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.
As I read the story of Paul’s conversion, his Damascus Road Confrontation, I am reminded that Paul was not some crazy anti-God crusader - he was engaged in a mission to which he fully believed he had been called. He was a defender of the faith that he saw being bastardised by a new sect, known as Christians. In Paul’s eyes, these new kids on the block were taking the notion of God that had upheld and sustained people for centuries, giving credence to a new form of deity in the person of Jesus, and worshiping a martyred itinerant preacher and prophet.
I believe that just one of the challenges facing the church today, as we discern God’s mission and our place in that, is to avoid demonising those defenders of the faith who operate in our institutions and in our congregations, at best being ineffective and, at worst, stifling and inhibiting growth. If our energy is focused on fighting opposition we are in danger of missing out on opportunity. That’s not an easy place to be but perhaps subversion rather than energy sapping confrontation is called for - hearing the “no” and doing it anyway, letting actions and results speak louder than words. God has a way of acting through us and in spite of us! Perhaps the call is to fight less and be more - be kind, be compassionate, be love, be hope, be Christ ... Be the reason that others discover their place in the subversive economy that is the kingdom of God, where the last shall be first, the weak shall be strong and the poor shall be rich. Let’s enable that rather than fight the structures that conspire against all that God desires for creation. As beloved of God, we are required to befriend the power that God bestows on us and, embracing that power, to change lives, communities, institutions, the world. For the love of God.
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