God brings us Good News in our ongoing conversion

Sermon preached at St. Mark’s Honey Brook, PA

by The Rev. Thomas C. Pumphrey, April 22, 2007

The Third Sunday of Easter Acts 9:1-19

Acts 9:1-19 (NRSV) Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus,

This text is adapted from the sermon preached from notes.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of bad news. I’m tired of news of cold weather and slush and wind, and more cold weather. I’m tired of news of war and news of terrorism. I’m tired of news of gunmen who hold and shoot hostages in NASA buildings. I am especially tired of more stories of men who decide to respond to their own brokenness by shooting down crowds of people. As we did last fall after the shootings at Nickel Mines Amish School, so today we join a nation in shock from the bad news of thirty-three dead at Virginia Tech. I am tired of bad news, I’m eager for change—for transformation in the world around me. When the world around me won’t change, I’m even more eager for a transformative change in myself. This is the Christian hope of conversion.

Conversion is the openness to the changes God can make in our lives—openness to being formed and shaped by God’s love and priorities—openness to good news. Perhaps the most famous conversion story is the story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. We heard the account of this story in today’s first lesson from the Acts of the Apostles. Saul was an enemy of Christ—he pursued and persecuted disciples of Jesus who preached his resurrection and the Good News of his forgiveness. But through the grace of God’s conversion, Saul became St. Paul, a powerful witness to God’s love whose words express a huge bulk of the New Tetament.

We can learn a lot about conversion and good news from Saul’s conversion. First of all, his conversion was not an easy, instantaneous experience. Saul’s conversion took time and energy and challenged Saul’s assumptions in life, and took him to an uncomfortable place indeed. Saul’s encounter with the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus was not the only part of his conversion. His conversion started when he encountered Jesus in the preaching of his disciples. Yes, Saul rejected that message with great fury—he helped those who killed one of the first great preachers, Stephen, and he worked to arrest other disciples and drag them before a similar fate. But Saul did encounter the Good News.

Then, on the road to Damascus in his quest for more arrests, he encounters Jesus in a great light. Jesus speaks to him saying “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” And Saul says “who are you, Lord?” Jesus replies “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Saul is not immediately won over, neither is his future clear. Jesus merely tells him to go into the city, where he will be told what to do. Three days pass before Ananias comes to him. Even after Saul is healed and baptized, still he stays with the disciples before his preaching ministry begins.

Saul’s conversion does not come without price. He is blinded at first. He fasts for three days—eating nothing, and probably focusing his attention to God in response to this strange call. For Saul, his conversion means saying yes to Christ, but also saying no to the road he had traveled thus far—saying no to his connections among the Pharisees, and saying no to his former life, giving it all to Jesus.

Our conversion is similar in many ways. There are some people who know the time and place when they accepted Jesus as Lord and savior. However, even for those people, I imagine that the process of conversion was more complex than a single event. For each of us, conversion is an ongoing process—a daily renewal of our relationship with God, seeking the Good News of God in Christ and living more fully in devotion to him. Each day, we recommit ourselves to God in prayer and in reading of scripture. Each day, like Saul, we say yes to God more and more. Each day, we do the hard work of saying no to those things that impede our life in Christ, even saying no to some things to which we have become so fondly attached.

There is more that we can learn from Saul’s conversion. Saul’s conversion does indeed focus on Saul’s experience, but Saul did not go through conversion alone. Saul heard the preaching in Jerusalem, and when he was blinded by his encounter with Jesus, he received the ministry of other Christians. Saul stayed with the disciples, and even later in his ministry, stayed connected with the Christian communities, not only the ones he founded, but to the Apostles in Antioch and Jerusalem as well. Saul’s conversion was not simply a private affair that he held secret as he went about his life. His conversion brought him into a new life and relationship with God and also with the Christian Community.

The Christian Community experienced conversion as well. Ananias was reluctant to go to Saul. I think the scriptures understates Ananias’ reaction. I imagine Ananias saying to God—‘what do you mean go to Saul?? He’s here to arrest me and the other disciples here!’ But God seems to say ‘Ananias, I know what I’m doing. I’ve chosen him, so you should be willing to trust me on this.’ So Ananias experiences his own conversion. He opens himself to risk and trusts in God’s power to turn bad news into good news, and to bring light to his life. In fact, God, through Ananias’ ministry, brings greater safety to the Christian Community by turning this enemy of the church into a great advocate.

Every day, each of us has the opportunity of conversion. Every day we have the opportunity to turn away from the bad news and toward the good news of Jesus Christ. Each day we have the opportunity to say yes to God, and to say no to the things that are truly lower in priority. Here in this place, we have the opportunity to experience God’s love through the ministry of this community. What if, over coffee and refreshments, we shared not just what is going on in our lives, but what God is doing in our lives? What if we asked for and listened to what God is doing in other people’s lives? Being able to find and share and hear this Good News among us will inspire us in our own faith, and build us up as a community devoted to God and sharing in the amazing transformation of God’s conversion.

As we walk that road together, and encounter the risen Lord together; as we pray together and read scripture together and break the bread of Holy Communion together, the grace of God’s conversion will transform our hearts and our lives. As we are more and more converted, so the world around us will experience the transforming love of God. The more we take hold of the Good News of God in Jesus Christ, the more we bring Good News to a world desperately tired of bad news, and desperately thirsty for Good News.