There were crowds of people who followed Jesus around while he was here: rich, poor, men,

women, kids, leaders, insurrectionists, sick people, shady ladies, cheating tax collectors, and looky-lou’s

trying to catch a miracle. In the end, those who wanted to get rid of him, did. That caused an explosion

of interest in the Jesus-Way of living, so others were appointed to get rid of those believers. The

scripture record calls one of these guys Saul, from the coastal town of Tarsus.

Saul’s legally appointed job was to hunt down, arrest, and even kill those who believed in Jesus

– the more the better. He was pretty successful at it, until he heard a voice and a light blinded him for a

time, from the same Jesus he was persecuting. “Saul, Saul, stop it! I need you to be on my side and take

my message all over the place! We are going to call you PAUL from now on, so get on with it.” Of course

nobody believed this at first – how could a guy like Saul switch sides, from murderous zealot to “love

one another”?

So Paul (nee Saul) obeyed, becoming famous for his boldness, his writings to the new churches,

and his missionary voyages to Turkey, Greece, and Italy. He wasn’t always popular: he was dragged out

of towns and stoned, sneaked out of one place in a basket, and several times beaten up. Paul himself

had his own issues (nobody’s perfect). Sometimes he got really argumentative; he had training in debate

but debates usually doesn’t convince anybody. When he finally realized that, he said “Okay, no more

debates. Now I will only preach about the crucified and risen Christ.”

At his life’s end in a Roman prison he could say “I did what was asked of me. I have run the race

and kept the faith.” It’s the same with us: do our best, keep on keeping on, and stay faithful.

Everyone is welcome at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: Sunday service at 10 a.m. and coffee hour

afterwards. Remember to love one another!