Lectionary Reading in Acts for the Season of Easter 3C

ACTS 16:9-15

⁹During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." ¹⁰When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

¹¹We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. ¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

The Acts 16 passage is one that presents an opening call to Paul and as an extension to the church.  "come over to Macedonia and help us".  The church is called to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit and to places where the message of the Gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ has to be lived and preached.  this is too often associated only with 'foreign missions'.  As of late the church has grown in an awareness of its need to see established congregations as places of mission.  This is not just understood as places of service, or charity, although as we have seen with Tabitha this is included, but places where in our daily interactions with others we look for opportunity to speak of our faith with others.  This account simply describes the interactions of Paul with Lydia as a conversation.  We "spoke to the women who were gathered there."  Sometimes these divine conversation can occur quite naturally and sharing our faith with others does not necessarily have to be something that is scripted.  Often we can grow in this area simply by being aware of the people we engage and time the time to allow conversations to grow with people.  Notice that it wasn't some snazzy presentation or convincing argument that leads to Lydia's conversion but "the Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul."

ACTS 11:1-18

¹Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, ³saying, "Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?" ⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. ⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' ⁸But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' ⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' ¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house.¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; ¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.' ¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' ¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?" ¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

The conversion of Cornelius the Roman officer and his household creates a controversy for  Jewish Christians.  While recognizing that Jesus is the Messiah, many do not know what to do with the influx of gentile converts who do not follow many of the dietary restrictions connected with the Old Testament covenant.  Yet it is obvious that many are turning to faith in Jesus and receiving the message as did Cornelius.  The emphasis on God's grace and the place of faith is a challenge to many, like Peter who are not accustomed to open fellowship with the non Jewish.  The message of the church however is clear, it is not possible to hinder what God is doing in bringing the message to a wider audience.  As more and more converts the are non Jewish believe in Jesus, baptism introduced by John the Forerunner becomes the sign of the new covenant, as one of universal inclusion.