Sermon-The Conversion of Paul

Conversion of St. Paul, by Roy Ruiz Clayton 

A sermon given during Holy Communion at St Olave Hart Street on Sunday 25th January 2025 (Year A) The Conversion of Paul – based on readings from Galatians 1.11-16a & Matthew 19.27-30

Start:Stop - Trust in the slow work of God

Paul on the road to Damascus - Peter Bellone

Start:Stop at St Stephen Walbrook enables busy people to start their day by stopping to reflect. Ten minute reflections are repeated on the quarter hour, from 7.45am until 9.00am every Tuesday morning, beginning with a reading from scripture, followed by a reflection based on an event from this week in history, with space for silence and prayer. You can hear a recording of this week’s reflection at this link and read the script below.

Thank you for joining us for Start:Stop. This reflection will last under ten minutes and you are welcome to come and go as your schedule dictates. This week we consider two very different anniversaries. Often presented as pivotal moments in history that brought about an immediate transformation that changed the world, in both cases, beneath the bright lights and pizazz, we also find an alternative - but no less real - story. One of slow and steady progress towards lasting change.  

Our bible reading is from St Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Chapter 1, verses 11-17.

Sermon - Six impossible things before breakfast

Breakfast at Dawn, Mike Moyers, 2012

A sermon preached at St George’s Bloomsbury on Sunday 1st May and at St Stephen Walbrook on Thursday 5th May (Year C, Easter 3) based on readings from Acts 9.1-6 and John 21.1-19.

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Start:Stop-The Conversion of St Paul

The Road to Damascus by Jonathan Peter Jackson

Hello and welcome to this week’s Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture. My name is Phillip Dawson. 

This week the church celebrates the Conversion of St Paul - an event on the road to Damascus vividly described in the Acts of the Apostles. Paul’s own accounts of his experience appear, on the surface at least, to be less dramatic - but no less transformational. In his letter to the Galatians he explains that the revelation of the risen Christ caused him to reassess his response to three important questions:

Who am I?
Who is Jesus Christ? and;
How does Jesus Christ transform who I am?

Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles - inviting non-Jews to become followers of Christ, might be seen as a quest to help us all to explore the answers to these questions for ourselves. 

Start:Stop - The Long Road to Damascus

The Conversion of Paul by Hyatt Moore

Hello, my name is Phillip Dawson, welcome to our Start:Stop reflection from St Stephen Walbrook, when we stop for a few minutes and start to reflect on a passage from scripture.

This week the church celebrates the conversion of St Paul. The feast, on 25th January, also marks the end of the Week of Prayer of Christian Unity.

The drama of Paul’s road to Damascus experience is told in Chapter 9 of Acts of the Apostles, but also in Paul’s own words in his letter to the Galatians - a letter he wrote to defend his mission to the gentiles, under attack from Christians from Jerusalem who wanted gentile converts to the faith to observe Jewish practices and laws. 

In the letter, Paul’s first hand account of his experience suggests that while his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus was life-changing, the process of his conversion, which we celebrate this week, was only just beginning.