May 9, 2010
Mother’s Day
Your Hope is Alive in Me
Acts 16:9-15
John 14:23-29
The Sixth Sunday of Easter
Year C
I think that we are all waiting for that moment – when we meet that one person, when we will turn down that one street, when God will give us that one vision, when we will come to that once place – where everything changes. Where we know that we have come to our destiny. Where we know that we are following the intentions that God has for us, and from this moment on, things will all fall into place and make sense. Things may not be perfect, but they will at least make sense.
For Paul, the person was Lydia, the vision was from a man from Macedonia, the place was the place of prayer, the street was the Via Ignatia.
Via Ignatia is a pretty significant highway now – the highway is much more significant and much busier then Phillipi. As a matter of fact if you don’t slow down and intentionally look for the stop on the side of the road you will miss it. It is a five to six hour highway drive to Macedonia from Phillipi. I could only imagine how long it would have taken to walk that journey.
But a man appeared in a dream and told Paul that he was needed in Macedonia and he needed to make the trip. So he and Silas set off for Macedonia. On my trip following in the footsteps of Paul, we travelled down the via ignatia. There are two major roads from Rome – the via Appian and the via ignatia. They were actually built in 2BC – they were roads intended to connect all of the roman provinces to Rome. Soldiers followed this road in order to get anywhere they needed to be to keep order, supplies could be transported anywhere. More than 2000 years later- both roads are still used. It makes it pretty easy to follow in the footsteps of Paul. In his travels, Paul went where the people were. He followed the major urban areas of his time in order to spread the gospel. In the beginning, he stayed close to home, close to the middle east. The call to Macedonia was a call to reach out into the heart of the land of the gentiles. To reach people who would not have known Jesus Christ, yet and still knew the Holy Spirit. As I said, Macedonia was six hours away in a car- but he made the trip walking. Along the way he stopped by the river and met a group of women praying. Lyddia was the head of that group – she was not a jew- but she followed the jewish ways, she prayed and she believed in God. And she became Paul’s first convert. Since she was a wealthy woman, once she was baptized, that meant that all of her servants, her relatives and her household also became Christians.
Today, you can still visit that place along the river. It has been left alone. I think that I still have water in my refrigerator from that river. And a little ways from the river is a small chapel, it is not a place of worship, it is intended just for baptisms. People come to baptize their babies at the place where Lyddia was baptized.
We are all waiting for our destiny. Waiting for that person, the place, that turn down the street, that vision that will change our lives.
Lyddia not only changed Paul’s life, but she changed the life of us all. She was the first European to be baptized, she was influential in her community so she was able to bring others to Christ. Phillipi is a long way away from Macedonia – and yet her conversion was proof that Paul was following the way of God. All of Greece followed Lyddia and became Christian. The greek flag is blue and white to represent the sea. But where our flag has 50 stars, the greek flag has a cross. The entire nation is Greek Orthodox. Because one woman praying next to a river saw the presence of the holy spirit in Paul and his message. From the via ignatia – the word spread all over the world.
The good news for us- is that we all have Lydias in our lives. People who paved the way for us, people who believed in us, people who introduced us to our destiny.
There is a story of a king,who wanted to set aside a special day to honor his greatest subject. There was a great contest throughout the land- and during a festival the four finalist were brought into the court yard. The first was a wealthy philanthropist who had given lots of money to help the poor, the second was a celebrated doctor who had faithfully taken care of many people, the third was a judge who had a reputation for being wise as well as fair. The fourth was an elderly woman. No one quite understood why she was there. No one seemed to even know who she was. She did not look like someone who deserved such an honor from the king. The king even asked here who she was. She pointed at the three distinguished men, and told how proud she was, how she appreciated all that they had grown up to be, and all that they had done for the world. They had taken her message and sped it to great places. Her message – yes, she had been their elementary school teacher. She had taught them all. She had encouraged them all, she had mentored them all. She made a difference in their lives.
Each of us has a person, a place, a time, a turn in our lives that made all of the difference in the world. The message of easter is that Jesus is sending a teacher into our lives. A teacher that will comfort us, will guide us, will support us no matter what.
Let me tell you about a very different kind of mother. Carole, a third-generation Japanese-American, was born in an internment camp during World War II, married a man who had also been born in a camp and they had a baby girl. The child was born with feet that turned inward. Carole was determined to do everything necessary to ensure that her child was able to walk normally. By the age of six, after years in very expensive corrective shoes, she was finally able to walk.
That wasn't good enough for Carole. To ensure continued corrective development, she told her daughter to choose a sport that would strengthen her legs. She chose ice skating and it became her passion. That meant years of early mornings at the rink. It took an incredible amount of time, money and patience but Carole and her husband were happy to give it for the sake of their little girl. After fifteen years, they found themselves standing with the world as their daughter, Kristi Yamaguchi, received the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics.
That mother gave life to her child, not only through the birthing and nursing but by making every necessary sacrifice to give Kristi the dream, the discipline, the resources and the encouragement to claim her full potential.
For many of us – our first teacher, our biggest supporter, the one mot interested in guiding us is our mother.
But today I want us to honor our mothers, but to think of all of the people especially the women in our lives who made a difference. Who formed our destiny, who guided us along the way.
And to honor the fact that all of them were sent by god as a gift in our lives. All of them are proof that easter is upon us and that the holy spirit is at work in the world and in our lives. Where would we be if they were not there to form our destinies., to dream our dreams, to believe ourselves.
In return for all they have given us – let us wish them all the love of God, let us dream for them the grace of God let us celebrate the life they have given to us- by celebrating the life god has given to them.
There are many others who are waiting for their destiny – who are waiting for that one person, that one place, that one vision that will make all of the difference in the world. Let us all pass on the dreams, the wishes, the hopes, the visions that have been entrusted to us on to others. Let us Pray…..
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