Surprised by the Spirit

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, May 22, 2022
Acts 16:9-15

    Many of you know that Rich and I served as co-pastors of a church in Omaha prior to moving here to Syosset.  Because we were each working part-time at the congregation and part-time with our Synod office, we alternated pastoral care duties like communion visits and officiating at funerals and weddings.  Of course, as a married couple with the same last name, we were both “Pastor Sheridan.”  Our active congregants knew and trusted both of us, but sometimes I had the experience as the female Pastor Sheridan of opening my office door or getting on the line after our secretary said, “Pastor Sheridan will speak with you now” and seeing or hearing surprise and disappointment that in fact Pastor Sheridan was a woman, not a man, and a YOUNG woman at that.  I even had someone tell me on more than one occasion that they were impressed that I offered such a nice prayer service for a funeral of a loved one, because I looked young enough to be in high school.  I have to say, sometimes still today, I enjoy surprising people by not looking like a “typical” pastor, and my prayer is that my service to God, regardless of first impressions or appearances, is a positive witness and inspiring to others.
Has the Holy Spirit ever surprised you?  Have you ever felt like God was leading you in one direction, only to find yourself being directed in a different direction?  Or, maybe you’ve had this experience of speaking with someone over the phone, or getting to know someone while we were all wearing masks, and then seeing their face or meeting the person for the first time, you realize they look nothing like you thought they would?  Maybe you yourself surprise people because you don’t “look” the part of a dad, grandma, businessperson or so on!  As we continue to read through the book of Acts this Easter season, you may have noticed by now that the Holy Spirit tends to be unpredictable.  The Holy Spirit works through all kinds of different people – women like Tabitha, Gentile Roman soldiers like Cornelius, a chronic screw-up like Peter, a former persecutor of Christians like Paul.  For those of us who like to plan ahead or like life to have certainties, we may struggle at times to “go with the flow” or “let God be God.”  However, every time we pray, “Thy kingdom come, THY will be done,” we are opening ourselves up, ideally without kicking and screaming, to allow God’s will, not ours, to be done.  Lydia and Paul teach us today of the positives of what God can do through us when we allow ourselves to be surprised by the Holy Spirit!  And we continue to see how God can do great things in surprising ways, through surprising people!
    Last week, we saw how the Holy Spirit surprised both Cornelius and Peter in not just allowing but encouraging Gentiles to become a part of the growing Christian church.  And as you continue to read the middle part of the book of Acts, we see Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Peter, and others grow the church from its beginnings in Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria, Antioch (where followers of Jesus are first called “Christians,”) and now in chapter 16, here they are in Europe, in what is part of modern-day Greece in the region of Macedonia, in a city called Philippi.  They are fulfilling Christ’s commission to go to the ends of the earth baptizing people and teaching them.  Right before this, Paul, Timothy and Silas have tried to go to Asia BUT, surprise surprise, the Spirit does not allow them to go.  Instead, God redirects their travels through a vision to Paul to go to Macedonia.  The plan changes once again, from going to Asia to Europe instead.
    You may have noticed in our reading for today that these men go looking for a place of prayer outside the city gate by the river in Philippi, and all they appear to find is a group of women gathered there – very likely Gentile baby-Christians who are already worshippers of God but not yet baptized.  We don’t know for sure, but my guess along with some biblical scholars is that Paul and his fellow evangelists were looking for a man to help get a new church in Philippi off of the ground, but instead, God surprises them with a group of faithful women.  Lydia in particular is eager to listen to what Paul says.  She, like Cornelius in our story from last week, is baptized along with her entire household, and she urges the disciples to stay at her home.  Thus, the first church in Europe begins with a businesswoman from Thyatira, someone not actually from the city of Philippi, and her family – probably not what Paul had originally planned.  By now, he and his fellow apostles have hopefully learned that they can just go with it by trusting that God knows what he’s doing!
    We don’t know a whole lot about Lydia and her family.  She owns her own business and is a purple-cloth-dealer.  Purple cloth was very expensive to make, and so she likely was a wealthy woman who had a lot of powerful political and social connections.  She is not a typical woman of the day!  She does not appear to be married as she invites the apostles into her home.  Maybe she never married, maybe she is a widow.  Her household who is baptized along with her could include family members – aging parents, perhaps, siblings, nieces and nephews, cousins, but also servants not related to her by blood.  In some ways, Lydia is not that much different from many of us – blessed with material wealth, social status and connections, and a stable business and home.  Lydia’s heart, though, recognizes that these earthly blessings is not all there is to life.  Hearing Paul speak and worshipping God is spiritually satisfying.  She is eager to learn more about Jesus and follow him, and the church in Philippi quickly grows to be a healthy, thriving church.  Lydia teaches us that regardless of who we are, from every walk of life, we need Jesus.  We need the Holy Spirit to quench our spiritual thirst and satisfy our spiritual hunger, even if we seem to “have it all,” in the eyes of the world.  In addition, Lydia teaches us that anyone, regardless of occupation, social class, or gender, can be used to grow the church of Christ in surprising ways.
    Lydia’s story today gives us at least two questions to ponder: 1) What regular practices am I engaging in that nourish me spiritually?  Prayer? Bible study or devotionals? Worship?  Making it a point to get together with another Christian friend or three?  In what ways might I grow in nourishing myself spiritually if I am not doing any of those things?  2)  Especially if I am not the most flexible person, what helps me adapt and adjust to God’s surprises in my life, which can be both negative and positive?  My guess is, some of the answers to number one will help with the answer to number two.  Recently, I started making a list of “gratitudes” to God at the end of my day.  I don’t take a long time, maybe two minutes, to think through my day and write down the blessings of the day.  What I’ve found is there’s usually a surprise or two in my day, and sometimes I don’t even realize that’s the work of the Holy Spirit until the end of the day, and then it puts everything in perspective.  Whatever the disappointments, challenges, and struggles of the day, God has been there and will continue to be there for me, for us.  As Jesus tells us in our gospel, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  May God help us continue to be surprised, a good kind of surprise, by the Holy Spirit!  Amen.