Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, May 25, 2024
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
This was why Paul had to go to Macedonia. His vision of a “man pleading with him” to go there proved potent indeed. He didn’t meet said “man” but instead was led to visit with some women, among them a wealthy merchant named Lydia, who became the first European Christian. She put Paul and Silas up for some time, providing a base for them to share the gospel (and get into a bunch of trouble doing it). When they left her home, it was after encouraging “the brothers and sisters there,” meaning that the first little house church in Europe had been formed. How beautiful! What a wonderful post-Pentecost story. The church was born in Jerusalem on that holy day, and then the apostles carried it outward into the world, until it reached beyond Palestine and began its growth into Europe. The prophecies about breaking down barriers and spreading the knowledge of God’s unconditional love far beyond Israel were coming true. And so here we are, two thousand years later, indebted to Paul and to Lydia and to all whose faith made Jesus known to the world.
Have I stopped to think about all the people whose lives of faith have brought the knowledge of Jesus’ love to me?
