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Most Christians, especially those of us who are lifelong Christians, may have a hard time identifying with Saul (Paul) of Tarsus, but we have a lot in common with Ananias. Instead of assuming or expecting a road-to-Damascus experience, we are called to be on the lookout for a stranger-in-Damascus experience. And we are meant to be the ones to welcome that stranger for Christ’s own sake.
We are meant to open our homes to someone whose life experience is not like ours. We are meant to show hospitality to someone whose history is frightening to us. We are meant to welcome the one who differs greatly from us and yet whom Christ loves and for whom Christ died.
I am not saying we are meant to knowingly endanger our ourselves or our families, but we are meant to take some risks for the sake of the gospel.
It’s what Ananias did. To adopt a verse of the hymn, “There is a Balm in Gilead”: “If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul…/Like faithful Ananias, you can show grace to all.”
This message is excerpted from “Ananias all along” by Julia Seymour in the July/August 2021 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Peter and Paul, Apostles.