January 27: Remembering Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, Witnesses to the Faith

While in Haiti, a few of us managed to rise early in the mornings and, gathering in the darkness, turn on our flashlights so as to read Morning Prayer; truth-told, our Evening Prayers suffered somewhat, the place where we were staying often overcrowded with young Haitian men and women who wanted to talk with us. Now, however, that I'm back from Haiti and recuperating from a respiratory illness, I find it so physically and spiritually healing to re-enter more fully the Church's prayer life on a more regular basis.

Many of us when checking our church calendars find that in the last week of January (either on the 27th or 29th) we are asked to remember the life and witness of Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe. All three shared one pre-eminent quality: they helped others.

Dorcas was known for her assistance to the poor. So highly regarded was she, that when she died, the saints of Joppa appealed to Peter. He prayed over her and God raised her from the dead.

Lydia was a seller of purple cloth. After Paul shared the gospel with her, Lydia and her entire household were baptized--his first convert in Europe. She insisted Luke and Paul stay at her house. Her prosperous home became the original church at Philippi.

As these three individuals of the New Testament show, middle-class women were already beginning to play an important role in the Christian world.

Most of the women I know--like Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe--are well within the so-called middle class. Here I think of those women in our ecumenical prayer group: Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Roman Catholics, many of whom have so positively and deeply influenced my life. As the Church owes so much to Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe, so my life is indebted to many women who share their faith in Christ with me. While I will not mention names, those of you who are reading my words know who you are. You may be middle-class by some definitions, but you are truly "classy in Christ" to me and to all who know, work, pray, and worship with you. To all you Lydias, Dorcases, and Phoebes--by whatever name we know you today--may God bless you, each and every one. Tonight in Evening Prayer I will remember you before God, asking him to bless you, take care of you, sustain and heal you, and keep you in His compassion and protection.

The Prayer for Today

Almighty God, who inspired your servants Lydia, Dorcas and Phoebe to uphold and sustain your Church by their loving and generous deeds: Give us the will to love you, open our hearts to hear you, and strengthen our hands to serve you in others for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Image Source: St. Lydia, Theology in Color