"You Are Out of Your Mind, Paul!"

In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear the reaction to Paul’s conversion story:

While he was making this defense, Festus exclaimed, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Too much learning is driving you insane!” But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking the sober truth. Indeed the king knows about these things, and to him I speak freely; for I am certain that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?” Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that not only you but also all who are listening to me today might become such as I am—except for these chains.”
Then the king got up, and with him the governor and Bernice and those who had been seated with them; and as they were leaving, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to the emperor.”

When it was decided that we were to sail for Italy, they transferred Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan Cohort, named Julius. Embarking on a ship of Adramyttium that was about to set sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon; and Julius treated Paul kindly, and allowed him to go to his friends to be cared for. Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. After we had sailed across the sea that is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind was against us, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Sailing past it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. (Acts 26:24-27:8).

The Roman, Festus, thinks that Paul is crazy. Paul was an intelligent man, as acknowledged by Festus. How could Paul believe such things? Paul understood that his encounter with the Risen Jesus changed his life forever. He was not the same person that he was before. He went from an angry persecutor of the Christians to become a firm believer and an evangelizer filed with joy even as he was being led away in chains to Rome.

Sometime you and I encounter what Paul encountered, a cynical world that asks Christians today, “How can you follow Jesus?” Like Paul, you and I have been in some way been changed by an encounter with Christ. Some more than others, but each of us is on the journey with Christ walking beside us and sometimes carrying us when we cannot walk on our own.

THANK YOU TO LEE RUNION for his wonderful work with the Second Annual Art Show. In November, Lee will begin an art class and in the months following, Sherry Riverra, a clay clay artist and first place winner at the Art Show will be teachign a class.

CALENDAR REMINDERS

Sunday, 17 October 2010, the Heritage Choral Choir at the 9 a.m. service.

Adult Christian Formation: The Gospel According to Mark at 11:15 a.m. in Bright-Davies Hall.

Please remember to pray for everyone on our Prayer List and especially for Lee, Cindi, Carol, Marilyn, Gladys, Pat, Don Soske and his family and loved ones.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+
St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550