conversion...what's the point?

knock, knock

who's there?

annoying religious types interrupting your sleep to tell you about jesus.

annoying religious types interrupting your sleep to tell you about jesus, who?

annoying religious types interrupting your sleep to tell you about jesus, because that is how conversion is viewed by a lot of people!

a terrible joke...a disturbing truth.

at last night's immersion service we discussed what it means to be converted. some people had some positive things to say about it...others compared it to certain people who knock on the door and bother you with literature and pamphlets about their religion.

we talked about the biblical character of zacchaeus and his encounter with jesus. we talked about the great lengths this little, despised, and criminally wealthy man went in order just to see jesus pass by. he risked physical harm at the hands of the crowd, he risked humiliation as he climbed a tree to see the One he came to see.

we talked about how, after his encounter with the One who called him by name to come down from the tree and dine with him, he gave away half of what he owned and paid back 4 times what he took.

then we talked about the fact that jesus declared salvation to zacchaeus and his entire home.

why?

something happened in the little tax collector (latin: publicanus) that made him into a new person. he was converted from the crooked money-grubber into a generous and honest person. then jesus ends the story by saying that the son of man has come to find and restore the lost.

it is in the term "lost" that many people get ruffled.

when saying that some are lost and some are found we get the idea that some are in and some are out. some are messed and some are free and clear. that makes people angry.

so let's change what lost means. let's say that lost is not about being condemned but about being in the wrong place, on the wrong path, just some place that we don't need to be. everyone (i think) can relate to that. now, when zacchaeus was stealing from people and taxing them too much he showed that he had lost his way. after his encounter with jesus he had been found...adn salvation had come!

i think conversion is something we don't talk about too much in the ol' ucc but it is essential in order to understand the faith

after all, what is the point of learning all this stuff and going to church if not to become better people?

what is the point of becoming a better person if not to become a good person?

why stop at being good if we are not going to try to attain perfection?

what is the point of trying to be perfect if that is not something we can ever achieve?

and i think it is in these questions which help us see the need for conversion...

we are all, at one point or another, on the wrong path. we are all lost (not damned or even condemned) and in need of guidance. and that is where jesus comes in.

for the kind of conversion that god has in mind does not come from within but from on high. god loves you so much that he refuses to allow us to stay in our lost state...god has come to find and restore the lost. conversion is not about who is in and who is out...conversion is about being set free. like a prisoner getting released from jail, like a sick person at the end of an illness.

conversion. it is not about being made into something you are not, but about being born into something you were always supposed to be...but just forgot along the way.

this is the vid that we used to start the service.