Ripples

Norah Summers January 16, 2026 3 0

Playlists

Add to Favourites

Save for later

Listen to this daily worship

Acts 16: 11-15 (NIVUK)

11 From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. 12 From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

13 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. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptised, 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.

The ripples are spreading.

The first people who came to John for baptism were local, from Jerusalem. Then they came from all over Judea, and all the country near the Jordan.

When the disciples began to travel further afield, they baptised people as they went.

Now here is Paul in Philippi in Macedonia, meeting a community who have gathered for prayer. And here is Lydia, a prosperous businesswoman, we understand, being baptised along with her household, and offering hospitality to the preacher and his company.

The ripples are spreading.

The water of life is for all, Jew and Gentile, man and woman, all.

There is no stopping it.

What a gift!

Prayer:

God of the spring at the centre of the pool, we praise you.

God of the spreading ripples, we praise you.

God of those waiting for the ripples to reach them, we praise you.

Give us, we pray, the water of life to renew and refresh us.