Transformed 'from' for a Purpose

I speak to you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit - Amen

Why do you believe in God?

            Why do you think that God exists…?

                         What is it that makes you believe in God?

                        When you consider these questions, we all might approach them from                                             different starting places

o       To some it might be because our parent’s taught us, and we trust and believe in them and so what they believe must be worthwhile

o       To others it might be that Bible says so

o       To others … yet another reason or rationale

            But I think if we spend some time and really think about these questions, the answer         underneath it all: …is that we have felt or experienced God in our lives

                        The faith and reason of others, are in our post-modern culture, simply

                        …‘their reasons’

                                    and post modernism aside - I think mature faith is when we ourselves claim it                                personally - some have said “in Christianity there are no grandchildren”

I believe that deep down we have all experienced God in some form

            - For some it might be in the prayers of Sunday morning worship

            - For others it might be when we deeply connect with the thoughts/images and power of the         Holy Spirit in the midst of Communion

            - For some of you it might be in nature - in contemplating the beauty and majesty of all     creation and feeling deep inside you that something greater must have made this

            - I know myself, four moments when I have no doubt of a divine creator - when I held my           newly born children - each one, just moments after they were born

            - For others it might be in your own private prayers

            - It might be in the healing grace God has delivered to you or a loved one - in which “beyond             expectation” God answered prayer and healed someone…maybe it was you

            - It might have been in the reading of the bible where you connected with God by the power        of the Holy Spirit in a story or psalm

                        - where you understood what the writer was telling you - and who it was that                                was really doing the writing

            - It may have been when you were feeling that the world was against you, when you have felt      like you were a round peg in ‘a world of square holes’ and something in God’s creation      reached out to you and told you that you were part of God’s world, part of God’s plan

                        I could go on and on …

Yet In all these situations or however God reaches you … in all of them, ….you experienced God

            God interrupted your life and made himself known to you

                        And by making himself known to you He told you that He loved you,

                                    You matter to God

In our reading from Galatians today we have a brief account of God’s Calling St. Paul

            Calling for a purpose

This passage is a very important one and some scholars have even titled it ‘Paul’s Thesis statement’

            Paul reason for believing what he believes and doing what he is doing

St. Paul starts out the passage by saying

        “Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of   human origin. For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came      through a revelation of Jesus Christ”

Paul tells us that he believes what he believes, not because others taught him - but that he experienced God

            - It is directly from God, that Paul has the message of the Good news that he preaches

He goes on to explain to them how it is ‘free from the teaching of others’ by presenting a brief autobiographical account

            In the midst of this account Paul states that:

                    “from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was                           pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles

So in this short passage known by some as his Thesis statement we have Why Paul believes

            And we also have the purpose of that belief…

But as we consider the forest, let’s not lose sight of the trees

            It is vital to understand ‘the payout’

                        - the result of Paul’s calling and for what purpose

                                    but in his story we have another important message

You see God did not just call anyone to proclaim that Jesus the Christ is Lord

            in the hostile world, where only Caesar was supposed to be Lord

                        God called Paul to proclaim a message that was upside-down from the world’s                              expectation - by ‘someone’ which God turned right-side-up

                                    In Paul’s brief account we see a transformation that only God could achieve

                                                We see a great reversal from a zealous proponent of the traditions of                                               Judaism to a proclaimer of the gospel of Jesus Christ

                                                            In St. Paul’s story we see God’s power to transform

                                                                        … transformed for God’s purpose

When I read this passage at the beginning of the week I immediately connected with it.

            Now I say this not to make special claims - I am no St. Paul …

                        But I was transformed by God

                                    And I believe that I was called by God for a purpose

My story starts out simply enough:

            I was born to the care of Anne and Dave Tinker, both of whom were active member their             entire life in the Anglican Church - and still are

                        My mom being a PK (priest’s kid) - my Grandfather was an Anglican priest

                                    And my dad being very active in his own way

I grew up going to church every Sunday, until I got to my teenage years and then like so many others - my parent’s gave me choice - so sometimes I went, sometimes I didn’t

            Life went along pretty normally for while

                        But by the time I was 15, I became increasingly unhappy

                                    I didn’t know it… or have the wisdom to understand it …but I was                                                           depressed all the time

                                                Things got pretty drastic and I found myself in Hospital

While in hospital in that first week, on the Sunday I was allowed to leave for the morning and go to Church with my dad

            I was very upset, hurting inside a great deal when we went into church that morning

                        The Minister saw us enter (we were late, during the first Hymn) and he immediately                      stopped singing and knelt and prayed, he knew of my troubles from my Dad.

                                    I felt he was praying directly for me and I felt what I believe the Holy Spirit                                  wash over me and although I didn’t hear words I felt a clear message that;                                                             - God was watching over me,

                                                - that I would be okay,

                                                - and in time God had a plan for me.

I continued from that point on, still with my share of adolescent troubles, I was not healed of my depression immediately, I was in and out of hospital 5 times over the next 2 years

            but it was different, I had a sense that I was being watched over, held up - and in God’s plan

My life continued on with many distractions,

            I developed a very worldly spiritual understanding

                        I thought that I was a Christian

                                    But I developed a real ‘melting pot of ideas’

                                                In many ways I had a very ‘new age’ or Gnostic set of beliefs

                                                            I still went to church - mostly occasionally

Over time - and a lot of college parties latter - I had a large group of friends

            Through that I was blessed with meeting and within six months proposing to Kelly, my wife

It was in wanting Kelly to share in a faith, that I often took for granted,

                        that we started to go to Church more regularly

            Life was very busy; I had still had the vague thought (sense) that one-day, once everything           was established that God would call me into something more

                        Then on Madison’s 3rd birthday, April 21st 2002,

                                    which was a Sunday, it all changed! During the service, I felt the                                                    overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit calling again.

                                                I felt (I didn’t hear any voices):

                                                            - that it was time,

                                                            - it was time to stop saying “later”

                                                            - and that I was to devote more then a fraction of my existence                                                       to God - but my whole self

I was uncontrollably weeping for the balance of the service, overwhelmed and unable to speak.    Kelly on one side and my father-in-law on the other and for the entire service I was    completely incapacitated and unable to explain what was going on.

                        The congregation thinned out at the end of the service but a lady sitting behind came                    forward after the service and touched me on the shoulder and simply said

“ your lucky… it’s your time”,

            she knew and I knew

The rest is history

            Within a month we had our house in the country up for sale

                        To move to Hamilton a more affordable place to live for 3 years of seminary

                                    I gave my new job - 15 month notice, 15 months so that we might try to save                                 money for this new venture

I applied to three seminaries and God affirmed my call, and I was accepted at all three

            I stand before you, having celebrated 1 year since my ordination, earlier this week.

We don’t all have Damascus road experiences

            And from my classmate in seminary - only one other had a story even remotely like mine

                        Each of our stories were different - just as each of your stories are different…

                                    But if we believe in God - we have experienced God

St. Paul writes in the passage from Galatians

            “For you heard of the former way of my life”

and now you have heard of my former life

            I pray that you see in my story - God’s work to transform my heart for his purposes

                        I was transformed from a person that was really hurting inside

                                    Then later from a person with a real melting pot of beliefs, in which                                                Christianity was only a piece in the puzzle, to taking the teachings of Christ                                   seriously

                                                I experienced God

                                                            It was in church while singing a worship song to God

                                                                        First when I was 15 and then when I was 31

                                    I was called from something - transformed into something else

I believe that St. Paul’s faith - St. Paul’s message was so much more impactful because of what God transformed - him - from

            As our scripture finishes today:

                        “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried                     to destroy.”

                                    Triumphantly concluding with: “And they glorified God because of him.”

Let us pray

Lord, may our love of you… our belief in you - fueled by whatever way we have experienced you and your love… lead us in all our lives - lead us in those times when we feel all alone… lead us in those times when we hear the needs of others, which only you can fill … lead us to Glorify you by being your agents of love into this world - Amen