Acts 16:11-15
There’s a wonderful matter-of-factness in the reading from Acts today. If we didn’t know this passage was in the Bible it would read like an entry in a ship’s log or a letter from a traveler: “We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace.” “We spent some time in that city.” “We went outside the city gate along the river.”
Almost a flatness to the language. Actual places, in the world.
Maybe there’s some symbolism in the fact that the Lydia was a dyer of purple cloth, but somehow what resonates is that Lydia was doing ordinary work. That the cloth had a color. This color. A particular color. Purple.
Nothing miraculous happens. People talk, along a river. Lydia invites the disciples into her home.
And yet that’s the most miraculous thing of all.
That on any given day and in any given place, in the midst of our day’s travel and work, the Lord is present and our hearts can be opened.
Today may our hearts be opened, too.