Worship on the Third Sunday of Easter
10:00 am May 04, 2025
Minister: The Rev. Brad Childs Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Vivian Houg Welcoming Elder: Jane de Caen
Reader: Saima Aziz
We gather to worship God
Music Prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: Great is the Lord, who calls us to new beginnings as disciples in His name.
P: We gather to learn and grow, as Paul did, ready to be transformed.
L: Let us embrace our journey of faith, supported by God’s teachings.
P: In worship and wonder, we come as students of Christ.
Opening praise: Lord I need you
Prayers of approach and confession
Today, we come before You with hearts overflowing with gratitude for the beauty and wonder of Your creation. We thank You for the smallest miracles, like the tiny fingers of a newborn gripping ours, and for the great signs of Your life in the world around us—like the daffodil stretching open its bloom to greet the spring, or the rugged cliffs, worn by wind and water, bearing their beauty with silent praise. These details remind us that Your presence is woven into every part of creation,
lifting our hearts in praise and wonder.
Help us today to see in the story of the risen Christ a new beginning—an invitation to meet You anew in the everyday moments. May this day and this week be an occasion for us to discover Jesus in our midst—making all things new through the springtime of Your Spirit. Receive our heartfelt worship, O God—Creator, Christ, and Spirit — Ever Three, and Ever One, beginning and end of all things, now and forever.
We approach You with humble hearts, acknowledging that despite your goodness, we often fall short of the hopes and purposes You have for us. We confess that our hearts sometimes cling to grudges—things long past or mistakes we have made—that weigh us down and hinder us from living fully in your grace. It’s difficult to forgive others when we feel wounded; it’s even harder to forgive ourselves when shame and regret cloud our hearts. But Lord, we know that your love is greater than our failures.
You offer us mercy that heals and restores—an invitation to begin again.
Fill us with your Spirit, so we can extend the same mercy and forgiveness to others, and to ourselves. Help us to remove the barriers that keep us from embracing your new life—you call us to be renewed day by day. Amen.
Response: Glory, glory hallelujah
Assurance of God’s forgiveness
Friends in Christ, we are reminded today that no matter how often we stumble, our God’s love and mercy are greater still.
God’s forgiveness is not limited by our brokenness or past mistakes. In Jesus Christ, we find the ongoing promise of redemption—an opportunity to start anew, free from guilt and shame.
To all who humbly seek God’s mercy: hear this good news—Jesus Christ offers forgiveness, renewal, and new life.
Come, rest in the peace of His love, and trust that you are beloved children of God, restored by His grace and empowered by His Spirit. Amen.
We listen for the voice of God
Song: I have decided to follow Jesus (570)
Scripture: Acts 9:1-20
Response: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord
Message: From Failure to Faith
Like many biblical figures from Abram to Abraham, Sarai to Sarah, Jacob to Israel, and Simon to Peter, God changes a man called Saul so dramatically that his whole identity shifts and he becomes a totally new person – Paul.
In short, no matter how dark a person’s past, God’s grace can turn them around. God can shake us from our preconceived ideas and create in us the kind of changes we need to get where God is taking us.
In this morning’s reading, Saul is about 40 years old. He is moving quickly up the ranks of the Jewish religious institutions and making a name for himself.
Paul was born in Tarsus in modern-day Turkey, was a Roman citizen and a Hebrew from a conservative branch of faith. He was deeply committed to Judaism and to the Law. And he devoted his life to God as he saw revealed in the Law.
Saul was perhaps one of the most educated Pharisees in his day. According to Luke and recorded in Acts 22:3, Paul “was born in Tarsus”, “was brought up in Jerusalem, under Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, and was thoroughly trained in the law of the Hebrew ancestors.”
Paul’s mentor, Gamaliel, was a highly respected Pharisee and teacher of the Law, widely regarded as one of the most eminent teachers in Jerusalem during that era. He was known for his wisdom, fairness, and influence among the Jewish leaders and the Sanhedrin (a legal/religious court made up of 71 members).
Interestingly, both Gamaliel and another of his most famous students, Rabbi Hillel, had rather famously suggested that this new branch of Judaism, called “the Way,” which followed Jesus, should be treated with respect and understanding. Both asked the other leaders to deal with them leniently.
Saul, however, disagreed with Gamaliel and aligned himself with a man named Shammai, who suggested the death penalty for those he deemed heretics. Paul next went to Shammai, against his mentor’s wishes, requesting to stamp out the leaders of “the Way.”
And so, Saul set out on his own as a vigorous opponent of the early Christian movement, actively persecuting believers and overseeing the imprisonment and even the execution of some followers of Jesus (Acts 8:1-3) with legal documents from the court granting him the power to capture his adversaries.
Now it’s essential to understand Saul. Saul was a man of great faith. And Sual believed he was defending the Jewish tradition from what he saw as heresy. He thought he was doing the right thing by rounding up the followers of Jesus for trial. And that is just what he set out to do – but God had a different plan.
Have you ever done that – the wrong thing – for the right reason?
Sadly, Charles Colson was right when he wrote, “Few things are so deadly as a misguided sense of compassion.” That is where Saul sat. He sat in a place where his purported love for one community moved quickly into the intended destruction of another.
As the saying goes, “My heart was in the right place, but my brain was on vacation.”
Around five years after the resurrection, on a journey to Damascus, Saul has a visionary experience whereby his misguided intentions become a path from violent destruction to a place of praise and hope. At the time, faith in “The Way” had grown quickly. In response, Saul went to the leaders in Jerusalem to get permission to round up both men and women for prison.
And yet, it is precisely on this path of failure that Saul encounters the risen Christ. A brilliant light surrounds him, and he falls to the ground, stripped of certainty and sight. In this vulnerable state, Jesus’ question pierces Saul’s heart: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” With these words, Saul’s mission collapses. He finds himself blinded, led by the hand into Damascus, his previous confidence shattered.
That happens sometimes with God. We find ourselves going about our business, believing or doing one thing, only to discover we were wrong and needed correction.
In short, Saul has a real “come-to-Jesus” moment, and because of that, he has to rethink his entire life.
While the story is described as a literal event and also a vision, its symbolism is perhaps more critical. Whatever took place was a divine intervention, and it turned Saul into Paul.
How many times in life, like Saul, have we spent pursuing our own well-meaning agendas only to miss God’s true calling for us? Have you ever done that?
Perhaps like me, maybe something in your life is less a “carefully orchestrated symphony” and more like “improvisational jazz” on the kazoo.
Sometimes we can become so sure we’re right that we forget to check if we’re missing the absolute truth.
I’ve come to realize that “Sometimes, God lets you believe you’re an expert at something, just so He can dramatically reveal to you that you’ve been microwaving aluminum foil the whole time.”
I’m pretty sure my resume should include ‘Expert in Unintentionally Detouring’ from my Divine Purpose. And I suspect I’m not alone.
What areas in your life might prevent you from seeing the true path? The “catch-22,” of course, is that you can’t see what you can’t see. Sometimes, God has to intervene. But it’s rarely comfortable when He does.
Many times in my life, I have had to course correct.
- From changing my mind on the place of women in ministry (when confronted with better information)
- to me being rather stanchly against infant baptism (an idea I quickly dropped after learning about the shift from first to second generation Christians)
- or my once believing in some version of Verbal Plenary (the idea that the very words of the Bible came from the mouth of God rather than through a human and divine element working together) to a new understanding…
I’ve gone through some rather significant developments in life. And none of it was enjoyable because I, like most people, don’t like being proven wrong or admitting I’ve done wrong to others because of my own silly ideas, things have worked out for the better. And I have learned and grown a lot in life and faith.
Dare I say, if you’re never uncomfortable with God’s guidance, you might be mistaking your own echo for His voice.
Correction from God is the spiritual equivalent of realizing you’ve been wearing your shirt inside out all day. Catching it is embarrassing, but necessary.
In any case, for three days, Saul is confronted with the very Jesus he had rejected. He has had to face a terrible truth – he was wrong about Jesus, The Way and instead of being a hero of faith, he was in fact a violent crusader doing not “the Lord’s work” but Saul’s own.
In any event, Saul was physically blinded and was later led by hand into the city’s west side. For three days, he lives in darkness (both physically and, more importantly, spiritually). But most importantly, Saul is mourning, trying to come to terms with what has happened, who he has been, and who he will need to become now that he has been confronted with this new reality.
Next, there are two dreams. Saul has one and is told that a man called Ananias would come to heal him, and Ananias has one where he is said to go to Saul. For Saul, this would be uncomfortable. Ananias was a beloved community member and someone Saul had almost certainly planned to imprison. Ananias, on the other hand, would completely and rightfully be terrified. Ananias knew full well Saul’s intent for him; going to see Saul must have seemed the most dangerous thing he could ever do. But he goes nevertheless.
How many times in life have you felt that “still small voice” asking you to do something for God you weren’t really comfortable with?
Imagine the courage it must have taken to embrace the very one who had brought so much suffering to his community. Ananias appears only here in the scriptures… but Ananias is a hero.
When Ananias arrives, he calls Saul “Brother” and lays hands on him in prayer.
With that, we are told that “something like scales” fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. Saul is then immediately baptized and almost immediately begins a ministry not against The Way but to them. From persecutor to proclaimer, Saul’s failures are not the end but the foundation for his new purpose.
What or who has God used in your life to shine a light on your mistakes and make you reassess? Where right now can His grace help to open our eyes to see life in a new way? Have you ever experienced a moment of clarity that shook your worldview or changed your purpose?
Paul of Tarsus was instrumental in shaping Christian theology, expanding Christianity beyond its Jewish roots, establishing the organizational structure of the early church, and influencing Western culture and thought for the last 2000 years. While his teachings have been subject to interpretation and debate, his impact on the world is undeniable. Had he got his of way and Jesus not confronted him, he would simply have been lost to history as yet another tirant in a long line of destructive fools.
The story of Saul becoming Paul is a reminder that our failures do not define us. Instead, they become opportunities for growth and transformation through God’s grace.
Like Saul, we may find ourselves on paths of misunderstanding and misguided aims. But just as Christ met Saul on the road to Damascus, He often meets us in our moments of failure, offering light, forgiveness, and a new direction.
Like Paul, are we willing to confront our own errors and change direction? Like Ananias, how willing are we to step out in faith and share the hope we’ve found, regardless of our fears?
Where can God bring new life and purpose for you? How can we trust more in God’s power to transform us from darkness into light? God did it with Saul, God does it all the time, and God can do it with us, too.
May we, like Ananias, respond with faith and courage to God’s call, participating in God’s redemptive work in and through us. Like Paul, let us embrace our journey from failures to faith, trusting in the transformative power of God’s grace to guide us to our true callings. And though it may not be comfortable, may it be to us a blessing and to the world around us, a chance to make things right. Amen.
Song: Just as I am, without one plea (682)
We respond to serve God
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Invitation
Come, beloved friends and family, to the table of grace. Here, we remember Jesus—the One who broke bread with His friends, showed us love in action, and offered His life for ours. All are welcome to participate in this celebration of hope and renewal.
Song: I come with joy (530)
The Apostles’ Creed (539)
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Communion Prayer
Holy and loving God, we come to You today, hearts full of gratitude and wonder. On this morning, we celebrate the miracle that Changed everything—the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Risen Lord.
We thank You for Your unfailing love that brings new life out of death and hope out of despair. We praise You for the gift of Jesus, who lived among us, taught us how to love, and gave His life so that we might be reconciled to You.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, You have opened the way for us to experience forgiveness, peace, and new beginnings. You call us to live not in fear but in confidence—trusting that You are with us in every moment.
We thank You for this bread and this cup — signs of Your love and grace, symbols of the life that You offer us now and always. May Your Spirit fill these gifts, and may they nourish us so we can go into the world to share Your hope and joy.
As we partake together, let us remember that Christ’s love binds us as one body, united in the journey of faith. May this meal inspire us anew to walk in His light, to serve with compassion, and to share His good news with everyone we meet.
In the name of Jesus Christ, the risen and living Lord, we pray. Amen.
Sharing of the Bread and Wine
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread, gave thanks to you, broke it, and gave it to His friends, saying:
“Take, eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
And after supper, He took the cup, gave it to them, and said:
“This cup is the new promise in my blood, poured out for you and for all, for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, remember Me.”
Song: Behold the lamb
Prayer after Communion
Gracious God, thank you for this gift of life and love.
Thank you for the bread and wine—signs of your presence, symbols of your grace.
Fill us with your Spirit, that we may know your peace and share your love with the world.
Lead us into the coming days, empowered by your Spirit and renewed in your grace.
May this meal strengthen us for service, hope, and joy.
Song: When we are living (630)
Sending out with God’s blessing
As you go forth this day, may the joy of the risen Christ fill your hearts and guide your steps. May you see His presence in every encounter and His love in every moment.
Go in peace, with eyes open to the wonders of His resurrection, sharing His hope and light with the world. Amen.
Sung Response: He is Lord
Music postlude
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The Communion liturgy is based on the liturgies of the PCC’s 1991 Book of Common Worship. Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One License (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.