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July 29, 2007

July 29: Lydia, A Woman in Acts

Acts 16:6-15, 40
Grace and Peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. My name is Lydia, one of the few women actually mentioned in the early times of the Christian faith. But don’t let that mislead you. While our witness might have been miniscule in the written accounts, our witness was anything but during those early times. For some reason, I was chosen to be one of the few women mentioned in scripture (albeit briefly) and so I stand before you today to tell you a little bit about myself and the early church in Philippi.

I am a freed slave, as are the majority of my household. Each of us had debts we needed to work off and once the debt was worked off, we were usually freed. Now the length of time we worked varied from 15 to 20 years. And as was often the case, after we were freed, many of us stayed and worked for the old master as we had become a family and really had no place else to go. Don’t get me wrong, not everyone stayed, some couldn’t wait to get away, and some had family in other parts of the world, but many of us women stayed. After all, what work was there for a single woman in this world besides prostitute or becoming a slave to someone else. This master was a decent enough man.

The region I grew up in was known for the production of dyed wool and woolen clothing. This was typically women’s work. Our work was in the textile business. Our master was a merchant who owned a cloth shop. His quality was the very best and so he was very popular with the rich and powerful. We’d make the cloths and fabrics, dying them with various plants to give the customer a variety of colored materials to choose from. The funny thing was that we never had enough purple material.

Purple cloth was the hardest to make and thus the most expensive of the dyed cloths. Purple cloth was the one status seekers would always request. Customers would come and ask for it and often our master would have to say, he was out of stock. For those of us working behind the scenes, it seemed poor business to us. And in our discussions while we were working, we decided that if the time ever came when we were running the business, we’d only deal with the purple cloth. It was in such high demand, and it would keep expenses down if we just made the one color.

Since so many of us stayed with our Master, he arranged it to make sure we were free to leave the city when he died. And it turned out that was a good idea. When he died, some of the other textile merchants in town came to get his materials and expected us to go along with the bargain. We decided the only way to remain free was to leave Thyatira for good. Those who wanted to travel with us did and we were able to keep a large portion of our “family” together.

This ended up working well as it was safest for us to travel as a group. Over time we gathered more women. Many women in our time were able to spin and dye their own wool at home. Often widows would come out by our camp and see what we were doing. Every so often, one would ask if she could join us. The life of a widow is marked by poverty and isolation. So our contingency grew and our ability to produce larger quantities grew as well. We became known for our excellent quality purple cloth.

We travelled west to the Aegean Sea so we could be near water required for the work of purple dying. Since we did not have an established shop for customers to come to us, we moved around a lot. Our work could get smelly at times and the purple dye required large amounts of water. We’d set up a worksite beside a body of water outside the walls of the city gates. Other textile people were tanning hides, and performing other work like ours that required they stay outside the city walls also.

We were hard working people, but our work was considered “dirty” and socially despised by the Romans. They loved the items we and the others produced--purple cloths, rugs, candles, and other household items. But the Romans, who were our customers, considered us beneath them. We did not have access to their homes so we relied on merchants who would come out to where we set up shop and purchase our wares from us there. I understand you have what you call a Middle class. We had no such thing in my time. There were the working class and beggars/outcast and then there were the lawyers, doctors, professors, and ruling class.

In our travels we ran into women who called themselves “God-Fearers.” They practiced the Jewish religion and their traditions as much as possible. They would share their experiences of the faith with us and some of us became God fearers’ ourselves. We would gather in the morning and the evening to hear the scriptures and learn more about this God who created and loved all human beings. Some of the laws were difficult to keep, but we tried.

Over time, we saw our lives change from focusing exclusively on our trade to thinking about the Lord God. Many of us came to believe in this one God of Israel, who cared for the outcast, the marginalized, not just the rich and powerful. As we traveled, we’d look for a city with a synagogue in it as that would indicate that there were some Jewish folks in the city.

As working women who did not have men to protect them, we lived in a different world. The Jewish faith provided us with the opportunity to be individuals with choices and options. Our faith gave us the strength we needed to face our daily challenges in a male-dominated, secular world. In some cases, we were even given voice in a synagogue and allowed to share in leadership responsibilities.

The number of women God-fearers varied from town to town. Those of high standing were especially useful to Jews in local politics and economically as well. It was a win/win situation when women of high standing became associated with the Jewish faith.

I acknowledge that references in the book of Acts to “women of high standing” or “leading women” are correct. Many followed “The Way.” Admittedly, I was the leader of our family group. But we were not women of high standing or community women with any type of power, influence, or wealth. We were working class women who were trying to provide for our non-traditional family. I am humbled and grateful that the writer of our new movement chose me to be a spokes person for our new-found faith…

Speaking of our new found faith, I suppose I should get on with the story and quit telling you all about me…It was while we were at Philippi that our lives were changed forever. The city was an up and coming Roman colony, full of commerce. We’d been there for a couple months. Things were going well as purple cloth was in big demand. People of high standing, i.e. doctors and lawyers, were coming to this Roman colony. And these status seekers wanted their expensive, purple cloth.

I understand that some of your scholars disagree about whether or not we met in a synagogue—place of learning. In most cases, Jewish practice for synagogue worship dictates 10 men must be present for all official Jewish worship. However, the number of Jews was quite sparse in Philippi. We wanted to worship God. And as self-actualized women, we did not believe God would hear us any less if we did not have the mandatory 10 men present.

So here we were on the Sabbath morning, at the small synagogue beside the river when these two traveling preachers come wandering in. Now mind you, we’ve heard traveling preachers before. Some will see that the place consists of mostly women and turn right around and leave. Imagine our delight when Paul, the scholar and his companion, Silas decided to stay with us and teach us about this Jewish Messiah named Jesus!!

What a powerful message we heard! What a wonderful witness about the Jewish messiah that came to save us all from the powers and principalities in our world. We sat in awe of what the Spirit was saying to us through these men. We did not join in with Paul and Silas because we felt it would be good for us to do. We believed that God had sent us this man Paul, his messenger, to us to tell us about Jesus.

That day, I accepted Paul’s words that a messiah had come to save the world. I confessed my belief in Jesus and was baptized in the same river we worked in. I did not need to encourage the people of our family for many of them were moved by the Spirit and came forward on their own accord. Many were baptized that day.

Before we knew it the day had flown by and darkness was almost upon us. I told Paul and Silas there was a reason the Jewish community in this place was not large. Persecution among the Jews was very prevalent here. Then I urged the travelers to stay with us. They spoke among themselves about Jesus’ reminder to stay where the hospitality was genuine, so they accepted my offer.

We remembered the numerous examples of Jewish hospitality for travelers and what a strong Jewish tradition it is. We were delighted and pleased that the two missionaries decided to stay with us. We would work by day and gather in the evening to hear the word from Paul. Over the course of a few weeks our faith and understanding of Jesus’ message had grown stronger.

Then one day, Paul cast out a demon from a slave girl and her owners had Paul and Silas brought before the magistrates. They were whipped and thrown in prison. While in prison, the jailer witnessed a miracle. He and his family were saved and they became part of our new gathering of Christians. The next day Paul and Silas were released from prison. The magistrates demanded they leave town. Before they left, they returned to our compound by the river to encourage us to keep faith in Jesus Christ.

Over the years, our little group grew in size and devotion. Paul wrote many letters to us throughout the years, encouraging, teaching, and guiding us in the ways of Jesus. On his third mission trip through our area, he stopped by with Timothy and stayed for quite a while helping us to become the group we are today.

In Paul’s letters to us, he reminded us about being humble as Christ was humble. He encouraged us to remember him and to continue to strive to reach out to others. He instructed us on how to become mature Christians, not staying as babies of the faith, but opening ourselves to the workings of the Spirit so that we might have strength in Spirit as Jesus exhibited. Times were not easy as persecution was happening more and more but Paul encouraged us to be like Christ and have faith in God’s continuing presence in our lives.

I understand that this month you’ve been looking at first impressions. And that at first glance, it appears as if the witness of women is not present in the early church. I encourage you to remember that it takes more than the leaders to make a community of faith. It requires faithful followers—people who have a heart for Jesus and who want to share their heart with others. Paul and Silas got us going, but after they left, it was me and others who stepped up to and followed where God was leading us to go.

Just so you know, we didn’t move around any longer so sell our purples cloth. We made a commitment to stay in Philippi and strengthen the community of faith that Paul began. We never wanted for anything, God provided for all our needs. We even had extra resources to send money to Paul for the church in Jerusalem and the people there. When we committed ourselves 100% to doing God’s will for our lives, God provided us with all we needed and more.

It’s time for me to depart. Hope you have a little better understanding of the witness of women in the early Christian church. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you today and always.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM