Conversion

Sermon preached at St Alphege, Solihull at 9.15am Eucharist
Sunday 25th January 2009 – The Conversion of St Paul.
(A shortened version of this sermon was preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege.)

Readings: Jeremiah 1:4-10 Acts 9: 1-22 Matthew 19: 27-30

In our second reading today we heard the story of the conversion of St Paul. It is about as dramatic as a conversion story could be. Jesus himself intervenes directly, with a flashing light and a voice from heaven. Paul goes blind, and then his blindness is healed. Jesus speaks directly with Paul, and Paul later (1 Corinthians 9: 1) affirms that he has seen Jesus. And the turn around in Paul’s behaviour is also extremely dramatic. He goes, in the space of a few short days, from being the worst enemy of the Church to being its most committed supporter. He goes from organising the persecution of the Church to proclaiming in the synagogues that Jesus is both Son of God and Messiah.
Paul’s is surely the most dramatic conversion possible, but there have always been dramatic conversions in the life of the Church. Three years ago, in South Africa, I came across a Free Church minister who had himself had a most extraordinary conversion experience. Overnight he abandoned the mainstay props of his old life; drink, tobacco, drugs and violence and he turned instead to a new life and a charismatic church ministry centred around repentance. He led many other people to repentance. He would baptise them with a full immersion baptism in a local river, a bit like John the Baptist. His church had a big following.
For most of us however our conversion is rather less dramatic, and rather more drawn out. Perhaps we get to know someone and the relationship slowly changes us. Perhaps we have an experience of being loved, and this brings us a new freedom. Perhaps, seemingly by chance, we attend a particular mission event, or church service or prayer meeting and we find ourselves strangely moved by the presence of God. Perhaps we start praying, and then come to realise that our prayer are important. Perhaps we come to a point of crisis and we painfully realise that we need to build our life on firmer foundations. Perhaps several of these things happen, and there is a series of milestones before we arrive at a point of conversion.
But at some point or other, for all of us this moment of conversion must come. It is a very important step, which sooner or later we must all take. We must turn to God acknowledge his love and our own sinfulness and commit ourselves to walk with him on the path that he sets before us. This turning to walk with God is an essential step. It is the beginning of a journey towards God, in which our relationship with God grows and deepens. It is a journey in which God’s creation in us is gradually brought to perfection. It is a journey through which we grow in love and become a blessing to the people around us. It is a journey that slowly forms us to make us ready to share in the life of God with all his people in heaven.
And I think it is important so avoid the mistake of thinking of conversion as something we do once and for all time. The fact is that as we progress along the journey of our Christian life we are continually called to a conversion that is ever deeper and ever more complete. This is about learning to accept and trust ever more deeply in the love of God. Even though I have this terrible fault, God truly loves me. Even though I have committed these terrible sins, God still loves me. Even though this dreadful thing has happened, God still loves me. Fr Sean, a priest of 58 years standing at St Augustine’s RC church, has a habit of asking people to pray for his conversion. There is something a bit comic about this, because Fr Sean is already deeply and profoundly converted. And yet there is a serious point to it. He, just like the rest of us, still needs to make progress on his journey towards God. He recognises his need for ever greater conversion.
So the Christian life is a journey towards God. But the first and most vital step is that we choose to be on that journey. We need to turn to face God, to trust in his love for us and start to walk with him. And it may well be that there are people here today who have never made that step, never made that choice. And if this is you, then I commend this step to you with all my heart. God is calling. Say “yes” to God; turn and follow his call. Say to him in prayer, “Lord, I want to follow you, help me to follow you.” And don’t try to do this all on your own. You will need the help of others. Talk to someone from the church about it. Talk to the priests at coffee squash.
But there are many here today, I am sure, who have long since made that choice and have long since set out on that journey. And if this is you then I urge you to make proper progress on your Christian journey. Let’s make the most of every opportunity that God sends. Let’s seek to love every person that God puts in front of us. Let’s establish a pattern to our prayer life and keep to it. Let’s humbly follow God’s will for our lives, trusting always in his love for us, and believing that he wants our good.
And maybe there are some people here today who have already made good progress on their journey and who are wondering what comes next. Well, that is for God to know and for you to find out! But as our journey progresses we should expect it to become more and more tied up with the journeys of the people around us. It becomes harder for us to make progress by ourselves. More and more we can only make progress by helping the people around us. The Lord told Ananias that Paul would be an instrument to bring Christ to many people and the Lord hinted that much suffering would be required on Paul’s part. Suffering for the sake of others might well play a part in our journeys.
An if that sounds a bit heavy, or if making the journey with Christ feels to costly because of the things we might have to leave behind, or let go of, then let’s remember what Jesus said to those who follow him in our gospel today. He said, “Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my names sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” May that be true for each one of us. Amen.

Prepare the way of the Lord - Repentance

Preached at St Helen’s Church. St Helen’s Road, Solihull at the 10am Eucharist, 09/12/07
Second Sunday of Advent - Year A

Readings: Isaiah 11:1-10 Romans 15:4-13 Matthew 3:1-12


In our gospel reading today we hear of John the Baptist preparing the way for the Jesus. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” he proclaims. And this is what we are about in Advent. In Advent we are preparing for the coming of Jesus. We are preparing, in the first instance, for the coming of the baby Jesus at Christmas time. And we all enjoy making the practical preparation to celebrate the feast; we start to buy and wrap up presents. We plan Christmas dinners and parties and stock up the larder with good food. We buy new clothes to wear at our Christmas get-togethers. We prepare decorations for houses and churches. And all these practical preparations are important because Christmas is an important feast and we want to celebrate it well.
But when John the Baptist tells people to “Prepare the way of the Lord” I don’t think he is expecting his listeners to go out shopping for presents! John the Baptist, who lives in the wilderness, is not thinking about decorating houses. John the Baptist, who eats locusts and wild honey, isn’t thinking about stocking up the larder with food. John the Baptist, who wears camel’s hair with a leather belt isn’t thinking about fine clothes. Well what is he thinking about?
Well he is thinking much more of the spiritual preparation for the coming of Christ. In particular he is telling people to repent.
He says, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near”. He baptises in the Jordon people who have confessed their sins. He tells the Pharisees and Sadducees to “bear fruit worth of repentance”. So John the Baptist is thinking of repentance as the essential preparation for the coming of Jesus.
Repentance. Let’s stop for a moment and think about this word, which is so alien to our times, so completely counter cultural. What does the word Repentance mean? Well, I think it can be defined in a number of ways; here are some of them:
Repentance means putting God in the first place in our lives and making sure that everything else (family, job, house, car, friends) finds its rightful places in our lives under God.
Repentance means knowing our need of God. It means remembering that it was God who created us, it is God who sustains us and it is above all God who wants our good. He wants to share with us the life of heaven.
Repentance means letting to of our own will, in order to follow the things that God wills for us. He made us, and knows better than we do, what is good for us.
Repentance means turning away from sin and all rebellion against God, in order to be obedient to God and to follow him in all that he wants from us.
Repentance means owning up to our sin, our human frailties, our fears, our inner hurts and entrusting all these to God’s mercy and compassion. In this way we become free of sin, from fears, from hurts and they cease to have power over us. This allows us to walk in the way of God without carrying loads of baggage.
Repentance therefore is not a one time thing. It is a process that goes on for a lifetime. Little by little we orientate ourselves ever more perfectly in God’s love for us. Little by little we become more precise in our adherence to God’s will. Little by little we let go of our baggage that gets in the way and learn live in the freedom of God’s love.
Repentance is an on-going process, but twice a year, in Advent and Lent, the church particularly invites us to remember repentance so that we can hear afresh the call to conversion and to make the necessary adjustments in our lives.
Over the last year or so I have enjoyed getting to know Fr Sean from St Augustine’s RC church. I meet him through Churches Together in Central Solihull. Fr Sean is quite an old man. He is a priest of 57 years standing and he has many holy qualities. Fr Sean is also a great joker. Something he does quite frequently is to ask people to pray for his conversion. And this can seem very funny, because their can be few people who are as thoroughly and truly converted as Fr Sean. And although it is funny, the point he is making is of the utmost seriousness and importance. However saintly we have become, there is always room for more conversion, always scope for truer repentance.
So this Advent lets work on repentance. Let’s make sure that God is in the first place in our lives, and other things find their right place under him. Let’s be ready to let go of our own will, in order to follow the things that God wills for us. Let’s own up to our sins and failings and put them behind us. In this way we prepare to meet Jesus. In this way we prepare to celebrate the Christmas season with holiness and joy.