Sermon for Easter 3C
April 18, 2010
Texts:  Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

What happens when a life turns topsy turvy?

What happens when God intercedes in something,
And uses it to change who you think you are
Or the life path you thought you were on?

Almost any one of us can think of someone
Whose life plans were interrupted by something.

In most cases the person was marching along merrily
Doing what he or she wanted to do,
When poof—his or her life plans were altered.

C.S. Lewis’ writing career was slowed down
By the need to care for his ailing mother.
He ended up doing most of the household chores and grocery shopping for her.

Some biographers have mourned the lost productivity in his writing,
While others have commented on the depth of detail and feeling
His writing developed during the time period he cared for his mother.

In the cases we know about,
Maybe a job was lost,
Or an accident changed all plans
Or an illness changed the course of the person’s life.

In some cases, things like these leave life in disarray,
But in other cases,
People will comment years later,
That the incident turned their lives around.

Perhaps the job that was lost
Was one that was oppressing the soul
And causing stress that wasn’t fully apparent
Until the person was no longer working.

Released from they tyranny of that job,
The person found new talents,
And ultimately more satisfying work.

Similarly, sometimes an illness or an accident
Causes an individual to change the priorities in his or her life.
Many times people will report that
In the aftermath of the illness or accident
They have felt closer to God,
Or that they sensed God calling them to something different. 

Our texts this morning are loaded with examples
Of people whose lives were turned upside down.

Saul/Paul, for example!

Saul thought that he was doing God’s will
By persecuting the people who followed Jesus.

As a Pharisee he was a strict observer of the Law,
And he saw these followers of the crucified Christ
As failing to stick to the straight and narrow.

Saul was not a pagan.
He was a dedicated believer in God.
He thought he knew what God wanted.
He thought God wanted these Jesus followers
Returned to the fold of strict Judaism.

God has a way of intervening sometimes
When we veer off a path that God wants for us.

In Saul’s case the intervention was dramatic.

Lights, voices, being knocked down and struck blind.
It doesn’t get much more dramatic than that.

God wanted Saul to change his direction.

God wanted to use Saul in his mission to the nations,
And this intervention on his way to Damascus
Was the first step in Saul’s new life.

Now think of poor Ananias.
He is a disciple of Jesus in Damascus.
He’s minding his own business.
Trying to stay out of trouble
And out of the hands of those who would persecute Christians.

But God shows up with a plan for Ananias
And it involves ministering to,
And baptizing the now blind Saul.
The thought of going to Saul of Tarsus.
Strikes fear into the heart of Ananias.

Like Jonah, who reminds God
How much he doesn’t want to go to Nineveh,
Ananias asks God if he knows how much evil,
Saul has done to Christians.

In other words, Ananias was asking “What are you thinking, God?”

It sounds like Ananias would rather
Have an unanesthetized root canal
Than have an encounter with Saul.

But God has work for Ananias.

And so Ananias changes his plans for the day,
Listens to God and goes to minister to the one
He somehow has the grace to call Brother Saul.

In accepting God’s call to dangerous work
Ananias has the experience
Of watching someone else’s life turn around in real time.  

And imagine the stories Ananias has to tell to his grandchildren.
You know that guy Paul who travels all around preaching Christ,
I am the one who baptized him. 

Then there is Peter.
Good old rock Peter.

He’s had enough of denials, crucifixion
And even resurrection. 

He doesn’t really know what to make of the last couple of weeks.
Is Jesus really back around to stay?
Will life pick up where it left off before Jesus was crucified?

We don’t know if it was nostalgia for the life
He left behind to follow Jesus.

Or if it was stress that just made Peter want to do something simple.
Or if Peter was really planning to re-activate the fishing business.

In any event Peter invited a group of Jesus’ inside circle of followers
To go off and go fishing with him. 
Somehow the results of that fishing trip
Should have suggested to Peter
That perhaps trying to return to fishing wasn’t such a great idea.

All night they were out fishing.
No fish.
Not even a baby carp. 

Perhaps an intervention from God
Indicating that there was other work for Peter to do.

Peter and the gang can only catch fish
When the unrecognized man on the beach
Tells them to fish from the other side of the boat.

They must have been thinking
“Who is he kidding?”
“Why will changing the position of our nets by 10 feet help us catch fish.”

In the process of bringing in the 153 fish,
The men finally recognize Jesus,
First the beloved disciple and then Peter, himself.

After the fish fry on the beach,
Jesus uses the opportunity to re-focus Peter,
Counter his denials with commands to feed his sheep,
And to remind him of the command “Follow me.”

Peter’s attempt to return to his former life
Is hijacked by a failed fishing trip
And yet one more interaction with the resurrected Christ. 

One more time,
Peter is turned around and headed in the direction
That God wants him to go.

This turn-around sticks
And Peter, like Paul will figure heavily
In the spread of the Gospel throughout the world. 

Lives headed in one direction
Are turned around by God.

Some turn arounds are dramatic
With lights, voices, and resurrection appearances.

Other turn arounds are much more subtle.

Sometimes God takes events that happen in our own lives
And uses them to change our direction.

Do you know anyone who has experienced a turn around?
Have you ever sensed God’s intervention in your own life?
Have you ever felt God pulling you away from a wrong decision or wrong path?

Have you ever felt a discord
Between the way you think your life should be going
And the way it actually is going?

Have you ever wanted something terribly,
But it just always seemed out of reach?
Years later you realize what a disaster would have occurred
If you have gotten what you wanted.

Have you ever had to stop your life plans
Because of an illness—your own or one in someone you love?

When you look back,
What does that time and that so-called interruption look like?

Did that job loss give you time to reflect on the direction of your life?
Did that unplanned interruption to your career
Provide time to re-build relationships with family or friends. 

Did the time spent caring for someone in an illness,
Provide a different dimension to your relationship?  

Did your own illness provide clarity about what is really important to you?

Doctors will often comment that an illness and a stay in the hospital
Change the way they interact with patients.  

Did perhaps a failure in school help you
To gain a better understanding of the gifts you have been granted,
Rather than the ones that you wished you had. 

In talking about this, I don’t want to leave you with the impression
That I believe that God causes bad things to happen to you just to change you.

Rather, I believe that God works in our lives
To bring good out of the bad or tragic things that happen to us.

God may take a bad event and use it to re-focus your life.
And often in a tragic situation, we do end up feeling God’s presence with us.

This may be because when we are grieving or suffering,
Or just feeling downright miserable,
We may engage in deeper, more heartfelt prayer,
And we may be more open and permeable to the presence of the living Christ,
Who himself suffered for us.

Today, as you sit here in this sanctuary,
Is there some part of your life,
Where you are feeling an almost tidal change?

In there an aspect of your life
Where you can sense the hand of God,
Or where you are praying for God’s intervention?

Is there some facet of your life
Where you feel raw, threatened or uneasy?
What might God be trying to do in your life?
Where might God be trying to steer you?

This God who stopped Saul in his tracks on the way to Damascus
Who sent Ananias into the jaws of danger,
And who prevented Peter from returning to the fishing business,
Sometimes acts with light, voices and drama.

Other times God’s actions are much more subtle,
Like the change in wind direction
That you might feel in a sailboat on a summer afternoon.

Sometimes it’s an earthquake
And sometimes it’s just a course correction. 

You cannot know in advance where God might be steering you.

You can, however, know that God who raised Jesus from the dead
Has the power to change your life for the better,
And to bring good out of events that may have seem to have devastated your life plans.

May you feel God’s presence and steering hand
Guiding your life in both the good and the tough times.