Sometimes as preachers, there’s a lot that we process throughout the week that doesn’t quite make it into the sermon. I just wanted to share a bit more of the story in Acts 9:7-20.
If you read this passage, Saul wants to join the Early Church. He’s blind from his encounter with Jesus and he presents himself before the Early Church leaders in a state of vulnerability. But there’s a problem: the leaders don’t believe Saul. They know of his reputation. They know he’s a real threat to them. For the leaders, their survival instinct kicks in and they immediately want to protect themselves. However, God calls them to love him and how do the leaders respond? They address Saul as brother, he isn’t kept at a distance but embraced as family.
Isn’t that the real challenge for us? To love and embrace those who are really different from us, who might even be a threat to us. On the one hand, it was easy to go on a mission trip to Guatemala with Barb and Gerry. It was easy to spend time with and love the kids there. I mean they really do have so much to offer, they are chosen to be in the program for a reason, they are awesome kids, you know what you are getting. By no means am I saying that what they do is easy, I’m just saying it was easy for us to go for a week and participate in a lot of the highlights.
But what would it look like if it wasn’t so easy in our everyday lives? Who might God be calling us to love, to call brother or sister, and embrace as family? Earlier this week, some of our leaders were approached by a retirement home to help lead some songs and a bible study. My first reaction was, “who is going to sign up for that?” We don’t have many seniors here. They are totally different from us. It’s not necessarily as “exciting” as going downtown and serving the homeless or going on a missions trip. But, isn’t that exactly who God would identify with and call us to stand in solidarity with?