​Acts 16:9-15 Lydia’s Conversion in Philippi (New International Version)

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 

After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district[a] of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

     I want to know more about these women, the women gathered at the place of prayer down by the river. It appears that they weren’t just hanging out on the beach when Paul encountered them. In his notes on the text, Christopher Matthews points out in the broader Jewish Diaspora in Ancient Rome, it seems like many Jewish synagogues would have been built near water. What has probably happened is that Paul, upon receiving this vision to go to Macedonia, headed to the Jewish community in the first good-sized city where he and his compatriot Silas traveled. Matthews notes that Phillipi was an important city in Macedonia. It was a city largely populated with former Roman soldiers who had been discharged from the army and received grants of land to settle there.

     It was the Sabbath, so, of course, the Jewish faithful have gathered. The men aren’t mentioned at all, did you notice that? This is a gathering of women, both Jewish women and Gentile “worshippers of God.” “Worshipper of God” isn’t simply a description of a religious person. It is, according to Matthews, a specific term for people who were not yet Jewish but seriously considered converting. They usually were learning a lot about Judaism and regularly worshiping in Jewish community. Mitzi Smith points out that there are two other “worshipers of God” with prominent stories in Acts- the unnamed Ethiopian eunuch in chapter 8 and the centurion Cornelius in chapter 10.

     The Eunuch, though faithful, was never going to fully be able to convert given the prohibitions on having people with his particular gender identity be active in their community. Philip, though, was moved by his faith, and welcomed him to follow Jesus. The eunuch asked to be baptized and Phillip said yes, making him the first Gentile follower of Jesus in Acts. Cornelius, too, was welcomed to the Body of Christ, this time by Peter. Remember, Peter had a vision showing that you didn’t have to be Jewish to follow Jesus. He had this vision while interacting with Cornelius. The book of Acts is mostly about Jesus’ earliest followers figuring out how to be the church without having him physically with them. They rely on the Spirit for so much. And, the Spirit keeps showing them that the divisions they thought were vital for maintaining safety and a sense of shared identity were, in fact, not the most important parts of building the body of Christ. Philip learned from the eunuch. Peter from Cornelius. And, now, Paul from the women and Lydia.

     I want to know more about the women in the crowd, but we are mostly told just about one of them: Lydia. She is, as I said, a Gentile and is from the city of Thyatira, in what is now Western Turkey. Matthews notes that Thyatira was known for its dye industry. Lydia worked in that industry, specifically as a dealer of purple cloth. Gail O’Day points out in her commentary on Acts that purple cloth is a luxury item in this era. Creating the dye involved processing fluid from a particular kind of sea snail. I read that it took 12,000 snails to create 1 gram of dye. I’m not sure if it’s accurate, but the same article said that one pound of that dye would cost something like $66,000 in today’s money. Lydia was likely quite wealthy herself.

     Women in much of the Bible are not described as owning their own business or as owning their own homes. In her commentary on this text, Choi Hee An points out that Lydia is described as doing both, with no mention of other significant adult men (like spouses or fathers or grown sons). She is the head of the household and has the power to direct the spiritual life of her household. When she is moved by Paul, she asks to have herself and her whole household baptized. And, he does it. Whatever resistance he had to baptizing Gentiles is gone, thanks to the Holy Spirit and the very obvious faith of Lydia.

     Whatever spiritual seeking she had been doing, she has found something meaningful in the Gospel as shared by Paul and Silas. Her new insight into the nature of God leads her to discern a call to use her resources to support the ministry that is meaningful to her. This is the hope of all ministers: that people will hear the Word and be moved to act on it. She has many resources to share and chooses to share them. She says to Paul, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my house.” This hospitality, which was foundational to the Jewish practice she had been learning, was also central to Christian faith. You can’t have Christianity without welcome. Lydia learned that lesson fast.

     Paul will meet more people in Phillipi, including another woman, well, a girl really, whom he will help. But, not everyone will see the work he and Silas do as a gift. Very shortly after today’s reading, they encounter some other wealthy people. They are not moved by Paul and Silas’ work, and, in fact, are threatened by it. They use their power to target Paul and Silas for violence at the hands of the government. Wealthy people who worry about protecting their money can be dangerous, even for a citizen of Rome like Paul. Silas had even fewer protections. With God’s help, they would get out of the city alive. But, only just barely.

     When we hear a good word from strangers, may we be like Lydia and embrace it. When the Spirit invites us to reconsider who we believe is worth saving, may we be like Paul and go where the vision points us. Like Silas, may we be solid partners, even when the journey is hard. And, like the women who gather at the river, may we come together in hopes of catching sight of the Divine. In this Easter season, may the Spirit gather us up, and send us out. May we be confident that those who need to hear what we say will hear it.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Jennifer T. Kaalund: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-169-15-4

Mitzi Smith: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/sixth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-169-15-3

Christopher R. Matthews' notes on Acts in The New Oxford Annotated Bible: The New Revised Standard Version with Apocryphya, ed. Michael Coogan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001)

Gail R. O'Day, "Acts," The Women's Bible Commentary (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998)
Choi Hee An, "Sixth Sunday of Easter," Preaching God's transforming justice: A Lectionary Commentary, Year C Featuring 22 New Holy Days for Justice, eds Dale P.  Andrews, Dawn Ottoni-Wilhelm, and Ronald J. Allen (Louisville: John Knox Press, 2012)
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More info about purple dye: https://historyfacts.com/world-history/fact/purple-became-the-color-of-royalty-because-the-dye-was-so-expensive/
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Acts 11:1-18 Peter’s Report to the Church at Jerusalem
(New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)
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Now the apostles and the brothers and sisters who were in Judea heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?”  Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners, and it came close to me. So I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air.  I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’  But I replied, ‘By no means, Lord, for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’  But a second time the voice answered from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’  This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were.  The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.’  ​And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, “Then God has given even to the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.”

     It is probably not fair, but every time I read this scripture I think of one scene in the movie Mean Girls. The movie is about a girl named Cady to moves to a new high school. She’s been living abroad and feels out of place because she doesn’t understand the culture of her high school. While at first she makes friends with some pretty regular artistic kids, she eventually falls into a group of popular but mean girls whose friend group is called “The Plastics.” The Plastics have developed a rule of behavior that guides whether or not they deem someone worthy to spend time with them. For example, they only wear their hair in ponytails once a week, and they only wear jeans and track pants on Fridays.

     Cady ends up getting in some shenanigans that involve pitting the Plastics against one another and some of this comes to a head on a Monday when the most powerful Plastic, Regina George, dares to sit down at lunch while wearing sweatpants. Gretchen and Karen, the less powerful Plastics, who have had Regina use the rules to keep them in line, turnaround and demand that Regina follow them like they have had to. “You’re wearing sweatpants. It’s Monday,” Gretchen says. Karen continues, “So that’s against the rules and you can’t sit with us.” Regina, not used to having the rules she largely made up used against her, argues that they are just made up, but Karen, who has been made to leave the table for breaking them does not buy it. Neither does Gretchen, who screams over the din of the cafeteria, “You can’t sit with us!” That’s the thing about rules. They can be used for good things. Or, they can be used for bad things. The people who make rules up for bad things almost never think those rules will be turned back on them.

     I want to be clear: the religious rules that are being discussed in today’s reading are pretty different than rules that the Plastics made up. The Plastics made up rules to give Regina power in their social hierarchy. Jewish religious laws were ethical principles that bound a community together, demonstrating their commitment to God and helping to provide social cohesion for ethnic group that was often trying to remain intact in the face of attacks from more powerful empires. Sometimes rules help you figure out how to be one people together. If someone breaks those kinds of rules, it can feel like a threat to a whole group of people.

     My friend and colleague Rev. Dr. Tijuana Gray, when writing about today’s scripture, points out that “The believers at the church in Jerusalem want to do the right thing. They want to follow Jesus. They also want to honor their traditions, namely the distinction between the circumcised and the uncircumcised.” This is one of the rules Jesus and his first apostles all followed. They were Jewish and he was Jewish, and they all had gone through the ritual of circumcision. Even when more people than just the first twelve began to follow Jesus, they were still generally Jewish. At this time, there isn’t yet a distinct religion called Christianity. When most people who follow Jesus are Jewish and following Jewish laws, it begs the question: must someone follow Jewish religious rules to follow Jesus? This starts with a question about spending time with uncircumcised men. But, it leads to questions about other religious rules.

     As Dr. Gray notes, “the message of Jesus was spreading beyond the Jewish community. To strangers. To outsiders. People who did not follow or even know the Jewish customs. That could be a little unsettling. A little scary.” It makes sense that those who had followed Jesus longer and who also followed Jewish religious law, would ask Peter, “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” You don’t spend time eating with people who don’t share your allegiance to your religious laws! Or, if you do, you have to have a good reason. Dr. Gray wonders and I’m inclined to agree that even though the text says they “criticized” Peter, is it possible that there was also some curiosity there along with a little nervousness. Peter was, after all, the chosen one, the rock that the church would be built on. Gray points out that “he wasn’t leading the way that they thought he should.” So, what was he trying to do? And should that change what they were trying to do to follow Jesus.

     Jesus often opted to share a story rather than give a direct answer. Peter seems to follow in his footsteps here. He describes a vision he had when he was in Joppa, the home of Dorcas:
“I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. - all things that were forbidden to eat under the law, and yet - I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’” Remember, as I said, Jewish religious law covered (and continues to cover) many aspects of life, including ethical eating. Some foods are simply off limits. The rules have been ingrained in him, and there is no way Peter would dare to eat these things. “’By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’” Peter knows what he is supposed to do and what he shouldn’t. And, he knows he shouldn’t eat those animals. God is gracious. God answers from heaven, “‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.’” This interaction is repeated three times:

     Eat that.
     No, it’s not allowed.
     That food is ok to eat.

     Dr. Gray says, “Sometimes we need the message repeated before we learn the lesson. And then we may need to live it out, to feel the truth of it, before we really get it. Some of those lessons, we have to learn over and over.” Even if we’re Peter, the one Christ called the Rock. In this case, the lesson he needed to learn was that purpose of religious laws was to foster connection and to build a life around honoring God. In the course of this vision, he learned that he could do both of those things in a new way.

     From what I understand from historians, it can be challenging to figure out when “following Jesus” became something distinct from being Jewish. I think you can make a solid argument that the moment that Peter received a revelation from God concerning food traditions is the moment that Christianity begins to branch away from Judaism. Paul would also be led to understand that it was not necessary to be Jewish to follow Jesus, and that Jewish and Gentile believers could be one body of Christ in fellowship with one another.

     What does that mean for us modern inheritors of their traditions? I hope that we can look at Peter’s example and see someone who is willing to have his ideas about who is able to be included in Christian community changed by the calling of the Spirit. As Mitzi Smith notes in her commentary on this text, the interaction between the faithful in Jerusalem and Peter is a response to the conversion of Gentile believers, particularly Cornelus, a centurion. Peter could have chosen not to baptize him because he wasn’t adhering to the same religious laws. But, God helped him see that Cornelius and the other Gentiles had a heart for Jesus’ message and were willing to be moved by it to live differently. Peter realized that the Spirit can surprise and invite us to build relationships that we once thought were impossible.

     The Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber shares a story, I believe in her book Pastrix, about a change that started happening in the gritty little artsy Lutheran church she helped found in Colorado. It started with a bunch of folks who had often found themselves on the outside of mainstream Christianity- they were LGBTQ folks who had been forced out of other churches, people in recovery from addiction, artists, impoverished folks, and people with more than a few tattoos. Once their broad welcome and generous church spirit became known, some other people started showing up... respectable people. People with regular jobs and very few tattoos or body piercings. She calls them “normies.” The church actually ended up having to do some real soul-searching when people who they didn’t expect to show up did and wanted to be a part of what they were doing!

     Perhaps this a lesson for us today that the church must continually be open to the Spirit reminding the church that the definitions of “us vs them” that we are clinging to can always be upset by one vision that comes at just the right time. The boundaries that can be of use in one time and place may prevent us from developing faithful relations in another. May we never be so certain that we know which “them” to exclude from “us” that we miss out on the relationship Christ is calling us to. May we never find ourselves yelling “You can’t sit with us,” when we could be saying “God gave them the same gift that he gave us.”

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Rev. Dr. Tijuana Gray shared a sermon with me that she wrote on this scripture. It was very helpful!
What are the Mean Girls Rules?

• A clip where Gretchen describes the rules: https://youtu.be/akbCmxb_w8s?si=KGgzR4MOdA4bBtsu

• an article about Mean Girls: https://screenrant.com/mean-girls-plastics-rules/

Mitzi Smith: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-111-18
Nadia Bolz-Weber, Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint (Jericho Books, 2014)

Scripture: Acts 9:36-43
 
In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. 

About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. 
Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!”

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room.

All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed.

Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” 

She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  He took her by the hand and helped her to her feet.
Then he called for the believers, especially the widows, and presented her to them alive. 

This became known all over Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord.  Peter stayed in Joppa for some time with a tanner named Simon.

     Mathetria... that is the feminine form of the Greek word for “disciple.” Tabitha, also known as Dorcas, was a disciple in a place called Joppa. We know she’s a disciple because, well, for one, it’s stated explicitly in the text, but also she does disciple stuff, namely doing good and helping the poor. In commentary on the book of Acts, Gail O’Day points out that while we know that women were among the people who became disciples of Christ after the first twelve, only Tabitha is singled out and referred to with the specific feminine translation of the word.

     Mitzi Smith, in a commentary she has on Tabitha, points out that we don’t know a lot of specifics about her life, like how she came to have the money she uses to help people or if she is from the area or moved there to do ministry or what her family looks like. We do know that she is special, and that she is loved. In fact, she is so beloved in the Christian community in Joppa that when she dies, her disciple friends send two men to find Peter the apostle in the next town over. Peter had just healed a man named Aeneas. Maybe they hoped he could do something for Tabitha. Maybe they just wanted him to know that a beloved disciple had died.

     Resurrections are not everyday occurrences, even the Gospels. Jennifer T. Kaalund notes in her commentary on this text, in the Gospel of Luke and its sequel Acts, there are three resurrections before this story and one of them is Jesus’. Kaalund goes on to describes miracles as “demonstrations of the power of God” and “guideposts, leading people to God.” She also writes of miracles as “fuel for our faith” which can help people come to believe. Because so many of Jesus’ miracles and the miracles done through the power he provided his disciples are healings, I also think we should follow the work of Wil Gafney who says that each miracle is an epiphany, revealing something to us about the nature of Christ. What is revealed to us in this miracle, once again, is that healing is central to Christ’s mission, whether he or a disciple is the one doing it. And, we see that you don’t have to be the Messiah to be worthy of a restored life. Three resurrections happen before Tabitha, and two of them are regular people (the son of the widow of Nain and the daughter of a man named Jairus). Sometimes, when you restore one person’s life, you restore a whole community.

     The women who Tabitha helped bore witness to her legacy after she died, as they waited for Peter. What we know about her good works largely comes from them. The widows take Peter up to the upper room when Tabitha’s body is being tended to, and they show him the clothes that she had made either with or for them. Mitzi Smith notes that verb here could indicate that Tabitha created and provided the clothes to the women, or that she made the clothes with them. It is possible that, like Lydia, who we’ll learn about in the next couple weeks, Tabitha had worked in the textile business and used those professional connections to provide for widows who needed extra support. However Tabitha helped the women, whether she made the clothes or provided the materials to make them, it is a testimony to her good work that they had them and used the clothes to show Peter just how much she had meant to them. May each of us be so blessed to have others be able to demonstrate our legacy of care this clearly.

     If you are familiar with some other resurrection stories, I imagine aspects of this story might be familiar. For one, it takes place in the upper room, which is an upstairs part of the house. In her commentary, Mitzi Smith notes that throughout scripture, important things take place in upper rooms. Jesus and his disciples regularly met in upper rooms in people’s homes (Mark 14:15, Luke 22:12, Acts 1:13). In addition to a place of prayer and teaching/preaching (Acts 20:8) in Christian scriptures, in Hebrew scriptures, healing takes place in upper rooms. Elijah and Elisha perform healings in upper rooms (1 Kings 17:19, 2 Kings 4:8-37). And, it appears to be a place where you might prepare the body of one who has died, or spend time mourning the death of a loved one (2 Sam. 18:33). Given that Tabitha was wealthy enough to financially support other people, it may even be in her own home that people gather to tend to her body and mourn her death. How poignant is it to gather in her home, in a place set aside for mourning, healing, fellowship, and teaching, and then restore her to the people who loved her most?

     The tending of her remains by a group of women evokes the women who went to Jesus’ tomb. Like the women who found the tomb empty and testified to the resurrection, these women testified to Tabitha’s generosity. Smith argues that Tabitha’s good deeds are intended to be reminiscent of Jesus’. While we know that Peter has been empowered to do good deeds following Jesus’ model, these widows make clear that Tabitha, too, cares for those whom Christ loved. They are the ones who would share news of Tabitha’s resurrection, as Jesus’ women friends did his. The people who came to believe in Joppa likely did so because of the widow’s testimony.

     Peter’s actions mirror closely Jesus’ actions in two other Gospels: Lazarus’ resurrection in John and the little girl’s resurrection in Mark 5:35-43. Both Gafney and Smith note that the words Peter says to Tabitha “Tabitha qumi” - Tabitha, get up- are very close to the words Jesus says to the small girl he raised “Tali-that qumi”- little lamb, arise. In the Lazarus story, people come to get Jesus to bring him to Lazarus, like the two disciples came to Peter, and he was definitely dead, as Tabitha was. While the person who wrote Acts was not the same person who wrote John or Mark, given that all the stories about Jesus existed before they were written down, since multiple Gospel writers tell a version of a story where someone is restored to life in this way, it probably means that multiple early followers of Jesus were inspired by these kinds of stories, and they thought we can find guidance in them, too.

     What does discipleship to Christ mean? Tending to the vulnerable. Offering healing. Making space for mourning. Showing up when people ask for help. Testifying to the legacy of our friends. Using our resources to restore life to those who need it. The core of discipleship is healing and serving. Our reading today offers us two fine examples of it, Peter and Tabitha. May we be like Peter and show up in the places where death has come to call. And, may we be like Tabitha, devoted disciple and lover of God and neighbor. Let us relieve suffering where we can and share the stories of new life when we see it. This is what Christ empowers Tabitha and Peter to do. We can do it, too.
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Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
Jennifer T. Kaaland: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-936-43-6
Mitzi Smith:

• https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fourth-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-936-43-3
• "The Many Faces of Tabitha," I Found God in Me: A Womanist Hermeneutics Reader (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015)

Gail R. O'Day, "Acts," Women's Bible Commentary, expanded Edition with Apocrypha, Carol A. Newsom and Sharon H. Ringe, eds. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998).
Wil Gafney, "Epiphany VII," Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year W (New York: Church Publishing Incorporated, 2022)

Acts 9:1-20 The Conversion of Saul (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 

Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” 

He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. 

Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul.

At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” 

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 

So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

     Can you finish this sentence: May the Force.... be with you! What movie universe is that line from? Yes! Star Wars. That is one of the most well-known lines in the first three set of Star Wars movies that came out starting in 1977. Did you know that people loved those three movies so much that they ended up creating not just a bunch more movies, but also tv shows, video games, and tons of books. Some are written by the original writer, George Lucas. But many aren’t! He said once “[t]hese were not stories that I was destined to tell. Instead, they would spring from the imagination of other writers, inspired by the glimpse of a galaxy that Star Wars provided.” I imagine that it must feel pretty good to write a story that so many people love that they want to keep writing, reading, and watching more about the world you created. And, they come to know the world so well that they work to create more of it with you.

     Now, I’ve seen a lot of Star Wars movies and tv shows. I also married someone who really loves Star Wars. Here’s some lessons I’ve learned from Star Wars:

1. Just because someone is cute and cuddly looking, it doesn’t mean that they can’t eat you. (see Ewok: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Ewok)
2. Just because someone speaks in a way that is different than lots of people around them, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t wise. In fact, they can be a very good teacher. (see Yoda: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Yoda)
3. Sometimes people who have done many good things can also make big mistakes with consequences that harm people. It is important for them to take accountability for those actions. (See Luke Skywalker especially in The Rise of Skywalker: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker and Sol from The Acolyte: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sol)
4. Good leaders are willing to make sacrifices, even really big ones, to save the people they care about. (See Admiral Holdo: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Amilyn_Holdo)
5. Just because you are taught to hurt people from the time you are little, that doesn’t mean you have to keep hurting people. You can listen to that small voice in your heart telling you to stop. (See Finn: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Finn)
6. It is better to be inspired by love than hate. The world you build will be stronger for it. (See Rose Tico: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Rose_Tico)

     The fans of Star Wars get pretty creative, too. They hold conventions where some of them dress up in home-made, elaborate costumes that they spend hours and hours crafting. They write stories that they share among each other and make their own art inspired by the whole Star Wars universe. They even decided that May the 4th, because it sounds like “may the force” could be a good day for fans everywhere to celebrate this world that they love. Since I know some preachers who planned to bring in a little Star Wars into their services, I decided to try to, too.

     So many of the fans are inspired by what they love. But, a lot of them also get really angry about choices that the writers and directors in more recent Star Wars movies and shows have made. And, a lot of them get mad about how other fans respond to Star Wars. They go online and say mean and cruel things about writers, directors, actors, and other fans. I am most disturbed by how frequently the critiques come from fans who don’t like that there are more women characters and characters played by people of color in the newer movies and shows. Some actors who have played characters in Star Wars movies and shows have shared that their own health has been impacted by the racist and sexist bullying they’ve received from angry fans. Oftentimes, their bosses don’t even stand up for them to try and stop the harassment. Other actors who have been harassed will, and sometimes actors who haven’t been targeted will, too. But, it can make it really hard to enjoy your job when thousands of people are being so cruel to you, and working together to make your life harder.

     When on-line discussions of Star Wars get really cruel, fans target other fans, too. They can intentionally try to hurt them because they have the gall to like something that the meanest fans don’t believe belongs in Star Wars.  Women, LGBTQ people, and people of color in fan spaces are often targets organized campaigns of cruelty. I myself don’t participate in some fan stuff that should be fun because I’ve seen people who claim to love this story about an underdog rebellion fighting an evil empire turn around and act just like the villains in the movie. It feels a lot to me like churches that say they want to follow Jesus and, then go be cruel to poor people, immigrants, and women, and celebrate people being imprisoned. Of course, some people might not trust Christians if the loudest ones they hear are awful. Of course, some people are wary of Star Wars fans when they’ve seen some of them behave so badly.

     Today’s scripture is a story about someone who cares deeply about his faith. He’s passionate in a way that is familiar, isn’t it? He is sure he understands something the right way and is prepared to go after people who understand it the wrong way. And, he will use everything he has, which includes the privileges of Roman citizenship and his intense education in his religious traditions, to help punish people whom he is sure believe the wrong thing. Amy Ogden, in her commentary on Saul’s conversion, points out that he’s not just a persecutor for persecution’s sake. He is targeting people who believe fundamentally misunderstand their shared traditions. The choices to interpret the sacred stories differently than he does feel like a threat to him. So, he feels justified in harassing them. As Ogden says, Saul is “someone trying to do the right thing in order to strengthen the people of God.” The problem is that he is driven more by his hatred of what he deems bad interpretations than his love of neighbor as required by God.

     Thank goodness the risen Jesus shows up like the ghost of a Jedi to tell him that this is not the way. Jesus instructs him to give up this violent quest for purity, and instead recommit to their shared religious values of love of God and neighbor. The Spirit Jesus makes clear that Jesus’ particular interpretation of the faith isn’t a threat to Saul’s beliefs. Instead, Jesus offers a new way to live out the most foundational parts of the faith. Saul, who is devout in a way that makes it hard for him to try something different, has to be convinced to change in a dramatic scene involving a flash of light and temporary blindness. It sure seems like science fiction. But, as we know, some of the most powerful stories are ones with elements we can’t fully explain. Nevertheless, they show us something true. I can’t explain what exactly happened to Saul on that road any more than I can explain what a midchlorian is, but I can understand that Saul needed to change, and when he had the right lesson, he chose to.

     One lesson I hope we carry with us on this May the Fourth is that we can be passionate about the things we love without harming people that love them differently. Sometimes, when we think we’re being “defenders of faith,” we just might be bullies. May we never be inspired by our ideas and interpretations in ways that make us hateful. Instead, let us live in a spirit of generosity and grace befitting the Christ we claim to love, and build the reign of God on this kind of hope. Saul changed his name to Paul when he realized this was the way. Let us follow Paul in this way, building in hope and acting in love.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:
I am grateful for the work of these two pastors in developing liturgy and resources incorporating Star Wars into a typical Sunday Service:

• Jeremy Smith:
  • https://hackingchristianity.net/2025/04/star-wars-liturgy-for-may-the-fourth.html
  • https://hackingchristianity.net/2014/04/order-of-worship-for-starwars-sunday-may-the-fourth-be-with-you.html
• Mitchell Young: https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/may-4-2025-third-sunday-of-easter-year-c/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ95hNleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFsRk12MTZzcTBiekVyNzZaAR49DxzqcaK2WYve83ygvl8R132dtbADQjgt_M74ECg2mHdFn4blfHQ0rOdAZQ_aem_iBSdn3D0M9vAq-1X-PkWZQ

​Amy Ogden: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-of-easter-3/commentary-on-acts-91-6-7-20-4

​Some general Star Wars stuff that was useful:

• This list of quotes: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2527336/quotes/
• This background on what used to be called the Extended Universe (this is article with the Lucas quote): https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Legends
• Wanna make your own Star Wars intro-style crawl? https://starwarsintrogenerator.com/

An article about the racist bullying of cast: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2024/08/30/past-star-wars-actors-support-amandla-stenberg-after-the-acolyte-cancellation/