| June 8, 2008
You are welcome to reflect on this message Providence, Rhode Island – Pentecost - June 8, 2008
The most important part of Paul’s conversion story is not how it happened. But what happened afterwards. It wasn’t that it was a sudden conversion, but a sudden surrender. Saul set out for Damascus, “breathing fire” against the Christians, with Stephen on his mind. He couldn't get over the way he died, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Where have we heart that?
On the way to do-in the followers of “the way,” God turned him around and sent on another way. Luke tells this story four times in Acts. Because it shows how the Christian life is a journey, often interrupted by a resourceful God, who meets us on the way, so he can send us on His way. This was Saul's blinder-wearing days, that kept him from seeing a reality that was too hard to bear, namely that there are other ways to God than his. I don’t know why that bothers people, but it still does.
On the Damascus Road, Saul saw more than he wanted to see. Blasted to the ground by a lightning-bolt, blinded, alone, disoriented, trying to regain his bearings. Then Luke turns to another street called “Straight,” that still runs through Damascus, there’s another man, gazing up into the building where Saul was taken. Enter Ananias. He had business at Judas' house that made him apprehensive to say the least. Because he too had a disturbing vision. Saul’s reputation was well known, as the famed “holder of Stephen's garments,” while he was being stoned. It was also no secret that Saul was bound for Damascus to extradite the Christians who escaped his clutches in Jerusalem. Saul's comfortable Judaism was so threatened by the gospel movement, that he took it upon himself to personally stamp it out! That was why he came to Damascus – to wipe-out Christianity.
It put Ananias in a bind, because it felt like blessing the enemy. So Ananias gathered up his courage; took a deep breath, rocked back on his heels, ran up the steps and peered through the door where Saul was rendered harmless, like a defanged rattler. So sat Saul, having seen on the road, a blinding light that put out one set of eyes, but opened another.
Most of us were raised to believe a certain way about religion and people. Changing a way of thinking never comes easy. So we accepted what we were told by those we trusted. It was the only approach to life that we knew. So we responded the best we could based on the light we had. That way we know our enemies from our friends. Dividing our world into neat categories – those for us or against us. Those like us and those who are different. In a black or white world, there are winners and losers. And the only thing that matters, is to do whatever it takes to make sure we’re the winners and they’re the losers. When this combative mind-set takes place in church, where everybody ought to win. Well you’d think the church ought could beat that! And the earliest one did.
But from then on, the church hasn’t fared very well in that regard. Because there’s no righteousness like religious self-righteous. It convinces us of our rightness and everybody else’s wrongness. So life becomes a crusade to prove that God’s on our side. Watch out! Those folks are dangerous! They’ll pick up stones at the drop of a hat, always looking for somebody to persecute and put in their place. And if Paul’s story is any indication, there's not much hope of narrow-minded people changing, unless God intervenes. Sometimes it takes a blinding revelation when we least expect it. As in the case of Paul, on the Damascus Road, pursuing what he believes to be the work of God. But that’s when Jesus shows up. And he was not smilin’! The dazzling vision had such a devastating impact, it brought Paul to his knees. God told him to quit wasting Christians and start preaching the gospel. So in an unusually brief time-frame, Paul switched sides! And began to serve among those he previously prosecuted. Luke tells it four times because it shows the danger of how badly wrong ... true believers can be.
Not everybody has such a drastic experience, that it stops us in our tracks and removes all doubts. Sometimes it happens when a loved one dies. Or we fail in public. Suffering. That always gets our attention. Sometimes it’s natural tragedy or never getting it right with your kids or other family member. It might even happen at church. But whatever it takes, we crumble to the earth and ... scales cover our eyes! It's so difficult to change our world-view. We resist with every fiber. “Saul, Saul! Listen up!” “Who are you, Lord?” “It’s Jesus here, who you’re persecuting.” “Jesus? “But I’m just getting rid of these liberals. They're ideas are ruining the church and the world.” “Naw, Saul, you just don't get it? By persecuting them you’re persecuting God!” “Oh! I see.” And that’s the only way we know we’ve been blind – when we start to SEE others; to see life differently. Paul had to be disappointed by his colossal error. He thought what he was doing was pleasing to God! Instead he had it backwards. Now humbled and bewildered. All he can see is the worst. “It’s the stupidity, stupid!” The sin of unawareness. Jesus spoke about those, “Having eyes but see not” (Mk 8). Just because we have eyes, doesn't mean we always see what is. The hardest way to see is a new way, when we're so accustomed to seeing the old. But one way or another, we all have our “Damascus Roads.”
I understand from within what Paul was feeling, laying there in the dirt. I enrolled in college as a know-it-all-preacher-boy, with avowed enemies who refused to embrace a form of religion that was against everything and for nothing. Like Paul, I believed my way was the only way, not just one way. And the Christian faith would be wiped out ... unless some people are gotten rid of. We think we’re everything; that it all depends on us. But when we’re down there in the dirt, we end up thinking we’re nothing. And it's gonna take some time before we can believe in ourselves again. That was Paul in Judas' house on the Street called Strait. And here comes ol’ Ananias, shaking in his sandals. And his first words were wonderful, when you think of what he could’ve said. “See! You got just what you deserved!” But Ananias wasn’t one-o’-those “suffer-the-consequences-guys.” He just lathered-him-up in grace. “Brother Saul!” These inviting words were just what he needed to hear: “And immediately something like flakes peeled from his eyes.”
Both men got their eyes opened that day, O yeah. One a proud Pharisee determined to bring harm to good people who differed with him. The other a correct Christian who doubted God, because he couldn't believe somebody that bad could ever change. Ananias pled with the Lord: “You can't be serious about wanting me to minister to this zealot. Is this not the man who takes women and children from their homes and throws them in jail? And you want me to bless this enemy of our faith?” “That's right Ananias.” In his new vision of who God was and what Saul could be, Ananias accomplished something that impacted the entire Christian world, when he went in Judas’ house and spoke those grace-full words, “Brother Saul!” We keep getting ourselves into such messes, that a lot of times it takes somebody else’s support before we can begin to see what we still might be. And it’s sad to see so many go through life without an encouraging word. That’s why the Meeting House is here. They come to church looking for it. Those who’ve stumbled often have no one to point to the promise in their lives; no one to say to them, “Brother.” “Sister.” No Ananias, to wrap their arms around them and welcome them into the community of faith.
Our need to belong goes much deeper than other needs. We have a strong desire to be included. And so many in our world feel excluded, alienated from the fellowship either at home or in church. So they turn to substance abuse or become misfits, and never grow up. And the church keeps blowing opportunities to bless their hearts with “Sister-Brother-words” of acceptance. In Ananias we see the way church ought to be. Not just God reaching out to the misguided Saul on the Damascus Road, but Ananias reaching out to him on Straight Street. God forbid that we withhold affirmation from any who come to us, increasing their loneliness or adding to their exile.
Give me more Ananiases, who overcome their fear, in spite of the risk. Yeah, Paul might be faking it. It could be a trick so he can deport him to Jerusalem. But “Brother Saul” anyhow. We’re quick to label people, to ensure that we won’t have to change the way WE think. Yeah we can get down and dirty. But we’re washable. Like Paul, we clean up pretty good! I think that's what Luke wants us to see. If Paul can change, anybody can! The most dogmatic, narrow-minded religious advocate. Maybe you know somebody who made an extreme reversal. Or a hard-headed somebody who needs to! But the fortunate ones still do it. It's hard to believe others can change, because there's so many who don't. Like Ananias, it seems that religion is full of persecutors, dragging folks out of church and tossing them in jail. Maybe it’s because we’re all too aware of our own inconsistencies. But the church has been more like Paul than Ananias. Some time later, Paul tells us how it’s done. In order to “forget what lies behind, straining for what lies ahead, and pressing toward the mark of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus,” we need both the blinding light of Christ and the warming light of Ananias. We’ll never arrive at “Straight Street,” until we 1st let go of our delusions. We need to not only hear, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” But also “Brother Saul! Welcome aboard.”
So God had to knock the props out from under Paul on the Damascus road, because that's part of what church ought to be doing. But he also saw to it that Paul was affirmed and accepted in the upper room by the church. And the church ought to be doing that too. Knocking the props out; changing our way of seeing, O yeah. And then coming in and loving, forgiving, dispensing grace. That's church at its best. I hold that model before us in worship this morning.
We don't need to be wasting time talking about how bad people are. They already know that. But we do need to do something about their blindness; the inability to see. Even our old church on Benefit Street, can benefit from trip over to Straight Street, and get a new way to see. God knows ... that even we can change. Paul did. Ananias did. Can you?
Prayer: Thank you Lord, for preparing those persons who not only love you but love us too. May this proud historical community of faith continue to be a house of meeting for those who share love and not hoard it. Because we’re aware that somewhere, someone is just as impoverished of that love as we are, just as broken and just as worthy. May we all find both your light and warmth in this worship today. Through Christ our Lord we pray. Amen. |
