The singing added quite a bit to the presentation of the sermon. As is often the case when something really neat is added as part of the sermon, I hope (and wonder) that the singing added to the interpretation of the text, rather than just being beautiful singing.
I think my sermon might fall into the category of a feminist reading of the text (if a man can do such a thing!). I thought the pairing of Lydia and the unnamed slave girl worked well, although either one of those stories could have merited its own sermon.
The sermon seemed to work in the way it provided background information about Lydia and the unnamed slave girl and connected the listener to their stories. The sermon seemed weak in helping the listener figure out how to apply the stories of Lydia and the unnamed slave girl to our lives in our current context. I suspect that most weeks my sermons are stronger in their analysis of the biblical texts' contexts and weaker in how to apply the stories in our context.
“Consequences” FPC, Troy; February 20, 2011; Women series
Introduction:
**** Elizabeth sings "Down To The River To Pray"
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way!
O sisters let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
O sisters let's go down
Down in the river to pray
MOVE 1: Lydia chose to go down to the river and pray.
a. .When we read about Lydia, we recognize her as a person who had status in her community.
1.Lydia is a Greek name, which suggests that Lydia was not a Jew who had ended up as a stranger in Thyatira, but a Greek woman.
2.Lydia apparently had her own business.
3.She traveled to Philippi.
4.She dealt in cloth.
5.Not just any cloth, but purple cloth.
6.I recently proofread one of my daughters English papers and the topic was clothing fashions in the Renaissance and Elizabethan era. Apparently, the styles of clothing worn indicated which class you lived in.
7.We know that was also true in the time of the early church.
8.Purple was the color of royalty and power. Lydia undoubtedly moved in the circles of the rich and powerful.
9.She also had house. A house where she could decide who could be invited to visit. When she asks Paul and his associates to stay at her house, she does not have to ask for permission from her husband or anyone else. She just invites them to stay at her house.
10.Lydia was not defined as the wife of some husband, or as the daughter of some father; she stood on her own, known by her name.
11.In our time she would be an independent, upper middle-class business woman.
b. the fact that Lydia went down to the river to pray had significance as well.
1.It means that before meeting Paul, she had already chosen to worship God.
2.She belonged to a group of Gentiles who worshiped the God of the Jews, but were not Jewish. And up to this point, she had not become a follower of Christ.
3.Some scholars think that the fact she was going to the river to pray indicated that there were not enough Jews in Philippi to form the required quorum of 10 Jewish men necessary for a synagogue to be established.
In summary – Lydia was an independent woman who chose to worship the God of the Jews, even in a place where there were not enough Jews to have a synagogue.
She could choose to go down to the river to pray and worship God or not to do so. It was up to her.
***** Elizabeth sings "Down To The River To Pray"
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way!
O mothers let's go down
Come on down, don't you wanna go down?
Come on mothers, let's go down
Down in the river to pray
Move 2: One woman did not have a choice about whether she wanted to go down to the river to pray or not.
a. I would tell you her name, but we do not know it.
1.the slave girl does not mean enough to the story for her name to be mentioned.
2.She derived her value from the how how well she served the purposes of others.
3.Her slave owners saw her simply as profit.
2.Her affliction, the demons that resided inside her, gave her the ability to tell fortunes.
4.apparently, she was pretty good at telling fortunes because her owners made money off of her.
b. Paul rescues her in a sense.
1.But do not miss that she is almost as afterthought to Paul.
2.In fact, Paul takes notice of her because she has become a nuisance to him.
3.Everyday she follows Paul and his friends around shouting out, “slaves of the Most High God.”
4.Note that she is correct in her statement. But, Paul finds it bothersome to have making a scene every day.
3.He does not seem to care about her for her sake; he cares about her as far is it impacts him.
4.So in the name of God, Paul drives the demon from her.
5. Suddenly, she is out of the picture.
6. The story shifts to her owners being angry with Paul for what he has done to take away the gift their money-making slave has.
7.In fact, when her owners bring charges against Paul, they do not even mention the slave girl. Instead, they argue that Paul and Silas are disturbing the peace with their preaching.
8.The slave girl is not even worth mentioning because her situation does not fit the argument they choose to make against Paul and Silas.
We do not know if the unnamed slave girl would have liked to go down to the river to pray because she does not get to choose what to do with her life.
***** Elizabeth sings "Down To The River To Pray"
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the robe & crown?
Good Lord show me the way
Move 3: We live in a very different time and place, but e recognize in our world some of what we read about Philippi.
a. We recognize the Lydias in our world.
1.the people who are self-sufficient.
2.Who have some money and some status.
3.They have choices.
4.They can go down to the river and pray if they want; or not.
b. We still have people like the unnamed slave girl in our world.
1.People who are marginalized.
2.Who do not have opportunity.
3.Who live without hope.
c.And we hear the good news that God desired to connect with Lydia and the unnamed slave girl.
1.Lydia was already praying for God.
2.She was already seeking to worship God.
3. God had connected to her in a real way that created the opportunity for her to discover the resurrected Christ in her life.
4. Slave girl recognized Paul and his colleagues “Slaves of the Most High”
5.We may not know exactly how the demons afflicted her fit with her recognition of Paul as one who served God, but she had that connection with God.
d.Not only were Lydia and the unnamed slave girl connected with God, the resurrected Christ they encountered through Paul changed their lives.
1.Lydia seems to have changed in the way we can best understand.
2. She is the ideal convert to Christianity.
2.she opens her home to other servants of God.
3.She gets baptized.
4.She has her whole household baptized.
5. We know she became a leader in the early church.
6.Encountering Christ through Paul changed her life.
8.We know less about the unnamed slave girl.
9.But her life had been altered in a powerful way when Paul banishes the demons from her.
10.Perhaps she found herself lower on the totem pole among the slaves of her owners because she no longer brought them money.
11.But, she was freed from her affliction.
12.And she now knew the love of God for her and the power of Christ to transform her life in concrete ways.
e. Hear the good news – as Lydia and the unnamed slave girl discovered, God desires to connect with you; Christ desires to transform your life.
Conclusion: I recently read the book Same Kind of Different As Me, Ron Hall and Denver Moore, 231.
it tells the story of Ron Hall, an wealthy white, international art dealer, and Denver Moore, an African-American, who had grown up in poverty in LA and had been homeless on the streets of Ft. Worth when he met Ron Hall and his wife Debbie.
The story details their very different lives before they met and the powerful story of the relationship that emerged between them.
One of the last stories told is about Denver Moore, the former homeless man, being invited to preach at a church and Ron Hall, the international art dealer being asked to introduce him as the speaker.
As they sit on the back pew waiting to be called down to speak, Hall and Moore negotiate what Hall will say in the introduction. He wants to give a glowing commentary on Moore's life. Moore resists. Finally Moore tells tells Hall to say this by way of introduction: “Just tell em I'm a nobody that's tryin to tell everybody 'bout Somebody that can save anybody. That's all you need to know.”
Jesus is that somebody. We are anybody. That's all we need to know.
***** Elizabeth and Bill sing "Down To The River To Pray"
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way!
O sisters let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
O sisters let's go down
Down in the river to pray
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the robe & crown?
Good Lord show me the way
O brothers let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
Come on brothers, let's go down
Down in the river to pray
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way
O fathers let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
O fathers let's go down
Down in the river to pray
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the robe and crown?
Good Lord show me the way
O mothers let's go down
Come on down, don't you wanna go down?
Come on mothers, let's go down
Down in the river to pray
As I went down in the river to pray
Studding about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the starry crown?
Good Lord show me the way
O sinners, let's go down
Let's go down, come on down
O sinners, let's go down
Down in the river to pray
As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that good ol' way
And who shall wear the robe and crown?
Good Lord show me the way
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