored guests, each for about two weeks. I have never received such hospitality.

The church of the open heart opens its doors and invites people to share life and faith with them. This church is not just for members; it is for all people. This church is not just for those who understand and believe the Gospel; this church is for those who seek a relationship with God and an understanding of Christian Faith. This church is not just for those with answers, but for those with questions as well. This church is not just for the "booster" generation (my people); it is for every generation. It is open to people of all ages and stations. You are welcome to write yourself into God’s story here, to make this your spiritual home, and respond to God’s urgent call to proclaim the good news of Christ and join in ministry with us. Our mother in the faith, Lydia, said, "Come and stay at my home." And so do I.

Thanks be to God. Amen.