Paul Tells His Story

Scripture Lessons: Daniel 10: 4-11, 16-19 and Acts 26: 12-18 Sermon title: Paul Tells His Story Preached on July 31, 2022 The week before last we were on a family adventure. I say adventure, which is different from vacation and almost the same as a disaster. If I’ve told you about it before, let me tell you again. The Evans family flew into Pittsburgh, rented bikes, and started down a 150-mile bike trail built on an old railroad bed. 150 miles is a daunting goal, made worse by our daughter Cece’s tire going flat four different times. When we were on our last spare inner tube, I called for help. Directed to a bike mechanic in the town we stopped in for lunch, Confluence, Pennsylvania, I felt relief until I saw that the bike shop was closed. There was a note on the door with a number to call in case of emergency. Encouraged to call the number, I spoke with a man named Ed. Ed doesn’t own the bike shop, but he’s friends with the owner. He was too far away to help in person, yet wanting to be of assistance, he talked with me on the phone for about half an hour trying to troubleshoot the problem of a reoccurring flat with me. “Have you checked the tire for a nail or a tack?” I told him I had. “Have you checked the wheel for spokes sticking through the rim?” I told him I had. “Have you checked the rim for deviations that might be poking the inner tube?” “Yes, I’ve done that, too,” I said. “Then your best bet is to get it to the next bike shop about 20 miles down the trail. I know the owner. He lives next-door to his shop, so even if it’s closed, he’ll come help. His name is Lynn; he took a job with the highway patrol,” on and on Ed told me. When I thought he was about to tell me Lynn’s favorite color, I started thinking, “That’s if we can make it 20 more miles without getting another flat.” Maybe sensing my anxiety, he signed off with this: “Remember that in between the plan and disaster lies the adventure. You’re right there in the adventure.” Now at the time, I didn’t fully appreciate the sentiment. I was thinking, “My daughter is tired, she keeps getting flat tires, we’ve got to get on down the trail, and this guy is quoting me Henry David Thoreau or somebody. However, imagine if the Apostle Paul were unable to embrace the adventure. Imagine with me what the world would be like had he been solely focused on getting back down the road. To Agrippa, an official of the Roman Empire, Paul tells a familiar story: I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. Along the road he was traveling when his plans were disrupted. At midday along the road, I saw a light from heaven. Jesus appeared to me and said, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen.” That’s where it all started. He was on a trip, commissioned by the chief priests, when his plans fell apart. Does he dig in his heels to stick with his plan? Does he fix his tire and get back on the road? Does he kick the dirt and shake his fist in frustration? No. He listens and trusts God’s plan for his life, which is the greatest adventure of all: answering the call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Looking back on this summer, I realize that’s what this summer has been all about. Your preachers, Cassie, Meri Kate, and I, have been trying to get it across in our sermons. We’ve been challenging you to get a little beyond your typical plans and see what God will do in your life. Many of you accepted our challenges. I know that after hearing a sermon based on the account of Peter going to eat with Cornelius, Helen Hines and Minette Rutenberg went out to eat Korean BBQ. I asked Helen about it. She didn’t like what she ordered much, but she liked her waitress. Likewise, Emily Adams went and ate Cuban food. She learned her waiter’s name was Jayden, and he was fabulous and fun to talk to. Notice that both went out to eat but told me more about the waitstaff they spoke with than the food they ate. That’s what happened with Paul and the disciples. They are being pushed out into the world by the Holy Spirit to meet people beyond their comfort zones. On Pentecost, at the beginning of the book of Acts, the disciples were first given the gift of speaking in other languages so they could talk with all the foreign people who were around Jerusalem at the time. Later, Ananias was pushed by the Spirit to show kindness to Paul: a man who, at the time, was a known persecutor of Christians. Later, Peter went to the bedside of Tabitha, though she was dying. Peter ate with Cornelius, though he ate non-Kosher food. Lydia invited the disciples to stay at her house, and they went. Paul proclaimed the Gospel to an enslaved fortune teller who was getting on his nerves. Then he preached in Athens among the idols before being arrested in Jerusalem. Here he tells his conversion story to Agrippa, a person he never would have met had he stuck to his plan to get to Damascus. Therefore, I call you today to think about how abandoning your plans might enable you to embrace your missionary journey of meeting people who need to hear your story. How does that sound? Now, I don’t mean walking the streets and handing out leaflets. I tried that once, and people just ran in the other direction. That’s not really our style anyway. Here’s my favorite Presbyterian joke for any who haven’t heard it: What do you get when you mix a Jehovah’s Witness and a Presbyterian? Someone who knocks on your door but doesn’t know what to say. We are called to go out into the world, but how? What do we say? Look to Paul and notice what he says and how he treats this Roman official. He neither judges nor preaches. All he does is shares his story, that miraculous story of how Jesus walked into his life and changed his life’s course for the better. Now, that’s not what Christians are famous for doing. When Christians are on the news, we’re not portrayed as being kind to the people God places in our paths; however, we can change the world’s perception of the Church by doing exactly what Paul did. Certainly, lives have been changed simply because members of this church were kind to the people God placed in their paths. It happened with Andy Nismal. Andy’s husband has been transferred to Philadelphia, so she just left her position with our Food Distribution Ministry. Under her leadership, we distributed more than 1.5 million meals out of our parking lot. The good that God did through her is so obvious to me. That she brought this church gifts when she came to us is clear. Thanks in large part to her, we were named the Marietta City Schools Partner of the Year, but did you know that she believes she is the one who received the gift from this church? She moved to Marietta with her husband not knowing anyone. He worked all the time. She was lonely and bored. Somehow, she heard about food distribution here. She was curious, but it took her five weeks to work up the courage to come up here. Five weeks. Why? Her mother and sisters kept telling her not to come. “Those church people won’t like you,” they said. Finally summoning the courage, she walked up, though it was raining. She ran into Nancy Bodiford, who asked her where her jacket was. Then Nancy took her under her wing, and Andy met members of this church whom she describes as wonderful, loving, and kind. Today, Andy thinks of Nancy Bodiford as one of her best friends, and Andy told me week before last, “I’m going to see my mother and sisters back in the Philippines, and I’m not sure my family will even recognize me so changed am I by this place.” It took her five weeks to get here, though. When she finally made it inside, what did she find? A miracle around every corner? If kindness is a miracle, then yes. If you are lonely, then community is a miracle. If you are bored and without purpose, a means to make a difference is a miracle. If the world is cold, then love is a miracle, but what does it take for those who need what we have to find what they’re looking for? First, they must know that these church people will like them. That’s why we must let go of our plans in order to get out into the world. That’s the missionary journey. As your fearless leader, listen to what I did yesterday. I was a bartender from 4:00-7:00 down at Two Birds Taphouse. Why? For one thing because the profit from every beer sold went to our Food Distribution Ministry. For another because the people who need this are showing up over there, so when I was given the opportunity to go where they are, I took it. That wasn’t part of my plan. I didn’t have a class on mixing drinks while I was in seminary, but Paul didn’t accomplish God’s plan for his life by getting back on the road to Damascus. No, he accomplished God’s plan when he allowed his plan to fall apart. That’s what faith is: trusting that the next time your plan falls apart, God’s plan for your life may be just beginning. Next time your plan falls apart, remember that Paul never made it to Damascus. No, he made it to heaven. Let go of your plan to get from point A to point B to walk into others’ lives by letting them know how Christ walked into yours. Amen.