Lydia
Day 511, Sunday, Jan. 4
Acts 16:6-15
Paul’s journey continues under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. After a vision, he and his companions go to Macedonia in northern Greece.
“On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.”
The riverside seems to have been a common place for Jewish prayer, so Paul is beginning his ministry in his usual way, starting among the Jewish people and gentiles who already worship God.
Acts doesn’t seem to find it necessary to explain why the people he speaks to were the “women who had gathered there,” rather than the male audience that might have been expected.
Out of this preaching we are introduced to Lydia. “One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth.
She is described as a worshiper of God—a Gentile who accepted the Jewish God. Purple cloth was an expensive luxury in that day, so she was likely affluent.
We read, “The Lord opened her heart to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home.” The “members of her household” would have included slaves, who were expected to follow the religion of their owner.
This and other times that a household is baptized at the same time are sometimes used to support the practice of infant baptism since the text does not specify only adult members of the household.
We will meet Lydia again.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Sunday meditation

Psalms 55:1-11
Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught because of what my enemy is saying, because of the threats of the wicked; for they bring down suffering on me and assail me in their anger.
My heart is in anguish within me; the terrors of death have fallen on me. Fear and trembling have beset me; horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest. I would flee far away and stay in the desert; I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.”
Lord, confuse the wicked, confound their words, for I see violence and strife in the city. Day and night they prowl about on its walls; malice and abuse are within it. Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.

Prayer focus
Open our hearts to you, Lord.