May 25 ~Peace is Where the Gospel Speaks Softly and Unexpectedly, But Just of Powerfully.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 16:9-15

Psalm 67

Revelation 21:10, 22—22:5

John 14:23-29

(The context of this sermon was 100% written in Canada by a human)

When I come across a first lesson like the one we have before us today, it stands out to me as unique. Through the New and Old Testaments, we often meet people who are over-simplified sketches -- characters that appear in a few verses and then vanish from our faith stories. All we can do is imagine their story, to fill in the blanks. We can choose how we see them, which is how theologians manage to have such lively debates. Usually, we interpret them through the lens of our own culture, and our own life experiences.

In particular, then, we are missing, with a few exceptions, about half the population in scripture. Women typically come to the surface only when a man is not present to tell the story himself. Female characters are the second-choice witnesses. The result is tragic, for while there are strong, brave women in the gospel, there are not enough. And we get little record of the conversations between women. Women in the Bible say little unless they are talking to men, or about them.

The Bible fails the Bechdel test – a term used to describe the amount of time women talk to one another in movies, where a man is not the main subject. In fact, in 15 years of “Best Picture” movies, the male characters get to speak far more than the female characters – many times more. And it’s also true in the vast majority of the Disney Cartoons our kids grow up watching – even in Mulan, a movie where the main character is female, male characters get 70 per cent of the dialogue.

This is a failing of movies, and it is a weakness in our faith stories. We cannot go back and change scripture. We can only spend time ourselves pondering that female presence when it appears, looking more intentionally for the lessons the characters have to teach.

And surely this is important, even essential to a fulsome understanding of faith – and to the words that Jesus speaks in our gospel. Jesus talks about the people who love him who will keep the Word. He cautions us to be mindful of those who speak what sounds like the Word of God but is not. And he describes the Holy Spirit who exists in the world to teach us and remind us of the gospel – and certainly to speak to us through others. “Peace be with you,” Jesus says. And yet he has also said all along that there cannot be peace when there is division, oppression, and discrimination.

And so it is interesting that tied to our gospel about peace and teaching and listening for God, we have Lydia, this interesting woman, in our first lesson. At this stage in Paul’s travels, after the death of Jesus, he finds himself in Macedonia, in the city of Philippi, a Roman colony. There, his first encounter is with a group of women, and Paul, we are told, seemingly without hesitation, sits down to talk to them.

Among them is one called Lydia, and we are given a surprising amount of information about her. She is a businesswoman who deals in purple cloth. Since purple is the colour of nobility, we can assume that she was well off, accustomed to bargaining with wealthy households, and hobnobbing with their residents. Since she carries the name of her place of birth, the Province of Lydia (what is now Western Turkey), some theologians have speculated that she was a freed slave – that’s unknown for sure, but if true, only makes her rise to entrepreneurship more impressive.

Another interesting detail about Lydia: she invites the disciples to come and stay with her, and there is no mention of a husband. She was the head of her household, which was not the norm in her day. Indeed, the lesson refers to “when she and her household were baptised.” Lydia’s household must be large, since she was able to host these followers of Jesus. What’s more, she was inviting Paul and Silas, who had just been released from prison and were foreigners on top of it. Lydia was not concerned with what others thought.

The gospel narrative refers to Lydia as a “worshipper of God,” which is meant to show that she was a Gentile who chose to practice Judaism. So Lydia is also framed as an independent thinker, one able to put tradition aside and choose what she wanted to believe. She was not born into her faith -- she picked it as an adult. We are told that God “opened her heart,” so she was someone willing to listen to different views, and take wisdom from those, as she found it. And since Paul and the disciples stayed with her for many weeks, no doubt having many discussions about faith, theologians believe she went on to be the leader of the Christian faith in Philippi.

Lydia, then, becomes an example of – at least in her time – unlikely leadership. That she is a woman makes her story stand out to us. But among the leaders we might see in the gospel, her strength stands on its own, head-to-head with any examples we have. She demonstrates the traits of independent thought by coming to her belief with consideration and choice. She presents the kind of leadership that does not worry what others think when it comes to acting in generous and giving ways to those who are different. (And in this case, notably, it is Paul who is the vulnerable person.) Through this leadership, she has earned respect in her household and presumably, in the community.

What is the surest way to hear God, and to find our own peace? To be cautious always about the leaders we follow. To mirror the example to those who would follow us, with kind and just leadership. And to listen for the wisdom of the gospel in unexpected places, where it may speak more softly and unexpectedly, but just as powerfully. Amen