Meeting Paul Again

 

I grew up in the magical era of mixtapes.  In a time before you could easily make a digital playlist on your phone with a few touches of a screen, I would sit for hours by the radio listening for the moment when I could record a song, I liked onto a blank cassette tape.  God forbid I got called away by my mother to do a chore or use the restroom and risk missing the very song I was waiting for.  The struggle was real…and yes, my children think that I am a dinosaur when I talk about this.  Part of the power of making a mixtape was carefully curating songs to convey just the right message.  One of the ways to let someone know you like them was to give this as a gift ~ you would let the 80s hairbands of Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and Warrant serenade your crush with falsetto singing and guitar solos.  Ah, the good ole days. 

 

Inspired by those mixtapes of my youth, in the coming weeks we are going to lean in and listen to some of the Apostle Paul’s greatest hits.  Paul is one of the most prolific writers in scripture, over half of the New Testament are his letters.  He defined and distinguished the faith in many ways that have left lasting, lingering impact.  While not all his writings warm my heart (oh, Paul can frustrate and flummox me), he also has a vision for the church that inspires and infuses me with what might be for our community and world today. 

 

Before we dive and dwell in his letters, I first want center on one part of his story.  Here is the conversion story of Paul (who was first named Saul ~ grew up faithfully Jewish ~ thinking of Christians as, “Those people!”)

Acts 9:1-9  ~~  Meanwhile 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.

 

I read this story and think, “the more things change, the more they stay the same!”  People today still breathe threats against each other.  Advertisers and politicians know that the quickest way to rile up a crowd is to give them a common enemy and then offer him/herself as the only solution.  You see this on television ~ people who have dry, lifeless hair until the purchased Head & Shoulders shampoo.  Or in stump speeches that if the rival politician gets elected, might as well cue the four horsemen of the apocalypse.  Saul/Paul knew who the enemy was…it was those pesky Christians.  They were the problem, and he was the self-appointed sheriff to bring God’s justice.  Hold that last sentence because those words are still embraced and embodied in our world today.  Saul/Paul thinks he has it all figured out.  Until God knocked Saul/Paul flat on his backside, blinded him physically because Saul/Paul was already blind spiritually and emotionally. 

 

When you look back at your former self…the self of 10 years ago…what did you know then that now (in 2023) seems foolish?  What once was certain and now seems less so?  When you rewind and review the mixtape of your life, what song did you once dance to that now makes you question your taste in music?  As you hold these questions, don’t do this with guilt but with grace ~ God doesn’t smite Saul/Paul!!  As you hold these questions, don’t feel ashamed, but awaken to your unfolding nature of life.  How were you, “once blind but now you see…once lost but now am found”?  May these questions stir and simmer in your soul this day.  Amen.