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July 22, 2007

July 23: Paul the Apostle

Acts 9:1-19

This month our focus on first impressions in the early church continues with Paul. When we first meet Paul, his name is Saul. Saul is in the crowd when a follower of Jesus, Stephen one of the new deacons, is stoned to death. We get our first introduction to how Saul feels about Jesus and the early church, when scripture tells us “Saul approved of the killing of Stephen”…

We pick up the story of Saul in today’s reading in Chapter 9. It opens with “meanwhile, STILL breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord…” Saul has been appointed by the high priest to find the followers of “The Way” as it was called back then and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial and execution. Who is this man?

Saul is an educated man. He is a Roman Citizen and a Jew who has been trained as a Pharisaic scribe. Pharisees were one of many different types of Jews of that time. Much like we have different types of Christians, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, that defines our understanding of our Christian faith, so the Jewish religion had (and still has)various offshoots of Judaism. For example, one group was the Zealots. Like the name implies, they were fanatical.

They moved out of Jerusalem into a “self-contained community” to get away from the Roman influence. The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in a desert area where the Zealots where known to live. They placed the Jewish scrolls in Jars to preserve them while they lived in the desert. Another Jewish sect was the Sadducees. The Sadducees made up the wealthy, traditional priestly families who controlled the temple in Jerusalem. The Sadducees were conciliatory to the Roman occupiers. They worked with Rome to help keep the peace and thus keep themselves in power.

The group that Saul belonged to, the Pharisees, insisted upon following the literal interpretation of the Torah, The Law as it is known to the Israelites. The Torah is included in our Bible in the first five books, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Pharisees were found in synagogues throughout the area. Their main purpose was to preserve traditional Judaism. So here is Saul persecuting this young upstart group of believers from “The Way.”

We note here that I’m not talking about Saul persecuting others from another religion. Jesus’ first followers were Jews. We are talking about Jews killing other Jews because they were blaspheming God. To blaspheme is to slander or speak evil against. In Saul’s mind the people of The Way were slandering God because of their belief in Jesus. Remember that Jesus was brought to Pilate for crucifixion because the priests and religious leaders said he was a blasphemer. Now Paul is citing the same reason for killing Jesus’ followers.

Saul’s is breathing murderous threats against the people of “the Way.” And on his way to Damascus, he encounters Jesus on the road. A bright light flashed around Saul and he fell to the ground.

Saul’s encounter with the Risen Christ, is similar to other times when God appeared to prophets, such as Moses, Ezekiel, and Daniel. As a scholar of the Jewish texts, Paul recognizes the light as a light from God. He falls to his knees and asks the voice, “Who are you, Lord?” And Jesus replies, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Notice Jesus takes the persecution of his followers personally when he says, “I am the one you are persecuting.” Saul is told to go into Damascus and wait for word from Jesus.

When he stands up and opens his eyes, Saul cannot see so his companions lead him into town. He fasts for three days. In the meantime, a follower of Jesus, Ananias gets a vision from Jesus. He is told to go find Saul and lay hands on him. This might be similar to a gang leader in your neighborhood all of a sudden getting God and you’ve been asked to go pray with him at his pad.
I don’t think I’d be so happy to be the one “chosen” for this assignment. Ananias has heard about this fellow Saul. He’s the one who has been persecuting his friends and believers of Jesus. Now he is being asked to seek this man out and give him a message from God.

So Ananias finds does what God has asked him to do. He finds Paul, lays hands on him and calls him “Brother.” He invokes the name of Jesus and Saul regains his sight and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul is baptized and then ends his fast.

The events of the conversion of Saul remind us of how far humanity has yet to come and how far God is willing to go to get our attention. We continue to make the same mistakes over and over again don’t we? Throughout the history of the Christian church there are trials and people have been persecuted because they did not follow the “company line.”

We don’t even have to discuss the persecution and misunderstanding of people from other religions. We only need to look at the history of our own Christianity. Back when the Catholic church and the Kings ruled Europe, the church dished out the majority of the punishment against people. And the punishments were severe. America was build on the basis of separation of church and state but we have our persecution too. I think of the Salem witch trials during the time of the puritans. That’s similar to what Paul and his crowd where doing to the people of the Way. There was a desire to control and purge what could not be controlled or understood.

This is the piece of organized religion that is distasteful, disturbing, and downright wrong. We’ve become too established and this is our downfall. We’ve become too hieracherial in structure—too top down and too slow to move. In the Christian church, the people at the far ends of the spectrum are the ones with the loudest voices. We shout at each other neglecting the people all around us. We’ve become so focused on our differences that we can’t see our similarities anymore. In fact, it doesn’t even seem as if we even want to.

It’s easier to demonize and persecute rather than sit down together and get to know each other. It’s easier to say, them/they instead of talking about us/we. Now I know you can’t talk with people who don’t want to talk, but who among us would want to be Ananias and go to the Paul in our midst and offer a sign of peace and Christian love. It’s easier to keep our distance and be afraid or indignant. I’ve heard it said that the average person doesn’t care about all the Christian infighting. And I believe that’s true.

In a sermon on Acts 11, Alice O’Donovan states, “The story of Acts, is a story of God on the move; birthing a church, constantly bending the rules, stretching the boundaries, widening the welcome.”

Maybe the story of Saul is a reminder to us that we’re focusing on the wrong thing. God came to Saul and reminded him that it was God’s story to tell and we are to get out there and tell it. It’s not necessary to defend God. God can take care of God’s self. Our job is to tell THE story and share with others how THE story has impacted OUR story.

Saul (who we will now call by his new name Paul) was integral to God’s plan for the early church and we see that in his ministry over the years. Paul suffered not the pains of child birth but the pain of persecution and emprisonment. The pain of separation from the communities he helped start and bring to life. It was while under house arrest that he wrote many of his letters that we have now.

Paul was constantly bending the Jewish rules so that Gentiles could be part of the new Christian community. God called Paul expressly for this purpose. God tells Ananais,”I have chosen him to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.

Paul’s ministry stretched the boundaries beyond Israel into Syria, Asia Minor, Galatia, Macedonia, Crete, Achia, and into Rome. Paul was like John Wesley, constantly on the move spreading the gospel to new people.

Paul’s ministry continued what Jesus started by widening the welcome to include women in the church—even in positions of leadership (that’s a preview to next week’s sermon).
Paul purposely spent time and got to know people to bring them to Christ. He considered no one beyond love of God.

Do we believe that our story is aligned with the early church? Or do we see ourselves as far away from those times and places? We’d do ourselves and our community a favor by adopting the way of the early church. Can our story, the story of this church be a story of God on the move; birthing a church, constantly bending the rules, stretching the boundaries, widening the welcome.”

Where do we see God on the move? I was at the Nothing But Nets prayer breakfast last Tuesday with people from our congregation. The NBA, the Measles Initiative, the National Socceer Association, and the UMC are working together to stop Malaria in Africa. In the people of this church that I’ve met over the last three weeks, I have experienced movement, hope, life, excitement.

God on the move, like the early church, is like giving birth. What would it be to think of giving birth to a church? Painful, difficult, long, scary. But in the end, worth it. The joy when you see the face of your child is worth whatever you had to go through to get there. God is birthing something here at IPUMC. It’s going to be painful and scary at times, remember that. But in the end, if it’s of God, it will be worth the pain and suffering.

God on the move, like the early church, is constantly bending the rules…rules that keep insiders in and outsiders out, rules that benefit a select few, rules that are old and outdated, rules that constrict the Spirit, rules that divide in order to conquer. This is a small thing but last week we had coffee in the sanctuary and we’re going to do it again this week.

God on the move, like the early church, is stretching the boundaries. What comes to mind when you think about stretching the boundaries? Inviting in people from the margins, going beyond a comfort zone, being pulled in different directions, going to places you hadn’t considered before…
The Irving Park Food Pantry started by a member of this church. We need to stretch our boundaries, not spend all of our energy on the building.
God on the move, like the early church, is widening the welcome…All means All. We don’t decide who is in and who is out. If someone wants to come seek God in this community of faith, we welcome them with all we’ve got. I am so proud to be the pastor of a church that made a decision to be open and inclusive long before it was fashionable, over 20 years ago now.

As we continue to be a church on the move, let’s be careful to ask ourselves whose story are we following…God’s grand plan where everyone has a place and a role or our narrow, limited, miniature version. Of the 27 books of the New Testament, scholars attribute 13 of the 27 to Paul (more or less). Paul has gotten a bad rap from scholars, theologians, and preachers over the years. His letters have been used to exclude women from leadership, to demonize people who get divorced, and to keep gay, bisexual, and transgendered people out of the Christian church and more.

When we get into the oh so human habit of persecuting others (and it need not be a physical persecution as we all well know), let us remember the words of Jesus. In Matthew chapter 25 just before Jesus comes to Jerusalem for the final time, he tells them the story of the great judgment. We know it as the sheep and the goats. The people are divided as if sheep and goats because of how they treated Jesus. And remember their response, “Lord when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you something to eat, thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?”

We know Jesus’ reply, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Brothers and sisters, let’s focus on getting this church building fixed up and presentable, but in the meantime let’s not forget that to be the church, to be God’s church is to be on the move; painfully and joyfully bending the rules, stretching the boundaries, w

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM