In this chapter of Acts, we see several incidences of kindness being shown. Lydia takes in Paul and Silas. She says the Lord has opened her heart to the gospel message as presented by Paul and she wants to open her home to them, to be involved in their ministry by first being hospitable and welcoming to them.
Later in the chapter, Paul shows kindness by saving a slave girl who has been exploited by her owners into telling fortunes. Paul and his companion, Silas, are imprisoned after being arrested on false charges drummed up by the slave girls' owners who are mad that they can no longer exploit her. While they are there they sing hymns to God and pray aloud, bringing the other prisoners some comfort. Another act of kindness.
Then an earthquake hits and shakes the foundations of the prison and all the cell doors open. The jailer comes in and draws his sword to kill himself since he knew he'd get a death sentence for not keeping the prisoners behind bars. Paul shows a kindness the jailer never dreamed of when he calls out, 'We are all still here," The jailer is so surprised he falls down and says, "What must i do to be saved?"
Paul tells him to believe in Jesus and he and his household will be saved. In turn the jailer takes them to his home and washes their wounds and feeds them at his table, repaying the kindness extended to him.
In The Help, by Kathryn Stockett the line between kindness and pity often gets blurred. Skeeter, the white woman who is writing the stories of the maids' lives, worries that she can't really see the world the way they do and that they will never trust her because she must surely look down on them as poor colored folk, since she's white.
She hears story after story from the maids about life in a white household, some stories good, but mostly filled with pain and distress from the dismissive ways they were often treated. Callie shares with her the story of working for Margaret for 38 years and how Margaret had written her a note before she died thanking her for taking care of her baby when she wouldn't stop crying. She says it's good, so good, to be acknowledged when you are appreciated. That saying thank you is very important.
Skeeter pauses in grief wondering if she ever really thanked her family's maid, Constantine, for her love and support.
The stories of the maids in The Help do not get shared without them first choosing to help one another and one of their own in a time of need. They don't get published without the outsider white girl deciding to step over the racial line that divides them in Jackson, MS. The acts of kindness and need to overcome the lack of civility start this process rolling.
In Acts 16, the middle of a powerful biblical account of lives being saved and arrests and earthquakes, it's easy to miss the ways that kindness plays a role in spreading the gospel message. Without the small acts of kindness and courage, the gospel here doesn't get spread and the story loses its impact. The acts of hospitality are a response in this story. Lydia and the jailer offer their hospitality when their lives are changed. Paul offers them kindness in sharing his message in a way that is accessible, by obeying the prison laws and not escaping, which in turn allows them to believe in Christ.
That three-part charge of Aibileen to little Mae Mobley, "You is kind, you is smart, you is important" is a great mantra to building up this little girl's self-esteem. But perhaps the greatest of these statements is You is kind. For if you are not kind, being smart and important take on a whole other realm of existence with your neighbor that aren't so neighborly. Kindness, then, may be the virtue here that matters most. And it may have just been the main way the gospel spread in those first days of the church.
How is the church kind to those around us? In what ways can we improve in our kindness to one another and to our community? Do you think that the disciples understood and lived into just how important 'kindness' is to creating a movement? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.
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