2022.05.01 | Changemakers
“Changemakers”
Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring
Eden United Church of Christ
Hayward, California
Third Sunday after Easter 2022
May 1, 2022
Today’s scripture is interesting and important for various reasons.
Historically speaking, this story has always been significant in the Christian tradition, because it describes how the leading Christian apostle went from being an enemy of the gospel to being its champion.
The story is also significant because many Christians have found Paul’s conversion story similar to their own, in that their lives were headed full-speed in one direction until they were abruptly changed by a hardship or surprise that caused them to examine or reexamine their relationship with Christ. Evangelical and Pentecostal Christians often identify with this narrative of conversion.
The conversion of Paul is also interesting and important, because it tells the story of two apostles’ conversions: Paul and Ananias.
II
Let’s start with Paul’s conversion. Remember that his birth name was “Saul.” Who was he?
Saul was born and raised a Jew, he studied Torah starting as a youth, and grew up to become a Pharisee (a scholar and practitioner of Hebrew law). N.b., Saul’s identity was no predictor of his initial opposition to Jesus’ message and followers. That zeal may have come from a combination of loyalty to his faith tradition and frustration with foreign occupiers whose agenda contradicted the prophets and the Law.
Saul and his peers thought that if Jews would become more devout by adhering strictly to Hebrew Law, and more devoutly practiced their faith, then God would be pleased with them, the Roman occupiers would flee their land, and peace and prosperity would return to Israel.
So Saul went to the High Priest in Jerusalem and requested orders to take a posse to Damascus and demand that the synagogue leaders there identify followers of Christ and turn them over to him, so that he could take the heretics back to Jerusalem with him and so that orthodoxy would be restored in the faith.
Saul’s plans were embraced by the High Priest, but things didn't work out as he had envisioned. On the way to Damascus, Saul was tossed from his horse. He heard a voice from God challenging his plan. And, he was temporarily blinded and his companions were left speechless.
Through the trauma and the drama, the Holy Spirit spoke to Saul and guided him to Damascus where he was instructed to receive the ministry of a Gentile named Ananias.
Ananias was given a similar direction by God. He headed to Damascus and searched until he found Saul. Then he entered the house where Saul was staying, laid hands on him and healed him.
Neither Saul nor Ananias was content with the direction sthey were given, but they did as instructed, and as a result, Saul was baptized and renamed Paul, his sight was restored, and Ananias was healed from his fear and distrust of a former enemy.
III
My experience as a “Cradle Christian,” and maybe yours too, is different from Paul’s abrupt change. For example, I was fortunate to be born into a Christian family and raised in the faith. I don’t recall a time in my life when I didn’t know Christ, or have a basic understanding of his teachings and his mission.
Those experiences were formative for me as an individual and as a pastor, and they were formative for most of my peers as we were growing up. It wasn’t until I went to college and graduate school, and was able to study and travel more, that I came to understand and appreciate the vast array of spiritual narratives that can be found, even among Protestant Christians in the Western world.
No one’s path to becoming a Christian is superior to another’s. Both cradle Christians’ and Christian converts’ stories are valid, and so are the stories of people who have more questions than answers when it comes to their faith.
The point where problems arise within our Christian tradition and interfaith relationships is when an individual believer or faith group claims a position of superiority rather than magnanimity toward others. How do we position ourselves for magnanimity?
Here’s where I have been helped by Professor Mark Heim, an American Baptist theologian with whom I studied at Andover Newton back in the day. Dr. Heim did (and still does) promote a view of Christianity in which it is possible for believers to affirm that Christianity is the way for me, but it is not the only way, or necessarily the way for others. Dr. Heim’s view is helpful because it encourages us to hold fast to our faith without disrespecting the beliefs of others.
Now, more than ever, the world needs people of faith to show up with our strongly held faith values and work collaboratively with people of other faith traditions and persons of good will, and forge a better world together. I believe that is possible if we focus on identifying and affirming shared values rather than trying to hammer out a shared doctrine.
A contemporary example of the need for interfaith understanding and solidarity is the Anti-Defimation League’s recent publication of their 2021 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents documenting that the US experienced an all-time high of 2,717 antisemitic incidents the US compared to the past 45 years. That’s an average of more than seven (7) incidents per day, including assaults, harassment, and vandalism, and a 34% increase year over year.
For the world to be a better place, we as Christians must take responsibility for the ways that antisemitism has been fueled by some within our own ranks, and do our part to collaborate with Jews, Muslims, and other people of goodwill to counter it. How do we begin?
I suggest that we look to verses 11-20 for insight. This portion of the pericope describes what I call “the conversion of Ananias.”
Ananias was a follower of Christ who was terrified of Paul, because he persecuted believers. Ananias not only feared Paul, but he doubted that Paul could change, and maybe he doubted his own ability to change. Nevertheless, they both were converted by their encounters with the Holy Spirit and by their meeting in Damascus.
According to Acts, Ananias dared to trust the Holy Spirit. He took a leap of faith, and followed God’s call to seek out and find Saul where he was staying in Damascus, to lay hands on him and pray that he would be healed--and he was.
Luke writes in v. 18: “And immediately something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized…” He ate and drank and regained his strength. And for several days, he remained with the disciples in Damascus, and then he began proclaiming the gospel
IV
At each juncture, Paul and Ananias are taking risks, because change-- transformative change--is not possible without risk.
I wonder, what risks--what leaps of faith--are we willing to take in order to pursue God’s mission?
Can we risk pausing, rather than charging ahead?
Can we believe that change is possible, rather than accepting the status quo or throwing in the towel?
Can we listen for the Spirit and follow it, or are we only able to act when the odds are in our favor?
Most of all--can we enter the home of a “stranger” and risk praying with them--and for them--and remain open to the possibility that we might all be changed--or do we just hunker down in our own prayer closets praying for someone else to do all the changing while we try to stay the same?
Friends, believe the good news of the gospel: divine transformation is possible. We can be changed instantly or gradually. We can change how we see and relate to others, individually, or as a group. And, we can, with God’s help, become instruments of change that bring our own healing and the healing of the nations, and that’s very good news. Amen.