SPREADING THE GOSPEL

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Paul gets a call from Macedonia. My grandmother used to use that phrase whenever she needed the loo “I have a call from Macedonia!” she’d say a leave the room...

The extracts we are getting from the Acts of the Apostles at the moment are interesting highlights from the early Church which show how the Christian faith spread in the light of Easter.

This part of the story sees Paul taking the gospel to Europe. Up until now the message of Good News had been restricted to the Near East - to Asia Minor, and to bits of North Africa (presuming that the Ethiopian eunuch spread the faith he acquired in Acts 8).

But today - with great significance for us in the UK - it’s the beginning of the evangelisation of our continent - within about 16 years of the resurrection, the Good News of Jesus has a foothold in southern Europe.

Philippi has no synagogue - a reasonable sized city it may be, but the Jewish quarter is small (10 men were required to found a synagogue), and instead of a building they meet for prayer by the river, which was quite common.

And there they meet Lydia - a wealthy merchant woman who worships God and is attached to the Jews. She is converted to the Christian faith, and she and her household are baptised. She offers hospitality to the missionaries and the Church in Philippi starts.

In this work of spreading the gospel it is the women who are key workers with Paul, and indeed when Paul writes to the Philippians he mentions only one man - Clement - so it’s not impossible to believe that, just as the first witnesses to the resurrection were women, so the first believers and foundation of the Church in Europe were also women.

And who today does most to support the church in St Leonard's? Look around you and you’ll notice that the church has a female gender bias... Why is that? Are the men not as perceptive or intuitive? Are the men not as brave or as bold? Are the men not as committed? Obviously I’m preaching to the converted, but I do wonder - what do you think? Tell me later...

In Russia during the Communist era the prevailing culture ridiculed the Church, as being irrelevant, out of touch and inappropriate in a atheist state and especially the fact that the churches were populated by babushkas (grannies, old ladies). And yet, when Communism crumbled and the Church enjoyed something of a revival, it was only thanks to the continued and constant prayers of those women that there was a Church there at all...

May be we need to think about how we can reach out to the men in our society - and maybe we also ought to celebrate the faith and dedication of the women who support the Church

• like those who witnessed the resurrection
• like those who made possible the establishment of Christianity on this continent
• like those who support the Church in this place today..

Without the strength, determination and vision of these women - if it had been left up to the men - maybe we wouldn’t be here this morning! So let’s acknowledge the debt we owe them!

Fr Andrew Perry
Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea