Learning from Saint Lydia

By Rev. Heather J. Blais, Rector

​Our lesson from Acts features Paul and Silas on their missionary journey. They are traveling through what is now modern day Turkey, with the hope of spreading the Jesus Movement. Except they encountered a small hiccup. The Holy Spirit has forbidden them from speaking the Good News in that region.

Imagine for a moment what that must have felt like for these missionaries. Here they are, eager and ready to be Jesus’ hands and feet, yet the Spirit stops them.  This experience may have been akin to when we have a tightness in our chest, and a sense of caution in our gut; knowing that we don’t know why, but we need to listen to what the Spirit and our bodies are telling us. 

When the Spirit tells us to stop, we are wise to listen; and to trust She will surely show us a new way forward. She comes to Paul in the form of a vision, where a man stood in what is now modern day Greece, pleading with him to come and help them. So they left that region behind and soon arrived in Philippi, a city that was a Roman colony, where they remained for several days. 

On the sabbath, Paul and Silas went outside the city gate by the river. They had guessed there would be a place of prayer there, and they were right. The Jewish community in Philippi was only newly formed, and they did not have enough members to have their own synagogue, which required at least ten people. (1) This particular location afforded them a bit of quiet, being outside the city, and allowed them to wash, maintaining purity rituals. (1)   The missionaries found some women gathered by the river, and they sat down and entered into a conversation. 

This is when we meet Lydia of Thyatira (thai·uh·tee·ruh). Right off the bat, her name tells us: she is an outsider.  Lydia is from Thyatira in modern day Turkey, but she has moved to Philippi. She and her household moved during a time in history where people didn’t really move from their hometowns. (2) This would have required some level of financial means. 

The city of Thyatira was located in a key point along major trade routes. As a result, numerous trade guilds developed there, such as, coppersmiths, tanners, leatherworkers, dyers, wool workers, and linen workers. (3) The city was particularly well known for wool and textile, and for the production of purple dye. (3)

Acts tells us that Lydia brought this trade with her when she moved. This was an incredibly unique skill set. The purple dye was made from a, “carnivorous sea snail mucus”. (4) The dye was obtained through the laborious task of either milking the predatory sea snail by poking it until it spat out purple mucus or gathering several of the sea snails and crushing them together to make a larger amount of purple mucus.  (5, 6) It took 12,000 snails to dye the hem of a single garment. (5) The work was onerous, and produced very little dye, which caused the textiles to be so expensive they were largely only sold to royalty.  The specific recipe that was used back then has been lost to history. (5) 

In many ways, Lydia is a double outsider. (7) She is not only not from another region, but she is also a ‘worshipper of God’. This phrase was used to describe a Gentile, someone who is not Jewish, and is involved in a Jewish community, or expresses an interest in Judaism, but has not converted. (7) As a worshipper of God, Lydia would have been accorded a level of respect by the Jewish community, but would not have been treated as a full member. (8) Lydia, and those like her, observed as much Jewish law as they could, but hadn’t converted, which may have been because there was no synagogue. (1)

When Paul and Silas sat down and began to speak with the women,  the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to listen eagerly. She was so moved by Jesus’ Way of Love, that she volunteered to be baptized, along with the rest of her household. She then insists that the missionaries stay with her while they are in the area. 

While Lydia only appears in scripture once, she has left the Church an enduring legacy. She is widely considered the first Christian convert in Europe, and was canonized a saint. In the Orthodox Church, she is known as Saint Lydia - Equal to the Apostles. (4) In the Roman Catholic Church, she is known as the patron saint of dyers and all fabric workers. (5) In the Episcopal Church, we commemorate Lydia on May 21 each year, and this prayer was written just for her:

Eternal God, who gives good gifts to all people, and who grants the spirit of generosity: Give us, we pray you, hearts always open to hear your word, that, following the example of your servant Lydia, we may show hospitality to those who are in any need or trouble; through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (8)

In many ways, it was the act of Lydia’s conversion, hospitality, and generosity which allowed for the church in Philippi to be born, and we hear more about their church in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians. Lydia may have felt like a double outsider, yet she used her unique experience and perspective to help transform her community. And she did this by sharing from her prosperity. Giving not because she had to or was expected to, but out of a recognition she had been entrusted with an abundance of resources. She was acutely aware of the many gifts God had given her, and was eager to use these gifts to help others experience Jesus’ Way of Love. 


Lydia’s example invites us to reflect on our own sense of blessedness. 

• How have we been blessed?
• In what ways has God entrusted us with precious resources? 
• How might God be calling us to share out of our abundance so that others may experience Jesus’ Way of Love?

Last week I mentioned the clergy of our diocese gathered for our annual clergy conference in early May. Another wise colleague who serves two churches, parents two young children, and walks alongside her clergy spouse caring for his own church community,  reflected on her decision to view the joys and challenges of her life through the perspective of abundance. Instead of I have to, she has embraced reframing: I get to. 

• I get to stay up with my 3 year old who can’t sleep, comforting them. 
• I get to clean our house, caring for a space we’ve been blessed to call home.
• I get to attend meetings about issues I care about. 
• I get to spend time with a challenging person, helping me learn to love them.  
• I get to pray for the leaders of our nation, trusting the moral arc of the universe is long, but it does bend towards justice. 

St Lydia very well may have done the same. Talking with other women who were worshipers of God, as they reflected:

• I get to manage a household. 
• I get to spend time turning thousands of snails into purple dye. 
• I get to listen to these missionaries teach about Jesus’ Way of Love. 
• I get to be baptized and join this Jesus movement. 
• I get to open my home to them, so they can spread the Good News. 

St. Lydia probably had no idea how her generous and hospitable nature would impact the Church. She got to be part of founding one of the first Christian communities in Europe. She got to be an example of female leadership in the early Church. 

As one Lent Madness blogger wrote, her very existence as a leader proclaimed: “...what it means for gender roles in the early church: men and women were called, men and women were baptized, and men and women led in ministry.” (5)  In our context, where we now understand gender not as a box to tick, but a spectrum,  it means, all genders are called, all genders are baptized, all genders lead in ministry.

In our current cultural climate, when we hear scripture being used to dehumanize and marginalize others, we can remind ourselves and those around us of leaders like Saint Lydia. (9) A woman whose very life, leadership, and spirit of generosity helped the Jesus Movement to flourish, grow, and spread in that region. 

The scriptures are full of stories like Lydia’s, where we are reminded - again, and again, and again - that our God is loving, liberating, and life-giving.
So as we prepare to head back into the world today, I would invite each of us to reflect on God’s abundance in our lives, and how we can share that abundance. 

• Where has God entrusted us with an abundance? 
• How can we share out of our abundance with others from a place of joy?
• Where in our lives do we need to reframe ‘I have to’ into ‘I get to’?

Amen. 


Lectionary Readings:
Acts 16:9-15
Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5
John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9
Psalm 67
​
References:
(1)  https://www.lentmadness.org/2022/03/james-theodore-holly-vs-lydia/
(2) https://www.lentmadness.org/2014/04/lydia-vs-harriet-bedell/ 
(3) https://academic.oup.com/book/41960/chapter-abstract/355229316?redirectedFrom=fulltext 
(4) https://www.lentmadness.org/2014/03/lydia-vs-moses-the-black/ 
(5) https://www.lentmadness.org/2014/04/lydia-vs-john-of-the-cross/ 
(6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolinus_brandaris
(7) Working Preacher Podcast for 6 Easter 
(8) Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2022
(9) https://medium.com/@lbloder/the-story-of-saint-lydia-2d31242c28bf 

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