by Sarah Brock
Today’s Readings:
AM Psalm 1, 2, 3 PM Psalm 4, 7
1 Kings 1:5-31; Mark 13:14-27;
How often do you talk to people- friends, neighbors, your communities, strangers- about your faith? When was the last time you told someone the story of your faith?
I’ve always found it difficult to relate to Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. There is a part of me that is a little jealous. As someone who grew up in the church, I don’t have an exciting, life-changing story to tell of a conversion to Christianity. I have a quiet, gradual, mundane story. But, I’ve come to realize that a lack of thrill factor doesn’t make my story any less worth sharing.
This is exactly what Paul does. He shares his story. He shares his faith.
This is actually the second time in the book of Acts that Paul chooses to share the story of his new faith and how he came to it. The first is in Acts 22:6-21 where he is addressing the crowd upon his arrest in Jerusalem. In this second testimony, Paul is defending himself to King Agrippa against accusations of antinomianism. Regardless of the circumstances, Paul shares this story multiple times apparently without hesitation.
It’s this part of Paul’s story that I find to be the most daunting. It takes serious courage to share such a story, even if it has a low thrill factor. It requires me, and I suspect many others, to overcome fear of vulnerability. It requires us to worry less about offending another; opening ourselves to both speaking and listening.
Like Paul, we are called to be witnesses, to share our stories- the ones that are dramatic and the ones that are quietly life-changing.
Sarah Brock is a Postulant for Holy Orders in the Diocese of Massachusetts and lives in Boston.
Image Credit: Peder Severin Krøyer, Summer Evening on the Souther Beach
