Kahu's Manao
Keawala‘i Congregational Church
United Church of Christ
(USA)
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Mother’s Day
Festival of the Christian Home/Family Week
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Rev. Kealahou C. Alika
“Home”
We spent less than a day together but within that period of time four tents were set up on the grounds of the church. Three meals were prepared and consumed. We had opportunities to play and pray, sing and study; work and worship.
Six of our young people attended an overnight confirmation retreat here at the church beginning with dinner on Friday evening and ending with lunch on Saturday. Karen Rollins, Artie Parti and Brandis Sarich were here not only as adult chaperones but as participants in all of the activities that took place.
At the end of our retreat each of our youth confirmed his or her baptism and made the decision to become members of Keawala‘i Congregational Church. Karen reminded me that Grace, Monica, Ryan, Kala‘i, Kanoa, and Kamaha‘o were all born and raised in our church family. We knew them as infants and we watched them grow up in our midst.
When we gathered for our closing ‘ohana or “family” time on Friday evening we had already spent four hours together. We shared The Lord’s Supper here in this sanctuary. As I thought about our lives, it occurred to me that what we were about to share could never be repeated again. It was a moment and time unlike any other.
What were the circumstances that brought us together? It is true that all of our youth were born and raised in this church but for Artie, Brandis, Karen, and me, we were all born and raised on another island or in other states – yet here we were.
The story of Lydia is a story of circumstances or so it would appear on the surface. We know almost nothing about her. Yet in only four sentences or two verses of scripture we discover the story of a woman has “her heart set on God even while her work gets done.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 2, Bartlett & Taylor, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2009, page 474)
How was she able to make her way in a world run by men? Who was this Gentile who sought to worship God? How did she find her way to the riverside to a hidden place to pray with other women? And how was it that she happened to be there when a man name Paul sat down and spoke to Lydia and the other women who were there?
We know from the story that Paul had a vision to set sail from Troas to Philippi. In his vision a man of Macedonia appears and pleads with him saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9) When Paul shares his vision with his companions they conclude they must go to Philippi immediately.
We do not know whether or not they met the man who appeared in Paul’s vision. But this much we do know: It was their human faithfulness and God’s guidance that brought Paul and his companions into the lives of Lydia and women at the river outside the gates of the city.
What amazes me is that Paul would not have been at the river if he had not been open to being guided by God’s call. Lydia would not have been among the women in that time and place had she not been a worshiper of God.
Ronald Cole-Turner is a Professor of Theology and Ethics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He makes the following observation: “Paul does his part and Lydia hers, but it is God who guides all things and works in and through all things, not just for good but for what would otherwise be impossible. It is the Spirit who brings Lydia to Paul so she can hear the gospel.” (Ibid., page 476)
It is the Spirit who prepared Lydia to hear, receive and understand Paul’s words. It is the Spirit who “opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.” (Acts 16:14)
Cole-Turner concludes: “Here is the center of the story, the moment of the intersection between human obedience and divine initiative. Longing and grace meet there on the bank of the river.”
“The longing heart of a faithful woman is opened by the gracious impulse of a faith-giving God in action that, like the incarnation itself, is at once fully human and fully divine. Like Lydia we are astonished when, looking back, we can say only that our steps were guided and our hearts opened.” (Op. cit.)
When Artie, Brandis, Grace, Kala‘i, Kamaha‘o, Kanoa, Karen, Monica, Ryan and I gathered here beside the sea on Friday, I believe our steps were guided here by the Spirit. Artie shared his gift of music with us and it was through him that we learned two songs.
Before sharing The Lord’s Supper, we sang a song he had taught us earlier that evening. The refrain to the song included the following lyrics: “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. I want to see you. I want to see you.”
Kanoa had already read the scripture for our time of worship when we sang the song. The reading reminded us of what we know to be true: “We love because God first loved us. Those who say we, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” (1 John 4:19-20) Kanoa was right in pointing out, “If we love God and want to see God then we must love our brothers and sisters also.” (1 John 4:21)
Lydia understood what this meant. When she and her household were baptized she opened her home to Paul and his companions. She insisted that they stay with her during their stay in Philippi.
“God opened her heart,” Cole-Turner writes, “and immediately she opened her home.” (Op. cit., page 478)
Today is Mothers’ Day. It is also Christian Family Sunday and the Festival of the Christian Home. If there is a message in the story of Lydia today for us and for our young people it is that we are a people with open hearts; it is that we are an open church where all are welcomed “home” into the presence of a loving God. But our young people know and we know that our churches often fall short.
Chris Glaser writes in Come Home! the following of a place that became home: “First and foremost, I felt a sense of being home, a place where ‘they have to take you in,’ but also, a place where they want to take you in. In the ideal experience of it, home is a place for healing wounds and celebrating fulfillment.”
“It’s an environment which welcomes you to kick off your shoes, sink into an armchair, and put your feet up. You can be yourself. The masks are down, and you become as comfortable and vulnerable as a sleepy puppy. How I wished the church could be such a place for me!” (The Word & You, Duerling, United Church Press, Cleveland, Ohio, 1997, page 171)
Let us pray: “Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord. We want to see you. We want to see you. Our hope and our prayer is that with open hearts this place will be a home for our young people and for all who come. We give thanks to you for the open hearts and open homes of all the Lydias in our lives. Mahalo ke Akua.”
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