My mind was everywhere this morning. Teri and I were checking in this morning over breakfast about times for the Mardi Gras Feast at the church tonight; I was calling out spelling words to Addy while cooking sausage, pancakes and biscuits; and I was mentally going over the various places and tasks I had to do. Two were primary: pondering God’s work in Philippi and what story that new church there must be telling, and the three bottles of passion fruit syrup that I set out to put in my car to be part of a liturgy I would enact later to tell a story of deliciousness!
When I stepped outside, it was to a world of glory. Against the backdrop of a bleak and overcast winter day that is trying to push back what all nature is telling me—that spring is on its way—it was snowing! I pondered to myself as Addy opened the door for Piper to jump in—even nature is telling a story, and how glorious that I get to not only have a front row seat to watch it play out, but I get to participate in it.
In Paul’s second missionary journey, perhaps his most famous, we see this week in Philippi three different conversions of people from vastly different backgrounds and, that is not all, those three people wind up in the same church. Against the backdrop of this Macedonian city which is part of Roman Colony, I kept thinking, what kind of story was this new society of people telling? What must people who know Lydia, who is a successful businesswoman, think when she suddenly has essentially one of the city’s freak shows and a stoical jailer as regular house guests?
I can’t wait to talk about it on Sunday, but before then I must attend to that deliciousness for our feast tonight!
Blessings,
Jim