If I had been preaching last Sunday, I would have found the reference irresistible: The Gospel refers to Lydia, a woman converted and baptized by Paul. She was a dealer in purple cloth! Given the events of the previous two weeks, I would have had to mention the coincidence.
All preachers make judgment about how much “secular” material should be included in a sermon and these judgments vary. My own inclination is to incorporate frequent secular references because sometimes these can put the other “religious” material in a new light. There are also times when cultural events become so pervasive and intense that people bring that sensibility with them to church, looking for connections and perspective.
But some times this can go to far. One webside says this about Lydia:
Lydia had the honor of being Paul’s first European convert—the forerunner of a mighty host to honor the Lord. Becoming a Christian did not make her less of a successful business woman. Now she had Christ as her Senior Partner and with Him we can imagine that trade remained good…
Oh please.
Mother’s Day is not a church holiday yet it will be present in the background next Sunday. This secular holiday, if referenced at all, must be handled with great sensitivity: many are not mothers or parents; others have difficult and painful memories. But we all have or have had a mother, or a parent; that condition is universal and also useful in understanding the Gospel assigned for the day. It is about unity –certainly a problematic idea for our day and time!
The still-fresh experience of Prince’s death produced a kind of communal experience that the Church might envy, bringing so many throughout the world together in a unity of grief. Writer Madeline L’Engle’s statement seems to apply here: “There is nothing so secular that it cannot be sacred, and that is one of the deepest messages of the Incarnation.”
See you in church.
Barbara
