by MaryAnn McKibben Dana
New Testament Reading: Acts 16:9-15
For Sunday, May 5, 2013—Easter 6
I’m intrigued by this text as the story of Christianity coming to Europe. For congregations like mine, i.e. predominantly white and of European descent, this is our origin story.
Yes, much of the ensuing history of Western Christianity is problematic in any number of ways. But think of it: Notre Dame Cathedral, Michelangelo’s Pieta, and Calvin’s Institutes exist in no small part because of a vision, a shaky sojourn through Phrygia and Troas and across the sea, and a woman who was willing to listen to a stranger’s testimony.
The Way
Lydia shows us how to talk about Christianity’s advent in Europe without descending into triumphalism. Note her response to Paul’s evangelization: she invites him to stay in her home. The first act of discipleship of a Christian convert on the European continent is not proselytizing, and it’s certainly not a crusade or an inquisition. It’s hospitality, giving of oneself. Lydia opens her home and her heart, which is the ultimate act of vulnerability.
So if we want to talk about Christianity’s European origins, Lydia helps us critique the centuries of Western colonialism, the crusades, and the wars. We got it right sometimes and we got it wrong a lot of times. Through it all, we the church are called to—and capable of—an obedience born of open-hearted hospitality. Lydia, our foremother, shows us the way.
Plan B
But Macedonia wasn’t part of Paul’s plan. He thought he had a good idea of where he should go next—Asia—but God intervened and took him on a wild adventure the likes of which he couldn’t have imagined.
If I’m reading the map right, Paul’s first missionary journey was fairly landlocked, and even when he traveled by sea, he was pretty close to home base. For his second, he was hoping to go to Asia, which wouldn’t have involved any sea travel and again would’ve been pretty tightly circumscribed. It’s possible that even Paul the Apostle was hoping to keep things a little on the modest side. Instead, God thrusts him onto a new continent. His radius of influence expands dramatically (look at the path of that third voyage!).
The Spirit enlarged Paul’s territory beyond his envisioning, and it was major work and heartache—we have the letters to prove it. But here we are, two millennia later. This is God as Marianne Williamson : “Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.”
God had something greater in mind than Paul did. God can imagine things that we cannot, and improbably, invites us to be a part of it. And as Augustine famously said, God without us will not; we without God cannot. God insists on doing God’s thing through us unimaginative souls. So good on Paul for going.
Wandering Ancestors
Pentecost is in two weeks, and while it might jump the gun a little, it could be fun to weave together some stories of the church moving into uncharted territory, whether through missionary work in foreign lands (again, tread lightly) or simply taking risks with a nascent ministry.
I love the story of Columba, priest in sixth-century Ireland, who got in a rudderless boat and let God and providence take him where he was meant to be. He made landfall once, but decided to push out again because he could still see his homeland on the horizon behind him. The second place he landed was Iona, the island where Christianity touched Scotland for the first time.
That Aramean back in Genesis? He’s not our only wandering ancestor, not by a long shot.
The Hardest Question
In what ways are we playing small in our churches?
How are we being called beyond our carefully-considered plans and safe assumptions into something daring, unpredictable… maybe even unprecedented?
MaryAnn McKibben Dana is pastor of Idylwood Presbyterian Church, a small and growing congregation in Falls Church, VA. She is the author of Sabbath in the Suburbs: A Family’s Experiment with Holy Time (Chalice Press) and is a frequent conference and workshop leader on church transformation, faith formation and spirituality. When she’s not training to be the slowest person ever to run a half marathon, or keeping up with her three kids, she likes to blog at The Blue Room.
