You are Invited
Have you ever given or received an invitation that has changed your life? Perhaps the words, “Will you marry me?” The answer will change two people’s lives. Or maybe an invitation to join a youth Bible study or a Mom’s group or even an invitation to lunch.
Invitations can change everything. In the passage right before our Acts lesson, Paul was eager to go and share the Good News of Jesus. But every time he picked a place to go, he kept being blocked from going there. Paul interprets this as the Holy Spirit saying, “no, don’t go; you are called to go and share the Good news – but not there.”
I imagine Paul was getting a little frustrated at the closed doors he was encountering but then he had a night vision from a Macedonian man from Macedonia, a mountainous region of Northern Greece. The man was calling to him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” It was a bit of risk, to simply follow a dream, a night vision, but this is what Paul was waiting for – so they set sail immediately until they came to Philippi, which was a Roman colony, the seat of power under Phillip the Second. They were there for several days – but no one met them. Finally, on the Sabbath, they looked for a Synagogue to attend. The tradition was that it takes ten Jewish men to form a synagogue. But this was a Greek city and Paul could not find a synagogue anywhere in the city. So, he and Silas went outside the gate to the river hoping to find Jewish people gathered there for prayer and worship. And they did. But the man who beckoned them to come wasn’t there. Instead, he found a woman’s prayer gathering.
At this point, Paul could have just kept on going, looking for the Macedonian man who had called him in his vision. But, at the invitation of the women, he sat down and taught them about Jesus.
One of the women listening was Lydia. Lydia is an interesting person who breaks a lot of the stereotypes of women of that day. She was a merchant, a business woman who sold purple cloth – which was a very expensive, highly prized material. She was the head of her household. And, she was not from around there. She was from Thyratira, in Asia. So she had traveled a similar path as Paul had to come to Philipi. She had a large house and a household and as such had some standing in the community. And finally, she is called a “worshipper of God.” She was a seeker, she wasn’t ethnically or religiously Jewish and yet there she was, with the Jewish women, praying.
As Paul and Silas and Timothy shared the good news of Jesus, the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. She received the invitation to believe and she was baptized and – as was the tradition of the time – her whole household was baptized too.
But here comes what I think is the most interesting part of this story. Not only was Lydia baptized and instructed her household to be baptized, but she also felt empowered to make an invitation of her own. She invited Paul and Silas to come and stay at her house. And it wasn’t just a casual invitation. She prevailed upon them, inviting them to make good on their promise that she was a worthy, saying, “If you have judged me faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.”
Clearly, the Holy Spirit not only opened her heart to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, but also empowered her to share her gifts as well. Lydia’s home then became not just a place for Paul and Silas to stay but also a “safe place” for Christians and the beginning of the church of Philippi. Lydia transitioned from being a receiver to being a contributor.
There was a church that offered a free meal to the hungry in a poor neighborhood. That isn’t unusual. Lots of churches do this. What was unusual was that the ones who were serving the meal were not people from outside the community doing an act of charity. Instead, the people serving the meal were same as the people, often homeless people, who had come for the meal. When I asked about it, I was told that one of the guests had asked to be a server – and instead of holding on to this position for himself – the leader invited this man to take his apron and switched spots with him, allowing the homeless man to serve him. Now, the leaders of the church – and this formerly homeless man – are on the lookout for people who, like him, want to be empowered to serve rather than to simply receive.
It was a subtle change. But it made a huge difference for the people. Instead of feeling like they were always on the receiving end, these people were invited and empowered to be a part of the team that served the neighbor in need.
How is God inviting you? How is the Holy Spirit opening your heart? It may be an invitation to serve – instead of being served. Or it may be an invitation to community and to relationship.
I may have shared this story before but as I was thinking about invitations, I was reminded of my first day of at what was then called Plymouth Junior high. It had been a good morning. I was having a great time getting to meet all sorts of new people. But at lunchtime, when I came out of the lunch line with my caf tray and saw a sea of faces – more people my age than I had ever seen before--sitting at tables with no direction as to where I belonged … I froze. Where do I go? Cindy Spielde, a girl I met in homeroom, came up to me and said, “Would you like to sit with us?” A wave of gratitude washed over me and I said, “Oh yes.” She became a dear friend.
It was a simple invitation. But it meant the world to me. And so, friends in Christ, I invite you to ponder – how is God opening your heart? What is the Holy Spirit inviting you into? How can you invite someone else to hear God’s good news? How can you be the Good News to someone else – perhaps someone you have not yet met?
Those of us who have grown up in the church probably don’t realize that it can be a really hard journey from the parking lot to walking through the church door. And that’s just the beginning… At a church meeting on Evangelism, one of the speakers said that one of the most frequent barriers to attending a new church is not knowing where the bathroom is. Hearing this as an “insider” and an extravert this was incredibly surprising to me, after all, couldn’t they just ask?
And yet, a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to be “new” to a church setting. Vicar Karla and I were on an internship retreat at St. John’s monastery’s retreat house and some of us decided to go to the morning weekday service with the monks. We walk in the wrong door and end up in the back of the church – just where a Lutheran wants to be, right? But then we see a monk beckoning us forward and we have to cross the entire sanctuary to our seats in the guest area up front. With a few whispers he then shows us the three books that we need for the 20 minute service and he disappears. I noticed a sign on the wall but there was no bulletin. Luckily for us, a very kind man, an alumni of St. John’s, helped us when we couldn’t find our place in the worship. It was a simple gesture, but it helped me feel like I belonged.
Like Lydia, we are all both seekers and people who have something to offer. As seekers, we are invited to ask ourselves: what are we seeking? “Where is the hunger of your soul leading you towards? It is easy to neglect this question in the midst of our busy lives. For those of us for whom life is a series of tasks to get done or goals to be accomplished or health crises to be endured, it is easy to forget to ask where God is in the midst of all of that. The seeker is one who is on the lookout for the presence of God. The seeker is looking for God in the world around her, and in the people he meets, and in the challenges and opportunities along the way. Lydia reminds us to continue seeking.” 1
Lydia also reminds us that, hearing the word and receiving the gift of God’s love and grace, she and we are empowered to share the gifts we have with others. For when God opened her heart, Lydia opened her home and became one who welcomed and invited others.
Siblings in Christ, may we be open to God’s invitation to hear God’s word; to Jesus’ invitation to come to the table and to the Holy Spirit’s invitation to empower others to hear and see that they also belong to Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.
May 25, 2025 + Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane
1 Day1 https://day1.org/weekly-broadcast/681b10b86615fb2641007358/view