Acts 9:1-20 “Amazing Grace”
Last Sunday afternoon, I had
the first of what I’ve been calling Re-Birthday Parties at my home. It was a wonderful time together. We shared in pairs and in a group about where
our church has been and what we value most about it. We also each made 3 wishes for our church in
the future.
I have been calling these
events Re-Birthday parties not because we had cake (which we did) or because we
made 3 wishes (which we did). I have
been calling these events Re-Birthday parties because rebirth is one of God’s biggest and most important truths.
Call rebirth what ever you
like. Sometimes it looks like a new
beginning, a fresh start. Sometimes it
looks like life out of death.
Resurrection can even come from unspeakable tragedy -- tragedy like we
have observed this week in
A promise
of God’s Amazing Grace. A promise for each of us, no matter where we
have been,
what we have done, or how we have suffered.
These new beginnings are the
work of the Risen Christ among us. We
Christians say “Christ is risen, Alleluia”
not because we’re living in a fantasy world. But because for Christians,
following the risen Christ changes the
reality of this world. Last
Tuesday at the Virginia Tech convocation in memory of the students and faculty
tragically killed this week, the Lutheran campus minister there, Rev. William
King, offered a Christian message of hope.
He said, “We gather together weeping, yes, we weep with an agony too
deep for words
and sighs that are inexpressible, but also we gather
affirming the sovereignty of life over
death. . . .
We come to this place to
testify that the light of love cannot be defeated.” Later that night, in a silent prayer vigil on
the campus, students stood in the light of thousands of candles and luminaries,
as the silence was broken only by the sound of trumpets
playing Taps, and some voices singing “Amazing Grace.” Again and again this week, voices of hope
spoke and prayed for new beginnings at Virginia Tech.
We add our prayers to theirs.
New beginnings are God’s hope and
promise for us too.
Today we are going to hear a
couple of stories of new beginnings brought about by God’s amazing grace.
One, of course, is a story
from the scriptures because the scriptures are the foundation for our worship
and ground our very lives here as a church.
We’ll explore together Saul’s dramatic conversion on the road to
The other story is from right
here in our congregation. We’ll begin
with Saul’s story --and it’s going to seem like a Bible teaching -- and then
Rod Dahl will tell you about his story -- his testimony. If you have your Bible with you, it’s time to
get it out. With nearly every story in the scriptures you can’t just take a
verse or even 20 verses out of context.
You have to read ahead and beyond this story to really understand Saul
or Paul,
which was his Roman name.
This is not the first time
Saul shows up in the Acts of the Apostles. He has already appeared in the last
verses of chapter 7 and the first few of ch. 8. And the scene where he shows up is an ugly
one. The elders and the scribes and the
Jewish council, under the authority of the chief priest, have just stoned
Stephen.
Standing by watching it all,
in fact, keeping an eye on their coats while they did it,
was a young man named Saul. Listen while
I read from Acts 7:58-8:1.
When we pick up Saul’s story
again in Acts 9, it sounds even uglier.
If you turn to that, verses 1 and 2 of chapter 9, it’s clear that Paul
is on a mission. And it is not a mission from God. He is out to get the people of the Way. Up until this point in Jewish history, the
way had always been associated with conformity to the law
of Moses. But this new way was the Way
of Jesus Christ. “See how they love one
another,” was what the pagans said about these people of the Way.
So Saul is going along his way, and suddenly he has an encounter
with the living Christ. Except at first,
he doesn’t know it. There’s a flashing
light from heaven. He falls to the
ground. He hears a voice.
He says “Lord,” not because
he knows who he’s talking to and what is going on. No, Saul is a devout Jew and he knows the
story of his people. He knows this light
and voice just might be God showing up, like with the prophets of old. He knows the stories. “Moses, Moses,” God calls from a burning
bush.
“Saul, Saul,” Jesus
calls. “Who are you?” they wonder. “I am who I am,” God replies to Moses. “I am Jesus,” the Lord replies to Saul. And then Jesus asks, “Saul why do you
persecute me?” For when you persecute the Body of Christ, you persecute Jesus himself.
But get up, Jesus says, and you will
be told what to do next.
And then quite literally, Saul is blinded by
the light. Blindness in the NT is nearly
always associated with lack of understanding.
Blinded he might be, but he is now beginning to understand what he had
only denied before:
God has made the crucified
Jesus alive as Christ and Lord.
There are 2 points to make
here about Saul’s story: Paul’s conversion, where he goes from
persecutor to prophet may seem dramatic, but it had been going on for
years. If you read just this story,
it’s all flashing lights and a voice.
But if we read through the entire book of Acts, we’ll see that Paul
tells this story again and again in Acts as he goes about his mission
throughout all the nations. If you turn
to Acts 22:3-16, he tells his story in the
The second point to
understand form this story is that Paul’s blindness only disappears when he is brought into the Christian community by
Ananias. In the chapters that follow, we
see his ministry being embraced by the other apostles. The
fact is that it is NOT possible to be a Christian by ourselves. By very definition, the Body of Christ
requires lots of different parts. To serve and follow Jesus is far too demanding for an individual. We must have a caring community that works
together, to build up and support the Body of Christ and its work in the world.
That’s Paul’s story. And now, you’re going to hear Rod Dahl’s
story. A different story, of course,
because it is his story. But still, his story shares some features with
Paul: Conversion can be going on for
years before we connect the events together.
And being a follower of Jesus Christ is not a job for a lone-ranger --
it takes a community.