Conversion

Can you describe your conversion? How would you describe the time, or the process of your encounter with the risen Christ and your decision to follow Christ as your Lord? Can you tell the story of your conversion? You do have one. Each of us is born a child of God, beloved of God, but none of us is born a Christian. None of us is born a Christian. So it is a fair question to ask anyone sitting in a Christian church on Sunday morning: How would you describe your conversion to Christianity?

St. Paul would have a story to tell. Although the account we heard this morning is from Acts, written by Luke, not Paul. It is one in a series of conversion stories told in this section of Acts. As well known as this particular story is—the Conversion of Paul—the focus here in Acts is not on Paul, but on conversion. Beginning a chapter earlier in Acts, we read about the conversion of the Samaritans, then the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch, then the conversion of Paul. Acts is, after all, the story of the church. It is our story, the story of those who—by conversion to faith in the risen Lord—become the church. Paul’s story is a dramatic and memorable one. So memorable that it has spread beyond the Bible into common speech. In general usage, a "Damascus road" experience is any significant, revelatory, life-changing experience, whether Christian or not.

To review: Paul, who was then known as Saul, was on the road to Damascus. Scripture tells us that he was "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord." His agenda was stamping out Christianity. Then suddenly a bright light flashed from heaven all around him. By all accounts, Saul was a strong man, physically strong and very strong of character. But he was overcome by the power of the light and fell to the ground. A voice spoke powerfully, directly to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" Saul had to ask who was speaking. And the voice replied, "I am Jesus." Yes, Paul could certainly tell the story of when and how he encountered the risen Lord.

Yet it is a mistake to take Paul’s conversion as the paradigm for all religious conversion. His is not a "normal" conversion; it is a most unusual, extraordinary conversion. Paul was an extraordinary person. He was ambitious, a take-charge kind of guy. He took initiative. He thought he knew God’s work better than God did. He was secure in himself and probably not terribly open to new insights about himself or God. He was a person who, once dedicated to mission, would be almost impossible to divert. He was just the sort of focused and driven man who could undertake and succeed at the huge challenge of brining the Gospel to the Gentiles. If only he were converted. And it would take a very forceful, dramatic conversion to reach such a man. So God captured Paul’s attention in the only way God could—an overwhelming flash of light and a voice from heaven.

On the other hand… there are other ways to meet the risen Lord.

A Presbyterian pastor describes her conversion this way: "I was baptized as an infant, raised in a faith tradition I was taught to love and respect, and gradually grew into the theological convictions I strive to live. Every day the conversion continues as I am changed by human encounters, the natural world and countless experiences that provide new insights in the nature of God. Consider a flower unfolding petal by petal over days as the bud converts to bloom." (Christian Century, 2001?)

Do not be intimidated by Paul’s conversion story. Do not feel inferior because you cannot describe a similar experience. No particular type of conversion is better than any other. Paul’s conversion was Paul’s conversion. There are as many different conversion stories as there are Christians. But all Christians do have a conversion story.

Today’s readings provide several very different examples of people who had encounters with the risen Lord. Right in the midst of Paul’s own story there is Ananias. Ananias was a convert to the faith. Remember, all Christians are converts, but certainly in Paul’s day no one was "born into" a Christian family or "raised" as a Christian. All followers of the Way were adults whose hearts had been somehow turned towards the Lord. Yet Ananias’ relationship with the divine was so different from Paul’s. His had been growing over time. When the Lord called his name, he didn’t need to ask, "Who are you?" The Lord’s voice was a familiar one, and Ananias responded as might a child who is being called by a parent from another room. "Here I am." The interaction between God and Ananias was conversational, not thunderous. Dialogue was how Ananias grew in his knowledge of the Lord and the Lord’s purpose for him. But Ananias’ incremental conversion was no less powerful; ananias responded just as surely as Paul did to God’s words. Ananias got up and did what God asked him to do; even though it definitely was not something he would have done on his own.

And that is where the true measure of conversion is to be found. In the response. The lasting mark of conversion is in the result of that conversion lived out in a given life. No matter how conversion takes place. Whether it is in a dramatic, earth-shaking event or in a time of quiet peace and solitude. Whether it is a single over-powering experience or a gradual process of leaning, conversion is life-changing. It involves a change in direction. The voice of the risen Lord always speaks a direction: Go. Do. Follow. The measure of true conversion is in its effect, its result.

The disciples’ conversion was certainly life-changing and produced lasting results in their lives. Yes, they had known Jesus in his earthly life, but this morning’s Gospel reading is a conversion story. It is one piece of their conversion to faith in the risen Lord. (And the results of their conversions are recounted throughout the Book of Acts.) This morning’s story is the story of how they came to know the resurrected Son of God as still present in their lives after the crucifixion. Their conversion took place at breakfast over a shared meal of bread and grilled fish. They were fishing, just trying to get by. It was not going well, until they discovered there was someone there to help them. And then the one who had guided their fishing made them breakfast and they knew they were in the presence of their Lord. What could be less remarkable, less spectacular, less like Paul’s Damascus Road experience.

And yet, remember, the true measure of any conversion is in its effect. The very next line after this morning’s gospel is Jesus question to Simon Peter: "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter replies, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." It took a little longer to get through to Peter than it did to Paul or Ananias. Three times Jesus has to tell him: "Yes, feed my lambs." Over breakfast, Peter and the others came to know the risen Lord and felt love awaken in their hearts for the Lord. And immediately Jesus told them how they were to respond to this new sense of God in their lives. Every conversion contains a call, a direction. To recognize and hear the voice of the risen Lord is to hear the Lord’s direction for living a converted life. The true measure of any conversion is in its result.

Every Christian is a convert. Every Christian has a conversion story. Your own conversion story began at your baptism. What sort of a story it has been depends upon what sort of a person you are. God offers his saving presence to us in ways infinitely suited to each of our own lives. God has spoken and will speak to you in a time and place and way that is right for you. Will you listen? Will you respond? Will you let your encounter with the risen Lord become a life-changing experience? Remember: all of these conversion stories told in Scripture appear in Scripture not because the moment of conversion was so special, but only because those conversions led to lives changed in response. Even Paul’s dramatic, earth-shaking conversion on the Road to Damascus is worth telling only because of what he did afterwards.