In the early church the good news was spreading… towards the west…and today’s story from Acts 16 comes from the east coast region of modern day Greece. The apostle Paul is travelling west and at Philippi they went out of the town to the riverside where they hoped to find the Jews gathering. Amongst the women listening to them that day was Lydia. Lydia, a business woman, was a dealer in purple cloth, who worshipped God. Paul’s words about Jesus helped her to a deeper relationship with God and then Lydia and her whole household were baptised. She put herself, her home and her business at God’s disposal. Lydia, the first convert in Macedonia, offers hospitality to Paul and his fellow travellers. What aspects of your life have you offered to God out of thankfulness for the new life in Christ?

The good news about Jesus is delivered to us in the basket of the culture in which we live. The leaders of the early church, like Peter, have been raised in the teachings, language and customs of the Jewish faith. The challenge was to work out what aspects of their Jewish religion had to be carried forward by the followers of Jesus. The readings from Acts chapter 10 and 11 describe the painful adjustments made by the first believers and the discovery that sometimes God’s actions do not conform to the expectations of God’s people. The Gentiles, outsiders to the Jewish faith, decided to follow Jesus and received the gift of the Holy Spirit even before Peter finished preaching. For the early church this was a sign that the Good News could be received and shared amongst new peoples – from Jerusalem, to Judea and to the ends of the earth.