Sunday, May 1, 2016: "Open to Strangers - Open to Transformation" Fr. Carey Stone


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 Easter 6C’16
1 May 2016
Romans 16.9-15
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone

O Lord, give us open hearts and willing hands, guide us in the way of your peace and use us for your glory in this world so in need of love. Amen.

Sometimes our lives seem to be going at a snails pace with the same old routine, if not anything else it is predictable and mostly safe. At other times we may have a lot going on and we meet ourselves going and coming but we’ve done that before too so we still have everything under control. Under control that is the way most of us like our lives to be or at least to feel that way. We put a lot of time in energy in trying to maintain that control of our lives. We also bring our control based lives into the church and we attempt to get a handle on this God thing so that we can control that as well. We develop models of prayer and methods of stewardship, and strategic plans in order to map out our future, if not anything else it is predictable and mostly safe.

But the real life of faith can be unpredictable and a bit risky and sometimes even dangerous; as author Glennon Doyle Melton puts it: “If it’s safe it’s probably not Jesus.”

St. Paul was a man who was not unacquainted with risk and danger and he with on a mission. After his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus his life skyrocketed. He began preaching the Good News all over the Middle East. He had brought many people to faith in Christ. He believed that this news was so good that he needed to take it east to the people in Asia. He developed his plans and set off with his entourage. But after getting knocked off his horse and blinded and being totally dependent on others he had learned some humility. He was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

One night while on his Asian journey he had a vision sort of like a dream except he was wide-awake. In this vision he saw a man from Macedonia, a country in Eastern Europe (north of Greece and between what is modern day Albania and Bulgaria) and the man was saying: “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
But what about Paul’s strategic plan, “surely God wouldn’t scrap this plan that I have worked so hard on” said Paul never. Rather than question and dispute he is open to the Spirit and believes that this vision is from God. So they changed direction and plotted a course for Macedonia. The Gospel message rather than being taken east would be taken west to a Roman colony. Because of St. Paul’s obedience to go west we are all sitting here today, rather than a church full of folks in Beijing! God changed Paul’s important plan and made it into a great plan that would affect millions upon millions of lives.

One such life was a woman named Lydia. She was a Roman subject living a non-traditional life in the city of Thyatira as the Lady of a large household staffed with servants and she was believed to be a widow. She owned her own business and was merchant and purveyor of purple cloth and textiles. To purchase a bolt of purple cloth would cost the average person their annual salary. Needless to say it was mainly to the ruling class that she sold her cloth too and it made her quite well off. In addition she was a worshiper of God. Her life if not anything else was predictable, comfortable, and mostly safe. Her the cry of her heart might have gone something like this, “Surely there must be more to life than predictability, Comfort, and safety.” That something, was on its way to her through a man by the name of Paul.

As he begins teaching about the Good News of God in Christ Lydia experiences a special grace, and rather than running from this stranger from Israel she experienced and open heart. Because of this she is able to “listen eagerly.” At the end of St. Paul’s teaching she and her whole household were converted and baptized! Lydia was the first female convert to the Christian faith in Europe.

She was so moved by this stranger and his companions Lydia offers them her hospitality inviting them to stay with her. With her being either single or widowed and offering lodging to foreign men Lydia risked a possible public scandal. Lydia wasn’t playing it safe, the Holy Spirit had gotten her into a situation that wasn’t easy, comfortable, or predictable but man was she ever alive! Former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams said, “If you genuinely desire union with the unspeakable love of God, then you must be prepared [willing] to have your ‘religious’ world shattered.” By her willingness to be open to listening to strangers preaching good news her life and the face of Europe would be forever changed. Due in part to her continued witness Christianity would spread and take hold on the continent of Europe and eventually come to Arkansas and to us. What a ripple effect!

God spoke to them and God continues to speak to whoever will listen in our day. After the last verse in the book of Revelation God didn’t stop talking and communicating. Sometimes that communication comes through scripture, sometimes in a vision or dream, sometimes in the form of someone we have never met who speaks a word that couldn’t be a coincidence, sometime through listening to the still voice of God, or the voices of circumstance that catch us off guard.

Over 25 years ago some saints here at St. Luke’s who were way ahead of their time caught a vision for assisting the elderly and their caregivers and St. Luke’s Respite Program was born and continues to serve this population to this day. A small but sturdy group of saints here at St. Luke’s caught a vision of assisting homeless veterans by feeding, entertaining, and praying for them and the Vets dinners were born. Recently a small group of women caught a vision for assisting homeless families with children by feeding them, caring for them, and down the road perhaps even housing them for short periods of time until they can get back on their feet.

What about it? Are we open to the interruptions of God? Are we willing to hand over our strategic attempts to control God and the outcome? Are we willing to listen to the God who speaks through dreams, visions, and strangers?
Let us pray: O Lord, give us open hearts and willing hands, guide us in the way of your peace and use us for your glory in this world so in need of love. Amen.