Paul and his companions

expected to find a group

of devout Jewish men

praying by the river.

 

Instead, they found

a group of women

praying by the river,

women, led by a woman.

 

Her name was Lydia,

and she defied convention –

she was a leader,

she was a merchant,

head of her own household,

and she was a Gentile.

 

Saul, the Pharisee, 

would never have spoken to her,

he would have walked away,

considered her an outcast,

a foreigner, a breaker of the rules.

 

But now, he was Paul, the Apostle,

and he knew the Sprit’s movement

when he saw it.

And he saw it in this woman –

and he shared the Gospel of Jesus,

the truly good news that Jesus

includes outcasts, foreigners,

the breakers of rules,

the good news of love.

 

And there, by the river,

all Lydia’s household, and her friends,

were baptized – and thus began

the church that met at Lydia’s house,

in Phillippi – the first church in Macedonia.

 

And you and I,

would we turn and walk away?

Or would we include this woman,

this foreigner who defied convention,

this breaker of the rules?

Would we follow the Spirit?

Would we love?

Joyce Alexander, 11-30-2018