Conversion: Not a One-Off
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sunday Reflection
Read Don Hu’s reflection, titled, “Conversion Is A Process,” from Sunday’s sermon. You’ll find it in the Sunday Reflections blog.
Sunday Scripture Reading: Acts 9:1-19 (NRSV)
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest Read More…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Are you a Christian? a follower of Jesus? a person committed to living your life in the way modeled by Jesus’ kind of self-sacrificial love? When did you become a Christian? Did it happen all at once or over a period of time? Was it something you were immersed in from a young age or did you make the decision later in life? Maybe you made the decision a few times as you and your understanding grew? Maybe you’re not a Christian.
On Sunday we’ll be considering the story of the Apostle Paul’s conversion to Christianity. His is a dramatic story. He changed seemingly overnight, from being a rabid persecutor of Christians to being one of Christianity’s most prolific evangelists. You can read the story in Acts 9. While you’re at it, you may want to read a couple other stories of conversion. There’s the one of a travelling Ethiopian in Acts 8 and then the shared stories of the Apostle Peter and a gentile named Cornelius in Acts 10.
The whole New Testament is an invitation to conversion. It’s not just converting from one way of believing to another, or even from one kind of living to another; it’s about a person’s entire orientation to life – a person’s entire understanding of the self and of the world. But here’s the thing: it’s not a single event. Conversion, at least conversion to Christianity, is a life-long turning. It’s a life-long changing from being governed by the world and by sin to being governed by the God we know through Jesus.
As you prepare for Sunday, I encourage you to read through the stories of conversion identified above. Which of them resonates with you? Perhaps there are parts of each that are familiar to your story? How are you being converted these days? What is God actively changing in your understanding about yourself, the world, God…? And then perhaps spend some time giving thanks for the many ways God has and continues to invite you and shape you into Jesus’ likeness.