Acts of the Apostles for 3rd Sunday of Easter, 5 May 2019

Acts 9:1-20        Saul,  still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the  Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God.”

Reflection       Several “I found God… or God found me” cards could be written from this scripture in the Acts of the Apostles.  Saul might write, “I was going about state business, on my way to Damascus to round up annoying subversives who are following the Way of that agitator Jesus when out of nowhere the most bizarre thing happened. It was like a flash of light, it blinded me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" When I asked, "Who are you, Lord?”I heard, ”I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” My life has never been the same.” 

Then we turn over Ananais’ God card and read, “God called to me in a vision and I answered, “Here I am,” then God instructed me to go to that evil-doer Saul of Tarsus who has been beating and binding, even killing good people who follow The Way of Jesus. It was really hard for me to go. I was afraid and did not want to have anything to do with that tyrant, but, I decided to put my faith in God and felt surprisingly strengthened and encouraged, so I went, laid my hands on Saul, who had been struck blind. His sight was restored and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Amazing. I never would have imagined that evil Saul would turn away from murdering our people and receive baptism into the family of God.” 

Saul starts out as a faithless man whose actions are taking him further and further away from God, ”breathing threats and murder against the followers of The Way.”  And so God dramatically breaks into Saul’s rabid consciousness by striking him down, overwhelming him and rendering him helpless, like lightening striking a tall pine tree.

By contrast, Ananais, a disciple of Jesus whose actions draw him ever closer to God,  has a vision, a quiet, interior experience in which he is called by God. Ananias hears his name and responds, “Here I am Lord” and proceeds, not without trepidation, to act in accord with God’s instruction. With Ananias the Spirit of God enters his consciousness gently, like a droplet of water dropped falling onto a sponge.

St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus whose Spiritual Exercises are the heart of Jesuit spirituality, encourages us to find God in all things and  teaches the discernment of spirits to help us understand the way the Spirit of God moves within us. For a person who is moving further and further away from God, the  Good Spirt of God breaks in either by stingng our conscience with pangs of guilt and waves of anxiety or dramatically upsetting our consciousness. The latter is what happens with Saul who has been going from bad to worse, persecuting God and followers of God. 

For people like Ananias who earnestly seek to be in right relationship with God and other people, the Spirit of God operates in the opposite fashion; by subtly giving insight, courage, strength to act on behalf of God for the good of others.  

Back to our story. As soon as Saul stops “breathing threats and murder” against God, the Spirit of God proceeds more gently through Ananais’ healing touch, restoring Saul’s sight and then baptizing him. Saul  is filled with the Holy Spirit. Once Saul turns toward God, he experiences God’s presence more like water dropped onto a sponge than lightening striking a tree.  

Most of us, most of the time, are oriented toward God, which means, the Spirit of God will arise in our consciousness in subtle, nuanced ways. Only rarely do we experience lightening bolts, unless of course, we are not paying attention or we are wandering away from God. 

How have you experienced the Spirit of God moving in your life? Gently? Overwhelmingly? 

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Text from the Acts of the Apostles 29 January 2017

Acts 26:9-21 Paul said to King Agrippa, "Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.

"With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, `Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.' I asked, `Who are you, Lord?' The Lord answered, `I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles-- to whom I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

"After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me."

Reflection     When I hear the story of Saul’s conversion I believe the Spirit of God must have been working overtime within Saul to transform his consciousness until for some incomprehensible reason he reached the tipping point, the asymptote, and the tumblers of the lock fell open as did the eyes of his heart.

Because I believe the Spirit of God is with all people at all times, I believe that even in the midst of Saul’s murderous campaign the Spirit of God must have been winding him up, must have been goading and prodding and stirring him to wonder, “What is it with these Jesus people? Why are they willing to die rather than renounce their dead and disappeared leader? Why do they risk their lives to get together to remember him and tell his stories? Why do they share everything they have? How is it they are so peaceful even when we terrorize, entrap and kill them? What is it about this Jesus that has such a hold on them?”

Here is the thing. Saul did not become someone else that day on the road to Damascus. The clue is in the voice Saul hears speaking in the language of his true self saying, ”Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.” Saul’s inherent trues self, the Spirit of God with him, was goading him, pricking him, encouraging him to pay attention to what he saw and heard and felt in the presence of the disciples. The Spirit of God with Saul was goading him to stop denying his true self by persecuting the followers of Jesus. 

The irony is,  Saul’s inherent capacity for conviction, passion and action, the qualities that made him an exemplary Roman soldier are the same qualities that when channeled through a different understanding of reality made him one of the most effective early apostles spreading Jesus’ message of peace and dignity for all people throughout Asia Minor and Europe.  By channeling the same conviction, passion and action that sought to exterminate the Jesus movement through a different understanding of reality, Saul forever transformed the human experience, founding the first churches and writing letters we still read to counsel and encourage Jesus’ revolutionary first century peace and justice movement.

As we wake up at the dawning of the twenty-first century and realize there are more than a few versions of reality, can we feel the Spirit of God winding us up, goading and prodding, provoking and inciting tears, fears, anger and exasperation? Can we hear the Spirit of God calling us by name, “Debra, Jon, Linda, George, Carol, Frank, Henry, Morgan, (fill in your name), why are you persecuting me? Why are you hurting yourself by refusing to acknowledge my goading and prodding to stand on your feet and embody the version of reality that claims all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social or financial status, political or religious affiliation or lack thereof, all people are welcome and deserve dignity and justice?"  

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Christian Testament Text for Sunday 10 April 2016

Acts 9:1-20

Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." He answered, "Here I am, Lord." The Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God.”

Reflection         I have no idea if Pope Francis ever had a road to Damascus experience. But I believe on Friday morning the Roman Catholic Church was knocked off its proverbial horse when the Vatican released Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation — “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love” in which he “urges church leaders to serve as nurturing pastors, not as rigid enforcers of doctrine.” In a game changing proclamation the bishop of Rome called for the Roman Church “to be more welcoming and less judgmental, and he seemingly signaled a pastoral path for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive holy communion.” Francis does not stop there. He “calls for priests to welcome single parents, gay people and unmarried straight couples who are living together.” Even though he maintained the singularity of heterosexual marriage, the bishop of Rome writes, “A pastor cannot feel that it is enough to simply apply moral laws to those living in ‘irregular’ situations, as if they were stones to throw at people’s lives.” He continues, “I understand those who prefer a more rigorous pastoral care which leaves no room for confusion.” (Read - there are those who want the black and white certainly of unbending rules and regulations) “But, I sincerely believe that Jesus wants a Church attentive to the goodness which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness… We have been called to form consciences, not to replace them..”*

Which brings us to an earlier world changing moment. “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” For the rigorist Saul there is no room for confusion. If you dare to break or even question the religious or political status quo, you are to be apprehended and exported.  That is, until something inexplicable happens. The lights go on and Saul hears the Lord ask him, “Why do you persecute me?” Could this have been the birth of Saul’s inner voice of conscience? Could it have been the seed of goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness?” 

Saul and Pope Francis are both affiliates of religions traditionally bound by principles and rules laid down by authorities as incontrovertibly true. And it appears both Saul and Pope Francis have personal experience that disputes the legalistic boundaries of their religions. Both Saul and Pope Francis’ actions indicate, we are not people of the dogma. We are not people of the doctrine. We are people of The Way. The Way  is the way of encountering God deeply, truly and personally. 

All that we experience is in and of, with and through God. Every moment we breathe in relationship with God. Everything we think and feel, say and do is in relationship with God, the goodness “which the Holy Spirit sows in the midst of human weakness.” The thing is, as with Saul, we cannot wrap our minds around it. Our encounter with the Divine is too much to apprehend. We cannot see it until those who have gone before us help us open our eyes and remember how God is acting in our lives. Which is what I believe Pope Francis is doing in the world today. Like Ananias, Pope Francis is answering God’s call to lay his healing hands upon the peoples of this world, to open our eyes and remember our baptism as sisters and brothers of One, Holy Family of God.

 *http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/04/08/world/europe/pope-francis-statement-on-family.html accessed April 8, 2016.                      

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