This post is available on You Tube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1H7Y-gBMmc

Acts 16:11-15  If you haven’t read it yet, that’s the most important part so don’t miss out. Here’s a link: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2016%3A11-15&version=NLT

It doesn’t read like it, but this passage is the beginning of a love story.  And no, Lydia isn’t the love interest.  It’s Philippi.  A dream led Paul and his friends there, and the church that would grow there would be a constant source of joy to Paul.  In a letter written years later he would speak of his deep affection for them and how the thought of them made him grateful to God.  Let’s read this together in the 

But this passage and the next, are how they met.  Philippi is a Roman colony with almost no jewish presence and there is no indication that the name of Jesus has been heard there.  There are so few Jews that there isn’t even a synagogue for Paul to visit as was his usual practise.  Instead, on the Sabbath he goes outside the city to where there is a river.  Apparently, in a town with no synagogue, anyone who worshipped the God of Abraham (whether Jewish or simply God-fearing) would gather outside near running water.  I can see the appeal.  If I had no church building in which to gather, the shore of a river would feel like a great place to meet with others for worship. 

Sure enough, Paul and Silas find a group of women gathered for prayer, worshipping the God of Abraham even in this distant city.  Paul and Silas sit down among them and share the message of the gospel of repentance and grace.  

Let’s pause for a second to understand that this is actually really unexpected, at least from Paul’s perspective.  A travelling rabbi typically would not teach women at all.  Sitting down and chatting with a group of them would have been a really bad look for Paul and Silas.  Arguably, for them to share the gospel with a group of women was comparable to Peter going to Cornelius’ house and sharing the gospel over dinner with a Gentile.  Lydia, a successful business woman from a Roman colony, would have been accustomed to interacting with men, but this was well outside of the comfort zone of the zealous young Pharisee that Paul had once been.  The fact that Luke mentions this as merely a matter of fact says a lot.  In ancient Jewish practice there was a massive distinction between men and women.  In newborn Christianity women were to be treated as equally worthy recipients of the gospel.  

God opens Lydia’s heart to the message and she responds with belief.  She, and whatever members of her household were present, were baptised then and there.  Lydia invites them to stay at her home and in so doing she carries on a beautiful tradition begun among Jesus’ followers.  She joins an already extensive roster of women who ministered to, and financed the work of, Jesus and the apostles. 

And so this female, Gentile fabric merchant becomes the first convert to Christianity in Philippi.  Most scholars agree she was the first Christian convert in Europe.  Her home would become the centre of operations for the church of Philippi, a body of believers who would prove to be a constant source of strength and encouragement for Paul and his team.  And it all began with a counter-cultural conversation on the bank of a river outside of town.  Never underestimate the power of a simple exchange with a stranger.  You just never know what God has planned.  

Having said that, not everyone in Philippi became Paul’s best friend.  But that’s a story for next time.