Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C 2010

"Come and Stay"

06 Easter C 10
May 9, 2010

Acts 16:9-15, Psalm 67, Revelation 21:10, 22:1-5, John 14:23-29


Happy Easter!

Yes, I know it's Mother's Day. And we're not going to let this worship service go by without honoring that national holiday. But it's also still the season of Easter. Today is the sixth Sunday we celebrate the resurrection, and next week will be the seventh and last. Of course, every Sunday worship service is a celebration of the resurrection.

I've been moved this Easter season to preach on the book of the Acts of the Apostles, which we have said seems more like the book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. It's Luke's sequel to his Gospel. In today's movie sequel language, The Gospel of Luke 2. It's the story of what happened in the few years immediately after Jesus rose from the dead. It's a protracted story of his resurrection.

It's Christ, through the Holy Spirit, who is running the whole show. Christ enables Paul to have the vision of the man from Macedonia. And it's Christ who opens Lydia's heart to the message about Jesus.

Now before we all start talking about our dreams and telling each other how our own desires and choices are actually God's mystical guidance, let's remember that both Paul and Lydia are described in the scriptures as practiced and experienced believers. I know there are a lot of ideas I have that are not at all Spirit-led, and discerning between what comes from heaven and what comes from my own belly is not always easy. Paul grew up in the Jewish faith, and after his conversion to faith in Christ, he also received significant training. Similarly, Luke describes Lydia as "a worshipper of God," which means she has been at this thing for a while.

Lydia is of course another of Luke's women. Luke, of all the gospel writers, seems most interested in the ways in which the resurrection uplifted women. We've heard this Easter season about the wonderful saint Dorcas, the wealthy woman who bestowed lavish gifts on the poor, and here we are introduced to another wealthy female merchant, who becomes the founder of the original Philippi. You might call Lydia our congregation's spiritual mother.

When I read the passage, and the other passages appointed for this day, I was struck by the idea of God making his home in the midst of his people. In a very real sense this is what the whole life, death and resurrection of Jesus points to. God coming among his people and making his home there.

And so it was Lydia's simple words, "Come and stay," that struck me. Lydia, she of the God-opened heart, invited Paul and his companions, the emissaries of the risen Christ, to "come and stay," and in so doing, invited the risen Christ as well. And in inviting the risen Christ, she also invited God.

"Come and stay," she said.

Our own Walter Deagle has been to the city of Philippi and has visited the ancient sites. Some of his compatriots in the army were even baptized at what is believed to be the church founded by Lydia. He has a particular fondness for the place and told me yesterday that he really wishes he were here today. Philippi went on to become a major city in the ancient church, where a number of congregations sprang up, all because God opened this woman's heart. God came, and God stayed. God made his home in Philippi.

Despite the importance of women in the early church, as late as about a century ago, it was virtually impossible for a woman to become an ordained leader of the church. Many who were drawn to ministry ended up taking another route, marrying ministers. There are any number of famous ministers' wives in American history. In some cases, the minister's wife ended up having more of an impact than her husband.

In the black church, there's an honorific for a female leader, one who exemplifies everything Christians strive to be. She is called "the mother of the church." Just as Lydia was the mother of the ancient church at Philippi, so Elaine Miller is the mother of our modern Philippi. It's obvious to all of us who have gotten to know her that God indeed had opened her heart, and she, like Lydia, invited him to "come and stay." Come and stay in my heart. Come and stay in my home. Come and stay in my village. Come live with us.

I asked Mrs. Miller yesterday if she was afraid at all. Of course she wasn't. And despite her discomfort and being away from home, she grasps the hands of everyone who visits and tells them as best she can that she loves them. She's not frightened because the Spirit of God has come to her and stayed in her. And there is nothing, nothing in this world, that can kill or destroy the Holy Spirit.

I feel led to announce this morning that the church is Jesus risen from the dead. I want to say that again, "The church is Jesus the Christ risen from the dead." Another way of saying this is, "The church is God in the flesh." Another way of saying this is "The church is God's way of making his home in the world."

Let me say more about this, and I hope you're listening, because this is important. The church is meant to be a unified body of Spirit-filled members, working together to manifest the presence of God where they are. From among those members certain leaders emerge who carry the message elsewhere. Members like Paul and Peter and all the ordained ministers of the church since.

But for most of us, all the other ministers, the church is the particular embodiment of God's Spirit at home among humankind in any given place or time. It is Jesus Christ risen from the dead in the form of a bunch of people who collectively welcome his Spirit and allow him to Lord over them.

Now this may not be how we experience the church. We might experience it as yet another consumable. Another thing on the list of things we want in our lives, another thing we go out and purchase and use to improve the quality of our lives. And at the point where the church meets North American 21st century culture I suppose this is pretty much what it is. And for some, perhaps, it never ceases to be that.

For others, the church is a social club in which one works at improving one's status in the community. It's all about the public perception. I saw a play recently in which a character described a certain perfect Christian. She said, "If you just stand next to him, you just feel vile." Some folks are aiming at creating that impression. Personally I like Harry Leach's favorite Mark Twain quote: "It's my vices that endear me to my friends, my virtues that annoy them."

But deeper in, where the real church resides, are the people who have embraced the practices of prayer and meditation and deep investigation of scripture and self-examination and repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation, seeking to be filled the God's Holy Spirit, and to encounter Christ alive as Lord. And no matter who appears to be in charge, at the heart of every real church are at least a few people who are filled with God's Spirit, who are literally transformed into God's flesh, at least at those times when they are spiritually healthy.

Mrs. Miller is certainly one of those people, and it is her lifelong work and passion for Christ that has blessed this church, just as Lydia's did the ancient church at Philippi.

Let's not forget this, friends. Let's not forget that we are hear not so much to have our needs met as to have our hearts opened by God. Let's not forget that the purpose of our being here is not so much to get what we want, but to be filled by God's Spirit, who will give us far more than we could even imagine to ask for.

Let's not forget to invite God to come and stay.

Amen.