Most of the service HERE (the part with the sermon!).
Easter 3C
May 1, 2022
Acts 9:1-20
INTRODUCTION
Now in the third Sunday of Easter, today we encounter some call stories. And one of them should be of particular interest to us at St. Paul’s, because it is the call of St. Paul himself! Except here he is still called Saul (which is his Hebrew name). As you may know, Saul was not such a nice guy. In fact, he was actively trying to stop the followers of The Way (early Christians), “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,” as Acts will tell us. Today’s story shows us the dramatic way in which Saul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus, which led to him becoming a missionary, planting churches all over Asia and Europe, and writing much of the New Testament. Quite a turn!
In John, we will hear of Jesus’ fourth post-resurrection appearance. The disciples, not knowing what else do to, go back to what they have always known: fishing. But remember, God isn’t about doing the same ol’ thing, but rather, doing a new thing! So, Jesus meets them on the shore, and calls them into the mission to “tend and feed his sheep.” A significant detail in this story is the three questions Jesus will ask Peter around a charcoal fire – last time we heard about a charcoal fire, it was when Peter denied Jesus three times. Now, Jesus will ask Peter three times if he loves him, and this time Peter gets the answer right. But, he will come to find out, loving Jesus is not a passive activity, but an active one that serves the world.
These calls exist still for us today – especially for a congregation who calls itself “St. Paul’s Lutheran Church”! So, hear today’s call stories, as well as the other readings, as calls issued also to you, and to our congregation. How would you answer Jesus’ questions? Let’s listen.
[READ]
Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Have you ever had a Road to Damascus experience? A time when you were disoriented, knocked off course, and set in a direction you didn’t plan and could not have anticipated? A time when you relied on others to help get you there? A time when “something like scales fell from your eyes” and suddenly something was revealed and made sense to you in a way it hadn’t before?
Life is full of moments like these, right? Big or small, what would life be if we always kept our heads down and never changed course? Pretty dull, for one thing! If there is one thing we know about life, it is that it cannot be predicted with certainty, and so when those hinge experiences come our way, we are wise not only to notice them, but also to see God active in them!
I have wondered if we are in such a “road to Damascus” moment at St. Paul’s right now. Actually, churches and organizations all over the world are, as we reckon with what the post-pandemic world means for our way of life, our values, our traditions, our mission. Some things that have changed will not go back to how they were. Some people whom we were used to seeing each Sunday may never come back to the sanctuary, or maybe have cut ties with the church altogether… even as new people have come our way. As a result, our modes of operation and expectations have had to change, as people’s priorities and comfort levels have changed. Add to that the immense change St. Paul’s has dealt with in the past six years even apart from the pandemic – in six years, St. Paul’s has lost a longtime pastor, had two and a half tough years of transition time, and gotten a new (and very different) pastor. In fact, we’ve had a complete staff turnover! Many members have left, and many have joined. All this in just six years! In some ways, we’re a different place than we were 6 years ago!
The world has changed, and our congregation’s make-up has changed, and the needs around us have changed. So we cannot keep trotting along on our way to Damascus, expecting the journey and the destination to be just as it always has been. While in Saul’s story, the moment of change was quite immediate, for us that flashing light from heaven has been growing brighter over the years, finally knocking us down and saying, “St. Paul, St. Paul… it’s time for a change!” And that is disorienting. Like Saul, it can be difficult to see which way to go next.
I recently spoke with someone who moved to this area last year, who was telling me about the beloved congregation she left behind. I asked what she loved about it. “We knew who we were,” she said, “and what we stood for.” What a beautiful thing for a church! And it made me wonder: would our members say the same? Are we so certain of who we are, not 5 years ago but now, that we could all say, specifically, who we are, what we stand for, and what God might be aiming to do through us?
Well, this is a question we have been pondering as a council and as a congregation for the past year, as we’ve embarked on a process of writing our story, determining what drives our congregation’s culture, and assessing our particular assets. Some things we have discovered about ourselves include:
• We are generous with our resources, and eager to give from the bounty God has provided us, both as individuals and as a congregation.
• We value worship and music, and are willing to invest in it for the sake of giving people a meaningful connection with God each week.
• We value and appreciate our youth and children, finding joy in the pitter-patter of little feet, and desiring to lift up the gifts of our youth. We want children to feel that this place is their place, that this is a safe space for them.
• We crave authentic connection, with each other and beyond. We want a place to be accepted as we are, a place to belong, and we want for this place to be one of welcome and acceptance for those who come through our doors or join us online.
What do you think? Does that sound like us?
In some ways, it does. In other ways, it describes who we want to be, the best version of ourselves. But if we’re honest we sometimes struggle to fully live it out in a world and context that has changed so much in recent years. We have been traveling along the road to Damascus, but then been faced by flashing light after flashing light, and even being knocked to the ground at times (I’m looking at you, transition period of 2017-18, and at you, March 2020!). And though I don’t hear Jesus’ voice calling out to us asking why we are persecuting him (we’re not!), I do hear Jesus’ voice calling out to us, “Get up, and go into the city.” Keep heading toward your destination, that best version of yourself. But don’t go in the same old manner that you were. Do it with a greater intention, and with awareness of who is there to guide you. Be prepared that change might not happen right away (remember, Saul sat in darkness for three days). Know that God might use someone surprising to speak a word of grace, like Ananias did for Saul. And, be ready for a transformation to occur; be ready for some scales to fall from your eyes, as we step anew into God’s mission for us.
That transformation is what God is all about. God is doing a new thing, not the same ol’ thing! Disorienting and fearful as it can be, God uses the Road to Damascus to call us and prepare us for what is next.
Our council has been hard at work trying to discern what that transformation might look like, how it might come about. At our retreat last month, the council came up with five Mission Milestones, goals that will help us to live into the best version of ourselves. You have a copy of them in your bulletin and they are posted on the bulletin board outside the sanctuary. They are:
1) Implement a program to grow our children’s faith, service and values, to equip them for a life of faith.
We want our youth to see this as their home, a place where they are safe to be themselves and ask questions. We want to equip families to raise their kids in faith. We want the youth to know multiple adults in the congregation, and for the adults to know the youth.
2) Build deeper and more meaningful relationships within the congregation.
In the face of a changing congregation, we want to devote energy toward building friendship, and creating space for genuine connection, not just surface interactions. We want older and newer members both to feel a sense of belonging in this place.
3) Gain an understanding of the particular needs in our surrounding community to establish a more focused social ministry plan.
St. Paul’s has traditionally had its hands in numerous ministries. But the needs of the community, and the passions of our members, have changed. We hope to reach out to community leaders, and do some other education, to discover where the needs of the community, and our particular passions, intersect. And then, put our energy and focus there!
4) Increase awareness of the ministry of St. Paul’s.
Communication has changed! We want to harness everything at our disposal, including social media and real, face-to-face time in the community. How can we get the word out?
5) Understand the spiritual needs in our congregation, and develop a plan to meet them.
One thing we noticed in our conversations was that while people are committed to their faith, they aren’t always sure how to grow it. And, while I have a platform to talk about faith, there aren’t so many opportunities for you to talk about faith! What are your spiritual needs? What are your neighbor’s? We want to find out, so we can most effectively meet those needs.
Are they lofty goals? Perhaps. But then, it was pretty lofty of God to hand-select Saul, persecutor of Christians, to be “the instrument to bring God’s name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” And yet look, St. Paul became one of the most important missionaries of the Apostolic Age, planter of numerous churches and writer of most of the New Testament after the Gospels. When God does a new thing, God does not mess around!
I hope that you will take these mission milestones to heart, to own them, and engage with them, and help St. Paul’s to live into this best version of who we are. Perhaps you, too, will feel something like scales fall from your eyes, as you come to know Jesus in a deeper way through our ministry here. I included some space for notes in your bulletin insert; I invite you to offer your thoughts, ideas and suggestions and give them to me to share with the council as we move forward with this. And I’ll be hanging around coffee hour to talk about it if you like.
I believe that God uses those disorienting, scary times in life to set us upon God’s desired course, and that God is doing that even now. I am glad to be continuing down the road to Damascus with you, ready to see the new thing God is doing in us and through us.
Let us pray… Surprising God, sometimes we get knocked down and disoriented. Help us to find that even in these moments, you are there, guiding us down the path and to the people you have in mind for us. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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