St. Paul

 

The Conversion of St. Paul

Acts 26:9-21

Each January 25^th the Anglican Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Conversion of St. Paul.  In the rules laid out for such observances, it gets moved to another day if it falls on a Sunday… except for parishes named after this great saint, as we are.  Using its appointed lessons and Collect of the Day, St. Paul’s parishes have the option to celebrate the Conversion today rather than the appointed Third Sunday after Epiphany.  This year we opted to do this, however the weather has intervened to keep us from being together in person.  No matter, we are taking advantage of the world wide web to congregate as one in celebration of our parish’s patron saint.  I thought it might be helpful to use this occasion to take a deep dive into Paul’s life-story, about which we know some things, but not nearly enough to write a full-length biography.

Paul is born in the city of Tarsus, located in present day Turkey not far from where the southern facing coastline of the Mediterranean makes a pronounced turn to face in a westerly direction.  The city has been in existence for some 6,000 years, founded by the Hittites who named it after a god of storms.  Its weather tends to be hot and humid in the summer, chilly and damp in the winter.

In Paul’s day Tarsus is a commerce and agricultural center with a storied history of academics, boasting a library of 200,000 books.  At the time the city is adorned with palaces, marketplaces, roads, bridges, fountains, baths, waterworks, a gymnasium, and a stadium, but no Starbucks as best we know.  It is here Mark Antony and Cleopatra first meet.

Born into a well-to-do Jewish family, Paul’s parents also are Roman citizens.  Eight days after his birth, he is circumcised and given the name Saul.  This becomes his given name; Paul is the Roman equivalent which he uses in the Gentile world.  We do not know how long he lives in Tarsus or to what degree it influences his early life.  We do know as a youth he relocates to Jerusalem to study under the learned Rabbi Gamaliel.  It is unclear if his entire family moves to the Holy City, or if he is sent alone to what we might think of as a boarding school.  It is here he is trained to be a Pharisee, and he would later testify it is here he is “taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous before God.” ^{Acts 22:3}   He becomes the modern-day equivalent of the Valedictorian of an Ivy League school.  True to the rabbinic tradition he learns a trade, opting for the craft of tent-making.    

Gamaliel is a celebrated religious figure whose expertise in the Jewish Law, especially in directives relating to marriage, is unparalleled in his time.  He is a member of the Sanhedrin and most probably is present when Jesus is put on trial before this body, although we have record to confirm this. We do know he is present some months later at a gathering after several of the Apostles are imprisoned for publically preaching and healing in Jesus’ name.  While some officials want to see them executed, Gamaliel cites the examples of two previous charismatic leaders who also were executed, after which their followers eventually dispersed.  “If this is not of God,” he states to the body, “It will go away.  If it is of God, nothing we do will be able to stop it.” ^{(See Acts 5)}

This tone of measured leniency is not shared by his young protégée.  Paul is present at and consents to the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, which takes place some two years after Jesus’ crucifixion.  Now in his mid-twenties, he begins an aggressive, ruthless campaign to hunt down Christians, overseeing to their incarceration and severe punishment.  Receiving a letter of permission from the High Priest, he begins a door-to-door fanatical crusade in Jerusalem but soon widens his efforts.  This is what finds him travelling to the city of Damascus, which lies some 134 miles to the north.

Somewhere along this road an intense light envelops him and he falls to the ground.  (As a sidenote, renown artists throughout history have depicted Paul and his companions riding on horseback, his stead being white.  They portray the light sending these huge beasts into a spoked frenzy causing Paul to be thrown from his mount.  There is, however, no mention of horses in the biblical account to verify this minor detail.)  Jesus appears to Paul in the midst of this light, and speaks to him, calling him by name.  Paul loses his sight at the end of the encounter and is taken to a house in Damacus where, blinded, he prays and fasts for three days. 

The Spirit calls a devout Christian man of the city, Ananias, to visit Saul.  Once there, Ananias relates what the Lord has told him – Paul is to be God’s chosen instrument to proclaim the name of Jesus to Gentiles, kings, and the people of Israel.  Ananias lays his hands on Paul and prays over him, causing something like scales fall from his eyes, restoring his sight.  He is baptized and introduced to the local Christian community.  Soon thereafter he begins to preach.  It is then the persecutor becomes the persecuted and word reaches Paul he has enemies who have hatched a plan to kill him, locking the city gates to assure he cannot escape.  Under the cover of darkness his new friends lower him in a basket from the city wall so he can slip away.

From this moment forward Paul preaches in the name of Jesus with far greater zeal than he campaigned against him before.  During the next 25+ years he visits the saints in Jerusalem, travels the Northeast Mediterranean region, founds numerous churches, and becomes the first person to take the gospel into present-day Europe.  Unlike the other Apostles, many of whom are simple fisherman by trade, Paul’s upbringing and training make him uniquely qualified to proclaim the gospel to the wider world.  Throughout it all he utilizes his skill as a tentmaker to procure the finances necessary to fund his endeavors.

Paul’s ministry is filled with ups and downs, highs and lows.  He knows preaching successes and utter failures.  Some of the churches he founds flourish, others are rift with squabbles and dissension.  He personally endures much, writing this to the church in Corinth of experiences… 

I have been in prison frequently, been flogged severely, and been exposed to death again and again.  Five times I received forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods, once pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move.  I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.  I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and often have gone without food; I have been cold and naked.  Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all my churches.  ^{2 Cor. 11:23-28}

Eventually Paul is arrested and put through a series of trials.  When, in his defense, he reveals he is a Roman citizen, he is granted an audience before the Emperor.  This legal process affords him the opportunity to preach the gospel to the highest levels of government and authority, eventually appearing before Nero.  Tradition holds the Emperor orders him to be execution by beheading in Rome at a date sometime around 65 AD.  It is said to be a more humane means of death than crucifixion, which Peter endures not long after.

St. Paul is arguably the most significant missionary in the history of the Church.  No one has had more influence on our understanding of the Christian faith, other than Jesus himself.  With the advent of the printing press, Paul’s writings contained in Holy Scripture become readily available and his teaching salvation is achieved by grace through faith alone fuels the Reformation movement of the 16^th Century, relieving the faithful of numerous abuses prevalent in throughout the Church at the time.  Paul’s theology, pastoral words, and overall witness continue to be used by God’s Spirit to draw people into the faith as well as to guide, comfort and encourage those of us who have embraced the call of discipleship.  No doubt his influence will endure and this day will be celebrated until the day our Lord returns to claim us all.

You are an Evangelist

 

John 1:29-42

Epiphany 2 / Year A

Andrew found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah”.  Then he brought Simon to Jesus.

Today, on the occasion of Annual Meeting, finds me reminiscing back to my early years at the first church is served as a rector.  They wanted to get new members but didn’t know how.  So, at their Annual Meeting, I announced my fool-proof, completely tested, absolute cannot fail plan to double church attendance in less than a month.  Everyone sat of the edge of their hard metal folding chair as I milked the moment for all it was worth.  Then I said, “My plan for doubling attendance is for each one of you... to… invite a friend to come to church with you.”  Crickets chirped!

The second church I served as rector also wanted to add more people.  I didn’t have to throw out my plan, the Vestry came up with it all on its own.  “Why don’t we have a ‘Bring a Friend to Church’ Sunday?” they said.  Committees were formed: promotion, after church celebration, decorations, info gathering, and follow-up.  Enthusiasm was through the roof.  But guess what happened when the big day finally arrived.  Bring a Friend to Church Sunday was one of the lowest attended services of the year.  Yes, three people brought a friend, but most of the other folks – the ones who did not have anyone to accompany them – opted to avoid the embarrassment of showing up without a guest.

Evangelism and Episcopalian begin with the same letter, but that seems to be about all we have in common.  Our DNA goes back in this country to the Established Church, in England to the parish system.  Basically, you were a member of a church because you lived within its geographic boundaries and you failed to attend services at your own peril.  No staying home because the sermons are too long, no skipping out because the kids have a travel jousting tournament to attend, and no Joel Olsten to watch on the TV.  Well, I don’t have to tell you those days are long gone.  In its place, it is up to us to ‘share our faith’ and, like Andrew, to ‘invite’ people to come to our parish.

This morning, in Lectionary-based churches across the country, sermons are honing in on the theme of evangelism because John had the temerity to testify publically (“Behold, that dude over there is the Lamb of God”), Jesus had the gumption to invite two religious hippies to hang out with him, and one of them got his brother to tag along.  So, evangelism is the word of the day, whether we, as Episcopalians, are comfortable with it or not.

Here is something you may find helpful.  Hannah Rau, a Michigan-based writer, has identified six styles of evangelism.  Listen closely and determine which make you uncomfortable and which are right up your alley.  Heck, you actually already may be an evangelist and don’t even know it:

·       Direct Evangelism: This approach happens when one person speaks to a crowd of people he/she may not know personally.  Think of the Billy Graham Crusades of old. 

·       Apologetical Evangelism: This involves the use of logical arguments to demonstrate the validity of the Christian faith.  It focuses on intellectual persuasion more than, say, emotional fervor.  As a young person I was exposed to Josh McDowell’s Evidence Which Demands a Verdict and Jim Morrison’s Who Moved the Stone?, influential books at the time which made a rational case for belief in God and the Resurrection.

·       Testimonial Evangelism:  Here the focus is on telling your personal story to another person or group.  One person’s story may relate a dramatic and life-changing conversion.  Another’s may lack a wow factor, and simply tell a tale of growing up in a church.

·       Relational Evangelism:  This involves living a Christ-like life among the people you know.  The quality and authenticity of your life witness to your faith to all who know you.

·       Invitational Evangelism:  Like my fool-proof plan, this involves inviting people to join you at a church event.  This happens when a family moves into your neighborhood and you tell them about St. Paul’s, when you invite someone to participate in the Women’s Bible Study, or when ask a friend to accompany you to one of Thom’s organ recitals. 

·       Service Evangelism:  Here your actions and deeds speak more than words.  Through caring and sharing you manifest Christ’s compassion for all people.

·       And, one final form Rau does not list… Hospitality Evangelism:  This form emphasizes radical openness to all people and welcoming everyone with warmth and care.  Its goal is to have the people who come to the parish feel “at home.”

Direct Evangelism, Apologetical Evangelism, Testimonial Evangelism, Relational Evangelism, Invitational Evangelism, Service Evangelism, Hospitality Evangelism.  Do you see yourself in any of these?  The goal of evangelism is not to make you feel uncomfortable or inadequate.  It is to call you to live out the Christian faith in ways in keeping with who you are. 

This is not to say you will never have to step outside your comfort zone.  In truth, while you may lean heavily on one style – say hospitality – there will be times when you need to employ another – say testimonial –so other people can understand the faith that makes you tick.  Still, all these styles of evangelism suggest you already are sharing your faith effectively in more ways than you know or imagine. 

So, with great enthusiasm, I want you to repeat after me this testimony, or I will drag out this sermon well past when breakfast is ready to be served: I… (state your name)… am… an… evangelist.

Launching Forth

 

Mathew 3:13-17

Epiphany 1 / Year A

Recent studies reveal these are the top five career choices today’s kindergarteners dream of having when they grow up: Astronaut, Teacher, Doctor, Firefighter, and Veterinarian.  I am pleased to learn this because it suggests small children still dream big dreams – exploring outer space – and want to help other people or creatures.  I am very pleased to find nowhere on this list software developer, hedge fund manager, or (worst of all) social media influencer.

There is no record to indicate what five-year-old Jesus dreamed of doing with his life.  We can only speculate how much his parents shared with him about the details of his birth.  Did they remind him constantly that he was going to be a king and savior or did they keep this angelic message private – after all, how do you enforce a bedtime with a child who constantly reminds you one day he is going to be the ruler of all creation? 

Not only do we have scant information about what Jesus was told, we know little of what he sensed about himself.  Other than staying behind in the Temple as a 12-year-old and amazing the teachers there with his knowledge, we don’t know if he was good at sports, preferred reading over math, liked to draw, or played a musical instrument.  He must have had something stirring deep within which he struggled to understand; just as we all have to walk a mysterious (and sometimes torturous) path through adolescence to figure out what we enjoy, what we are good at, what we value, what we believe… essentially discovering who we are and then discerning what we want to do with our life.

Given he was God’s only begotten Son, Jesus had one more layer of identity to sort through... his divinity.  From what we know, Jesus works at least fifteen years as a carpenter or perhaps a stone mason; today we would say he was in construction.  He is educated, can read, is fluent in the Hebrew Scriptures, is well-known and positively regarded throughout the small community in which he is raised.  He is the oldest of at least five siblings.  It is fair to say it takes him three decades to discover his true calling, his mission, his purpose.

Theologians ponder this process using the term “God Consciousness.”  This notion explores a basic question: How does Jesus come to know who he is and when does it crystalize for him?  While there is much scholarly debate about this, one thing is clear: When he rises from the baptismal waters of the Jordon River it all falls into place.  This moment thrusts him into his life’s call. 

We preachers throw around the word ‘calling’ a lot.  I’d wager it makes its way into a sermon on average once a month.  You may be interested to know if by calling, we mean a clear, direct, unmistakable instruction from God, only about a hundred or so people in the entire bible are commissioned in this way.  Moses, Jeremiah, Amos, and Paul might be the most prominent examples.  For most people, then and now, a ‘calling’ comes about in ways significantly less dramatic and much more banal.   

Reflecting on my own journey, I don’t ever remember having a specific vocational dream as a child.  If you had asked kindergarten Keith what he wanted to grow up to be the answer would have been a question mark.  As a middle schooler who admired my youth pastor, I began to see myself as an ordained minister.  I enrolled in college as a religion major and became deeply involved as a leader in Youth Life, an outreach ministry to highschoolers.  By the time I graduated, however, I was not so sure about pursing ordination and had no real sense of what I wanted to do in life. 

I guess I would say God was not done with me yet.  I found myself attending an Episcopal Church, working part-time on the staff as a lay person, and falling in love with the Anglican tradition.  After a year, the rector told me I needed to go to seminary and figure out what God was calling me to do.  And so I went.  At some point in my final year, the chaplain at the school said to me, “Keith, it is easy for God to get people like me and you into the priesthood because we don’t have any other options!”  I realized he said this not because I didn’t have the aptitude to do anything else, rather it was the only thing I had a heart for.  This is the first time I remember truly being ‘called.’ 

Little in my story is wonderous.  God never spoke directly to me.  It came through the example of one person, the encouragement of another, and the affirmation of still another.

Most of us here this morning are near to completing our life’s work or have retried from it.  But, I wonder, if like me, you can discern in the pattern of Jesus’ journey how your own mirrors it.  Early on you had an inkling or two.  At some point, perhaps over time or maybe at a specific moment, it all came into focus.  Once launched, you went through something like Jesus did when, after his baptism, he entered the wilderness to be tempted; a period early on when your training and skill was tested and honed by the reality of the real world.  From this experience you went forth fully prepared to make your mark.  Yes, there might have been some ups and downs – there certainly were for Jesus – but for the bulk of living into your calling you accomplished much which contributed in some way to the common good.  Then, in certain aspects, your retirement was a kind of Golgotha, a death.  And yet on the other side you experienced resurrection; a rebirth into a new life with new opportunities and new purposes. 

If I was a college chaplain preaching to a congregation of students, this sermon would focus more keenly on the moment of baptism, the moment of launching forth.  But most of us here this morning are well past that time.  So, I encourage you to think about resurrection, about what comes next after you wrap up your life’s main calling.  Have you experienced rebirth?  Have you found or fallen into what comes next?  I hope so, but if not, I encourage you to go back to your kindergarten dreaming self.  What inking do you have?  What stirs within you?  You may be done with your life’s work, but you are far from used up!  God has a new dream for you.  Can you see it?  Have you embraced it?  It is where life in all its fulness waits for you.

A Vulnerable Child

 

Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

Christmas 2 / Year A

Recent survey results detail parent’s concerns about the health of their children, ages 1-18.  69% believe the overall physical health of this age group is getting worse.  An alarming 83% believe their mental health is in decline.  Here are their top ten concerns: 

·       Social media

·       Too much screen time

·       Internet safety

·       Unhealthy diet

·       Mental health

·       Cost of healthcare/insurance

·       Obesity

·       Smoking / vaping

·       Bullying

·       School Violence

Over half of all respondents cited these as worries.  Other factors parents regard as contributing to decline include lack of physical activity, guns, abductions/sex trafficking, poverty, child abuse/neglect, teen pregnancy, discrimination, and the poor quality of food, air, and water.  It is a sobering list to be sure. 

I suspect if you survey any country in our world today or any culture of any era of time, the results will reveal at least one consistent, common thing: Parenting and anxiety go hand in hand.  Fear for the survival of our offspring is forged into our evolutionary DNA.  We of the Christian faith also hold it is part of our spiritual heritage because we are created in the image of God, who, as Jesus teaches, is like a parent who frets for his prodigal child.

From this morning’s gospel reading we learn Joseph and Mary share our parenting anxieties.  We learn reports from shepherds of angelic songs and the adoration of eastern magi do not shield the infant Jesus from the threat of harm.  If anything, the child’s identity as the King of the Jews exposes him to a danger most parents do not have to consider (Thankfully, in 2026 America, political execution is not a top parental worry). 

I spent some time this week pondering why God’s Son became incarnate so vulnerably at a place and in a time putting him at so much risk.  My mediating led me in two directions.

The first, which the beginning of my sermon hints at, is this: Children are always at risk.  There is no time and no place when and where it is not so.  Yes, some times are more perilous than others… accidents more prevalent, physical threats more intense, medical crises more common or less treatable, and societal pressures more insidious… but never has there existed (nor will there ever be) a time when a child can be born into and raised up in an impenetrable, protective bubble.  Like every child, the infant Jesus was at risk.  Like all parents, Joseph and Mary were anxious.

This is one direction I contemplated.  Here is the other: The Word of God became flesh at a vulnerable time and place because the word of God, as it goes forth, is always vulnerable.  It is always open to misinterpretation.  It is always open to corruption.  It is always open to abuse.  You don’t need to be a student of history to know the teachings of Jesus, and the bible as a whole, have brought great wisdom and insight into the world.  Nor do you need to be a historian to know much evil has been done in the name of Christianity.  God’s word is vulnerable.

One way we see this vulnerability being exploited is through a movement in our country identified as “Christian Nationalism.”  In an article in Christianity Today, Georgetown professor Paul D. Miller makes some helpful insights and distinctions:

·       Patriotism is about love of country.

·       Nationalism is an argument about how to define a country.  It begins with the belief nations should be organized around a specific group who has in common such shared traits as language, religion, ethnicity, and culture.  It seeks to determine who is in and who is out based on certain criteria.  And it asserts the job of the government is to impose these standards to promote and protect the nation’s cultural identity.  History suggests nationalistic governments tend to become authoritarian and oppressive.

·       Christian Nationalism “is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way.”  It is not to be confused with Patriotism because you can love our country without being a Nationalist or a Christian, just as you can be a follower of Christ and Christ’s teaching without asserting the United States is (or should be) a Christian nation.

The website Contemporary Anabaptist is one of many critics of Christian Nationalism.  Here is a summary of how it believes this political ideology differs from historical, orthodox Christianity:

·       It focuses on power over spiritual integrity.

·       It advocates exclusionary practices whereas Jesus taught and exhibited radical inclusion.

·       It perverts love of Nation into idolatry.

·       It misrepresents some of Jesus’ teachings while completely ignoring others.

So, after all my musings about today’s reading, let me say two things.  First, I understand every parent’s felt need to be vigilant in their duty of protecting their children.  Are you more anxious about this than you need to be?  I hope you come away from this sermon pondering this.  Second, I also hope you will leave here more aware of how vulnerable God’s will and word is in our world today.  I hope you will contemplate how you can live more faithfully into its calling and discern ways to resist, undermine, and protest its abuse.