Wanted: Another Road to Damascus - Yellowknife United Church

Wanted: Another Road to Damascus
Third Sunday of Easter – Year C
April 18, 2010

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O God, our strength and power. Amen.

The tale of Saul's blinding revelation on the outskirts of Damascus is one of the iconic stories of the scriptural record. It's a gripping story for many reasons. A zealous antagonist turns into an equally zealous protagonist – using the same skills and penchants that he once employed to persecute the followers of the Way to become one of the most well known workers in telling about and attracting people to the Way. It's a literally blinding incident – we are told that he was struck blind for a period of three days by the light of the revelation – and of course that number three – recalling the number of days between death and resurrection, the number of times that Peter denied Jesus, the number of crosses on the hill of Golgotha – such an important number in so many ways. There's even more – a name change – an event that is so striking for followers of the Hebrew faith who placed so much emphasis on naming as a way of knowing. Saul experiences a life-changing vision – which takes away his vision, but only redirects his passion in a 180 degree turnabout mind-you, and he changes his name as a result of what happened.

It's not surprising that the apostles, the closest friends of Jesus, were a bit skeptical of this turnabout. After all they had been busy working at damage control from the work of this anti-Way activist and now he suddenly is on their side. It has all the makings of a first-century spy novel – with secret meetings and characters that suddenly switch sides. One can understand how the apostles might have feared that this Saul – working under a possible pseudonym might be an infiltrator. After all he had been working against them. Why wouldn't he try some nasty tricks to learn more about them, so he could more effectively go about exposing them and their passion for the message of Jesus.

Well, as I said, it's one of the iconic stories of the scriptural record, still cited today in any number of ways as an example of a life changing event. Of course it is also a story which serves to explain just how compelling this new way of faith was for the early followers of the Way. As we read and hear the story we are left with this insight: This message is so clear and so inviting that it can change the heart and mind of even its most zealous detractors.

Another thing that happens when we hear the story of the Damascus road conversion of Saul/Paul is that it invites us to consider our own transformations. When we talk about the mission of the church the word transformation is often part of the conversation. How many mission statements and vision statements within the wider church community have the word transformation included? Certainly a number that I know of.

When we talk about transformation there are at least two questions that come to mind. One revolves around the need for transformation. We would not desire transformation if we did not feel there was a need for it. Do we sense a need for transformation in our lives? Is that part of why we are here? Certainly the early followers of The Way must have discovered a need for transformation otherwise they would not have been attracted to join the movement – which presented a certain amount of personal risk – from people like Saul who were actively working to expose, ridicule and even endanger their lives. Is it the same for us a couple of thousand years later? Is there a need for transformation and if so, is it something we are celebrating as having happened, or are we on our own journeys of transformation. Is transformation something that happens in a blinding flash-bang similar to the one that happened for Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus or other ways? The answer I have always given when asked the question is a clear maybe. Yes, it can happen that way, but it can also happen over time – little by little and never done. Paul's conversion to become a follower rather than a persecutor of The Way was something that happened suddenly, but we only need to read his letters to understand that transformation was also something that happened gradually for him. It may have taken a blinding insight to get it started, but it continued for him in much less dramatic, but equally profound ways.

So the first question is about the need for transformation. The second question is this: transformation from what to what? What was the key thing that worked on Saul so that his mind was changed? What happened that something he saw as bad enough to work against was suddenly changed to something that was really important and good?

These are the questions that constantly confront us as a community of faith. They help us to in certain ways define who we are as a a church. They are questions that both speak to us personally, but also collectively. They also invite us to consider not just the way forward, but also where we've been. What transformations have already happened for us? Have we changed our thinking on things? Did those changes happen because of our connection with this faith community? Did they happen because of our association with the church or were we attracted to the church because we experienced some kind of transformation and were therefore drawn to become a part of a community which talks about transformation.

For me, preparation for worship is an exercise in being open to the spirit. The ways in which the spirit is revealed are many and varied. Of course they include reflection on the scripture passages chosen for each week in the Christian year, and world events – whether they be local, global or even universal in nature. I think it was the theologian Karl Barth who said that the preacher must work with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other and that certainly has informed the way in which I go about my responsibilities and calling to be someone who engages in theological reflection. There are also other ways in which the spirit breaks through. The spirit may be revealed as a result of chance encounters, curious incidents, reflective insights and amazing connections, but also in more carefully planned events and exercises. This week I was spirited by the bulletin cover reminding us that this coming week includes Earth Day.

And in fact it was this connection that really spoke to me as I considered that question of transformation and especially the question of transformation from what to what. There is probably no greater need for transformation in today's world than the one which calls for us to reconsider our relationship with the earth. United Church Moderator Mardi Tindal in a January letter to Canadians lamented the failure of the UN Summit in Copenhagen to come up with an agreement that would be effective. It seems to me that we still have not grasped as humanity the fact that we are all in this together. Our home is being threatened from within – the people living in one room are chipping away at the foundation without regard for the fact that when the house falls down, we are all going to be in it. Despite the huge preponderance of information that says that the climate is changing as a result of human activity, there are many people spending inordinate amounts of energy and valuable time trying to dig up contrary opinions. We seem to forget the assertion, despite its use of a violent metaphor, that someone (I could not find the reference) said when seeing the now famous photo of planet earth taken from the surface of the moon, that every war is a civil war. The point of course is that we do share this increasingly smaller planet and it is our responsibility to care for it. What I don't understand is this – that our wasteful ways – regardless of whether they are contributing to a change in climate or not, are simply wrong and selfish. God has given us this place as our home for a while, but it is also the home of the generations of people who will follow us, to say nothing of all the other forms of life that share this space with us.

Not that it was the road that created the conditions for transformation for Saul, but we could sorely use something like it: whatever it takes to make it possible for transformation to occur – individually for us, and among the people with power and influence in world leadership circles, transformation that will change attitudes about the gift we've been given – the gift of life and a place that sustains life – this ecosystem called Planet Earth.

That's one of the places for transformation I see us being called to in our time. May it be so. Amen.