May 25, 2025
Easter 6
“A certain woman named Lydia, a worshipper 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 Paul said. Upon her baptism, she pressed us, ‘If you have judged me faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.’ And she persuadedus.”
and
Jesus said “… the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
Please be seated.
Almost exactly 40 years ago, a layperson and I, in the parish where I was serving, created some software to help manage our parish records. We never thought about calling it anything it was simply “our project”. Steve Aho was a teacher at Conestoga College, married to a daughter of the congregation, and he and I had a lot of experience in computer programming which was a thing –back when dinosaurs ruled the earth—a thing which eventually morphed into what people now call software development. Back in the day, we wrote our own software.
Steve and I would putter away, a few hours each week, back in a world which did not yet know of Microsoft Windows, Google search or web browsers such as Chrome or Safari. There was no World-Wide-Web and the Internet as you know it today, was only two years old. We lived in a world of DOS and RDMS and the first notions of TC/IP. When word of our little project got out, we were approached by a sister congregation, here in Kitchener, to make our software available to them. And so we gave our little adventure a name. Paraclete Information Systems.
Paraclete is the Greek Word translated Advocate in today’s Gospel. “… the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”
The Advocate the Holy Spirit will remind you of what you need to know.
So it was our little joke, our software could remind a pastor of where Lloyd lived or how many kids Larry had. It could track their names and ages for Sunday School. It could keep records like who served as an assisting minister at worship or when Bob’s term on Council expired. That sort of thing. Our software lasted about 20 years before being retired in favour of more sophisticated off-the-shelf stuff.
Paraclete. In Greek para-klétos. Two words joined together. Para is a little word which in ancient Greek meant “beside, next to, alongside” and it includes shades of meanings like “related to” and “protection” in modern English. We hear it in the words paramount and parasol, paradigm and paragon and so on. And klétos from the root kaléo which means to call. In fact, it is the ancient root for the English word “to call”. So literally called alongside. “Sidekick” is almost a better word than “advocate”. Think Robin to Batman. You’re all too young.
The Holy Spirit is the One called alongside our ancient forebears to teach them and remind them of all that Jesushad said to them. The Paraclete … the Holy Spirit … would stick to them like glue. And by extension, stick to us, like glue … the one called alongside each and everyone of us, called into our midst to teach us and remind us of all that Jesus put on offer in three years of ministry and in the life, death and resurrection which he navigated and embraced for the sake of the world – to use a Prestonism. Stuff like “love your neighbour”, “go and sin no more”, and “share your food” as we heard last week from the Eagle (Ann C.). It’s no stretch to think of this Holy Spirit, this called alongside echo of Jesus to be embedded in the conscience of the Christian. Your conscience and mine. It’s that intimate an image.
There is something profoundly relational and profoundly intimate about our journey with Jesus. Wherever we go, he is. Wherever we wander, he is. Whenever we contemplate alone, he is. Wherever two or three are gathered he is.
In today’s first reading, a woman named Lydia, identified as already “a worshipper of God”, was listening to Paul preaching on the sabbath. I guess there was no synagogue in the city, so people gathered down by the river at what was taken to be a natural place of prayer. I like that image. And the people who gather are women. So not only are women the first communicators of the Gospel at Easter, they are also responsive to the call of the Gospel in the early adventures of Paul.
Lydia is from Thyatira, in what we think of as modern Turkey (Asia Minor), but she now has a significant residence and business in the Roman Colony of Philippiin northeastern Greece (Europe, proper). So she’s moved about 400 kilometers to establish or maybe to grow her business. She sells purple cloth –the Rolex, the Rolls Royce—of cloth to rich people. So, she herself is obviously well-to-do, well-connected, and serves as the head of a household all of whom will be baptized, on her say-so–because that’s the way things were done–when she takes up the journey with Jesus and welcomes Paul and Silas into her home.
The facts that Lydia has an important business, that she heads a significant household, and that all will convert to join the People of The Way on her word is striking. As with the witness of Mary Magdalene at Easter, the veryfoundation of the church in Europe is born in the family dynamics of a woman–a woman of means, a woman with a guestroom or two, a woman speaking for her family, a woman convincing Paul to set-up-shop in her home. “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” “And she persuaded us.” is the sense of the last words in today’s text. “… prevailed upon us.” doesn’t immediately yield the sense that they accepted her offer. But then did!
Paul is a convincing witness to Jesus. And so is Lydia. He speaks convincingly. She acts convincingly. Both live convincing, fueled by grace, –Spirit filled, Spirit-led, Spirit called-alongside– lives. Paul of Tarsus and Lydia of Thyatira. There is something very relational, very intimate about what is going on. I don’t mean intimate in the constrained modern sense. But in the sense of the intertwining of lives whether lived in the Holy Spirit, as in our Gospel, or lived in the dynamic of people being and becoming Christians, call and response, in the stories of the Acts of the Apostles.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Lydia’s welcoming Paul and Silas into her home as kindred People of the Way, as followers of Jesus, is no less apostolic than is the witness of Paul. And we follow in their train. We, too, are People of The Way, taught and reminded of all that Jesus had to offer for the sake of the World. Paul and Lydia are our apostolic forebears. We stand on their shoulders.
And every day, in countless different ways, we people of St. John’s seek to live out the faith that so transformed them and so shapes us and the ministry we offer and the community we serve.
Silence for reflection.
And may the church say “Amen”. Amen.
André Lavergne CWA (Pastor)
Honourary Assistant,
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.
As our parish musician, he provides both support and leadership so that a variety of parish programs can find musical expression and attract participation. When our handbell choir is in season, he is one of our ringers. At parish dinners, he provides popular piano music for the guests to dine by. For both worship services and concerts, he will rehearse and accompany vocal and instrumental soloists from our congregation on piano, organ, or even accordion.
Angus Sinclair was appointed Director of Music of St. John the Evangelist on February 1, 2023. Having graduated in 1981 (Honours B.Mus.) in organ performance from Wilfrid Laurier University, he went on to distinguish himself as a church musician, recitalist and accompanist touring in both Canada and the UK. For over 40 years Angus has served parishes and congregations throughout Southwestern Ontario as director of music. He experiences his present appointment to St. John’s as a welcome homecoming, both spiritually and musically.